The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 01 (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-One: The Wave of Destruction

We arrived at the village at what appeared to be the exact moment that the monsters were starting to wreak havoc.

The knights and adventurers that had beaten us there where fighting back as best they could manage, but it appeared to be futile…The line was faltering and looked like it might break at any moment.

“Raphtalia, help evacuate the villagers.”

“But… What will you do?”

“I’ll distract them!”

I ran for the defense line and jumped right into the thick of it. There was a crowd of monsters, like locusts, and I started attacking them with my shield.

The hits registered with a reverberating, metallic sound, and seemed to do no damage at all.

But they started to take notice of me. It was just like leveling up with Raphtalia.

“Queeee!”

The locusts swarmed and came flying in my direction. There were other monsters too, like giant bees, and what looked like zombies.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Whether it was because of my shield, or because of the Barbarian Armor, I couldn’t tell. But I wasn’t taking any damage.

“H…Hero!”

“Listen up! I’m drawing the monsters off, so use the chance to escape!”

I saw a number of faces that I recognized.

“O…Okay!”

Everyone backed off and ran, leaving me to hold the line alone.

“Hey…”

What was wrong with these people?

I was ready to sigh in annoyance, but the monsters came at me with their fangs and claws.

I could hear clashing and clanging, but I wasn’t taking damage. I could feel them crawling over me, their legs prickling at my skin. It made me sick.

I kept on hitting them.

Clang!

Seriously, what was wrong with the people? The wave of destruction had just come, but I was already annoyed with them all.

“H…Help!!”

The owner of the inn that we’d stayed at was being chased by monsters.

The monster’s claws were about to pierce right through him, but just before they did, I shouted: “Air Strike Shield!”

The shield appeared in the air to protect the innkeeper. With it just appearing in mid-air, the guy was surprised, and he turned to look at me.

“Run!”

“Th…Thank you!”

He stuttered out his gratitude. Then he ran away with his family.

“Yaaaaaaaaaah!”

A scream shot across the field, like tearing silk.

I turned to look, and there was a woman running madly, on the verge of being overtaken by a hoard of monsters.

She came relatively close by and…

“Shield Prison!”

The cage appeared and protected the running woman.

At the sudden appearance of the cage the monsters turned their attention towards me.

That’s it. I’m right here. Come after me, just me.

Before the effect of the skill wore off, I drew the attention of the monsters and ran.

Huff... Huff… “Who else has been left behind?!”

I was looking around quickly, trying to find any stragglers when, all of a sudden, a monster came charging at me. I immediately threw up my shield to block the attack, and there was a shower of fireworks.

“A zombie…”

According to the information my shield was displaying, it was called an Inter-Dimensional Zombie.

It was nothing like the locusts and bees I’d been fighting up until that point.

It held a weapon in both hands, and it was wearing armor.

“Damn! Well, I’ve got no choice…”

At the very least, I needed to keep his attention on me until Raphtalia could complete the evacuation of the village.

But if I had a choice in the matter, it would be smarter to fight over where the other “heroes” were fighting.

Enemies continued to erupt from the cracks in the sky. If I could get even one of them to pay attention to me, my life would be that much easier.

“Hey, zombies, over here! You guys stink!”

I started to run faster. The locusts, bees, and zombies were chasing me, and they had other monsters with them. But they all ran at different speeds, so certain monsters pulled ahead of the others.

The problem was that none of them were very fast, so they set their sights on the nearest target: me.

“Damn, not you all too!”

I felt relatively safe, thanks to the shield. I really wanted to avoid their attacks if I could, but that didn’t seem possible this time.

But I had to stop their advancement.

First, I would stop the attacks from head-on, then try to push back.

If only Raphtalia were there. It didn’t seem like it would do anyone any good to stand there and continue to be attacked.

But if I didn’t have a way to fight back, I didn’t have a way to fight back. All I could do was what I could do…

“Air Strike Shield!”

The shield appeared in the air.

The monsters had me surrounded. They’d formed a ring around me. If they all came at me at once, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold them off.

“If they all came at once….”

“Hah!”

I climbed over a zombie and jumped up onto the Air Strike Shield. Then I ran to the other side, where there were less monsters, and jumped down, my shield at the ready.

Damn… The locusts were all over me. I shook them off, but I could only dislodge a few of the disgusting things. They were starting to weigh me down,

Damn! I don’t think my previous strategy would work again. I couldn’t jump out of the way.

If I couldn’t get any distance from them, I could…

“Animal Needle Shield!”

This shield came with a special effect, the Animal Needle Shield (small).

Apparently if an enemy attacked the shield where it was covered in needles, it would take damage. The main problem was that its defense rating was lower than what I had been using. And any damage it dealt was sure to be insignificant. Even still, it was the only option I had for dealing any damage at all.

It wasn’t like I didn’t have a shield with a counter ability, but I didn’t think that it would be effective against groups of enemies.

“Take that!”

I ran at the monsters, and tried to punch them with my shield.

Clang!

There it was again, that ineffectual sound. So apparently I really couldn’t hope to do any damage with my attacks. I returned my focus to deflecting attacks. When I did, the shield shot out needles that stuck into the enemies. It wasn’t much, but it made them pause in their tracks and created a space in the line. All I could do was use that to my advantage and try to buy some time.

“This one could be trouble…”

There was a zombie there, flinging his weapons madly.

He had an axe in his hand, and before I could block it with my shield, it bit a deep into my shoulder.

“Ahh!

A searing pain shot through my shoulder, and blood sprayed from the wound.

I fell back a few paces.

It hurt. Why did I have to subject myself to this?

Why did I have to get hit with an axe to defend people that ridiculed me? It made me feel like a fool.

Calm down… Think.

The problem wasn’t only that I failed to block the attack, it’s that I was using a weak shield. But If I used a shield with a higher defense rating, I’d be unable to inflict any damage on the enemy.

Damn! Shields are so hard to use!

“Hero!”

“What the hell? What are you doing here? You’re in my way! Get the hell out of here!”

There were a number of men from the village there, armed with farming tools.

Among them were some of the people I had just helped.

“But you are all by yourself, Hero!”

That was THEIR fault, not mine! Did they think I was alone because I wanted to be?

That adventurer I’d helped to escape was there with them.

“This is our village! We can’t just leave it!”

“Fine then! I will be the shield. Help me defend the line until the evacuation is complete! Get into a proper formation so that I can protect you, and let’s get them!

“Yes sir!”

Honestly, I needed the help. Not only was I unable to attack on my own, but working as a group would put us in a different league. Working with Raphtalia had made that very clear.

I changed back to the Light Metal Shield, and me and the other villagers ran to draw the attention of the monsters.

“Get an attack in and back off. We’ll break up their advance. Then I’ll jump in and take their attacks.”

“Yes sir!”

To protect them, I ran to the front of the formation and took the enemy attacks with my shield. They used their farming tools to attack the monsters, poking at them from behind me.

One jab wouldn’t do it, but after getting hit ten or twenty times, the monsters started to fall.

“Squeee!”

If the monsters went to attack the villagers behind me, I jumped in place to block them.

“Relax! I’ll take all of the damage with my shield. You all just focus on attacking the monsters!”

They looked relieved. At the very least I figured it was safe to assume that they understood they were going to be protected. They say in battle that whoever shouts the largest will amass followers. I suppose that was what was happening. But that was good for me. Just like I’d said, if they would help me, I’d protect them.

“But even still… There are so many monsters. When is that evacuation going to wrap up?!”

“What are the other Heroes doing?”

“Ha! They’re fighting the waves and ignoring the people!”

“But they…”

One of the villagers fainted when they heard that.

Just then, I saw a large shadow appear on the ground. And that man was flung away in a heartbeat.

“Ugh…”

There was a giant zombie there. Compared to the other zombies, he was not only bigger but was wearing more extravagant armor and carried a larger axe.

I stopped one of his attacks with my shield, but it was so powerful that it made me dizzy, and I reeled back.

Like I would die here!

I grit my teeth and tried to focus. If I lost my footing, I might really die.

This guy was way stronger than the others.

Even though he hadn’t really landed a direct blow, I still took damage. He was unbelievably powerful.

“Are you okay?”

“Huff… Yes… But… Hero?”

“I’m fine! You all back off! I’m not sure if I can protect you all from this guy!”

“But!”

Were these villagers even listening to what I was saying?!

Just then…

“Mr. Naofumi!”

Raphtalia was there, sword in hand, ready to fight.

“Raphtalia! You’re just in time! We’re taking this guy down.”

“All right!”

We both turned to the giant zombie, and I held up my shield in preparation.

“I’ll draw his attacks with my shield, and you focus on attacking, just like we’ve done the whole time.”

“All right.”

The zombie, while much bigger than his compatriots, didn’t seem that much more skilled. He turned his gaze to me and swung his enormous axe. I took the shock head-on. I couldn’t avoid his attacks lest he decided to turn his attention to Raphtalia instead. And if I had dodged them, it would throw off the rhythm, and Raphtalia would end up confused as well.

The giant zombie raised his axe to strike, and Raphtalia dashed in to jab him with her sword.

I stopped his axe with my shield, but due to Raphtalia’s strike, the swing wasn’t as strong as before.

Yes! We might have a chance.

“Raphtalia, this guy likes to attack whatever is nearby. Once you stick him, back off, and once I draw his attack, rush in for another shot!”

“Yes!”

“W…Woah…”

The gathered villagers let their emotion slip out.

Which reminded me, we needed to get them out of there.

“You’re still here? Get out of here! I appreciate your help, but now you are just getting in the way! The whole reason I’m here is to keep people like you from dying!”

“O…Okay…”

They seemed scared by my sudden outburst and nodded as they slowly began to back way.

Just as they seemed to be at a safe distance, I had a sudden bad feeling in my gut.

“Raphtalia!”

I ran to her and threw my cape around her, hugging her close.

“Mr. Naofumi?!”

I changed my shield to the Light Metal Shield for its strong defense rating.

An instant later, fire rained down on us.

I saw the group of knights that had arrived through a break in the monsters. There were magic users among them, and they had thrown a Fire Rain spell in our direction.

“Hey! We’re on your side!”

The flames stopped immediately, but the monsters were all ablaze.

There were so many insects, and they caught fire very easily.

Apparently not only my physical defense rating was high, but my magic defense was high as well. Either that, or I owed it to the special effect of the Light Metal Shield.

The giant zombie let out a deafening scream through the rain of fire and fell over.

I watched the line burn and, still in disbelief that they would fire on their allies, walked in their direction, shaking the embers from my cape and glaring at the assembled knights.

“The Shield Hero, eh? You’re tough.”

Someone who appeared to be the leader of the knights spat in my direction as I approached. Raphtalia’s sword flew from her sheath and she pointed at the knight who’d spit at us.

“What are you planning to do to Mr. Naofumi? Your life depends on your answer!”

There was hatred burning in her eyes.

“You with the Shield Hero?”

“Yes, I’m his sword! Show him the respect he deserves!”

“Ah, a classy demi-human wants to fight with the kingdom’s knights?”

“You spit on the people you have sword to protect and hurl flames at Naofumi, who is supposed to be your compatriot! I don’t care if you’re a knight, I don’t respect behavior like that!”

“Well, you survived just fine.”

“Just fine?!”

As they fought over the particulars, the other knights formed a circle around Raphtalia.

“Shield Prison!”

“Y…You!”

The leader of the knights was firmly shut in the cage. I glared at the rest of the knights. What kind of knight would attack their allies?

“The enemy is coming from those waves. Don’t get confused about who you are fighting!”

At my shout, many of the knights looked surprised before they turned their faces away.

“Pretty self-righteous for a criminal.”

The monsters were aflame at the line, and they crawled in my direction to attack. The knights watched me defend against them all, and the color drained from their faces.

I was the Shield Hero, after all. They weren’t going to be able to defend the line on their own.

“Raphtalia, is the evacuation finished?”

“Not yet, it will take a little longer.”

“Damn. Then hurry up and finish it!”

“But…”

“Yes, they rained fire down on us, but I didn’t take any damage. But, if they plan to continue condescending to me…”

I tapped her on the shoulder and glared at the knights.

“I’ll kill them. I don’t care how. But if I have to, I’ll feed you to the monsters and run.”

I don’t know if I’d managed to intimidate them, but they took a deep breath and stopped in the middle of summoning a spell.

“All right Raphtalia, we can’t start fighting until the evacuation is completed. The villagers are getting in the way. Yes, there are a lot of enemies, but it’s fine.”

Surprisingly, it looked like I could hold them off for the time being.

“Okay!”

She nodded, and ran off in the direction of the village.

“Damn! So that’s your plan, eh, Shield Hero?”

Just as the effect of the Shield Prison wore off, the knight leader yelled condescendingly at me.

“Oh, were you planning on dying?”

There were monsters crawling up and swarming behind me.

It looked like they were finally realizing that they needed me. The fools finally shut up and backed down.

I swear, there wasn’t a good man to be found in the whole world.

If I weren’t the Shield Hero, if I could do something besides protect people, I certainly wouldn’t have stayed to save them.

Soon enough, we had managed to halt the progress of the monsters, and to beat them back. We managed to get a foothold and dealt with most of them.

After Raphtalia finished evacuating the useless villagers, she came back to the line and handled attacking.

The knights supported us, and eventually the cracks in the sky closed, but it took a number of hours.

“That pretty much takes care of it.”

“Yeah, the boss was easy enough.”

“Yes, if this is all we are up against, the next wave should be a simple matter.”

The other heroes, who’d handled the majority of the offense, were talking about the boss, which apparently had been some kind of undead chimera.

That was easy enough for them to say. They’d left the protections and evacuation of the villagers to the knights and the adventurers. They’d been here for a whole month, but they were still acting like they were in a game.

I decided to ignore them and their foolishness and just focus on relief, relief at having won and at having survived. The sky was the same as it had ever been. It was filled with the colors of sunset. I was safe for at least another month.

I hadn’t taken much damage. It must have been a weak wave. I wasn’t sure if I’d be so lucky the next time. If I wasn’t, what would happen?”

“Very good work, Heroes. Thanks to your efforts we were able to overcome the threat posed by the wave. In thanks, the king has prepared a feast. You will be compensated for your efforts there, so please come.”

I didn’t want to go. But I didn’t have any money. So I fell in line with everyone else and followed them.

That’s right. He’d said that support funds were to be provided every month.

500 pieces of silver. That sounded like an awful lot of money to me.

“Um… Uh…”

The Riyute villagers had spotted me.

“What?”

“Thank you so much. If you hadn’t been here, we wouldn’t have been able to save everyone.”

“You would have figured something out.”

“No.”

Another villager disagreed.

“I’m only alive because you were here.”

“Think whatever you want.”

“We will!”

They all bowed to me and left.

The village was severely damaged. Rebuilding was sure to be long and difficult.

So they hated me the whole time but would thank me when I saved them. They were flippant little things.

Whatever. It was better than being treated like a criminal.

“Mr. Naofumi.”

After the long battle, Raphtalia was covered in mud and sweat, but she was smiling as she ran up to me.

“We did it. Everyone is thankful.”

“Great.”

“Thanks to you, there won’t be any more orphans like me.”

“Sure.”

I didn’t know if it was just relief at the end of a long battle, or if she was reminded of her own past or something, but there were tears in her eyes.

“I… I did what I could. I tried…”

“You did good.”

I rubbed her head.

She was right. She’d done everything I said, and she fought hard.

I needed to let her know she’d done well.

“I killed a lot of monsters.”

“You did great.”

“Ahaha”

She looked so happy, and laughed, which I thought was a little strange. I didn’t let it bother me though, and we made for the castle.

“Excellent work, Heroes! I’m truly shocked! We suffered far less damages than last time!”

The sun had fallen and night had come. We were gathered at the feast the king had prepared for us in the castle.

I didn’t know how many people had died in the last wave, but apparently the deaths this time could be expressed with a single digit.

Certainly he wasn’t going to suggest that any of us were more responsible for the new outcome than the others.

Granted, the other heroes had taken out a lot of enemies, so I wouldn’t suggest that it was all thanks to me. And yet… I didn’t honestly think we would get off so easily the next time.

The hourglass had transported us to someplace nearby, which certainly was a help. Had it been further out, somewhere that the knights would not have been able to get to so quickly, what would have happened then?

There was so much to learn.

I opened the help screen.

Fighting the Waves:

As long as the preparations are made beforehand, you may arrange for any number of people to be transported along with you.

Did it mean that I could have arranged for all the knights to be automatically transported with us?

Maybe. Maybe none of the heroes had arranged to have me show up.

But it seems none of the other three heroes had made those arrangements either.

Why?

If they knew the game, and how it worked, why wouldn’t they have arranged for the knights to go with them?

They probably just thought the wave would be simple enough. Either that, or they’d been lazy about reading the rules. That was probably it.

Regardless, they were fools. It was a huge feast, but I sat in a corner and disaffectedly ate my food.

“This looks delicious!”

There were mountains of food that she normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to eat. Her eyes sparkled as she looked it all over.

“Eat whatever you want.”

“Okay!”

I couldn’t afford to give her great food all the time, so she should eat whatever she could when she had the chance. Besides, it was thanks to her that we fared so well during the battle.

“Oh… But if I eat too much, I’ll get fat!”

“You’re still growing.”

“Um…”

She looked concerned.

“Just eat.”

“Mr. Naofumi... Do you like fat girls?”

“What?”

What was she talking about?

“Oh, nothing.”

Just the thought of women made me remember
that woman
. I couldn’t even think about liking women right then. Honestly, they just repulsed me.

“Oh right. I forgot. That’s the kind of person you are, Mr. Naofumi.”

She sighed, as if surrendering to something, and reached out for the food.

“It’s delicious, Mr, Naofumi.”

“Good.”

“Yes.”

This whole banquet was stupid. I wish I could just get paid and get the heck out. It pissed me off just to see so many jerks in one place.

Now that I think about it, the reward might not even come until tomorrow. Was it a waste to have even come? No. At the very least we saved on the cost of food. Apparently Raphtalia was concerned about her weight, but the truth was that she was still growing, and she ate a lot.

“If only I had some plastic food storage containers or something. We could take leftovers with us.”

Without any refrigeration, the food would only last until tomorrow. Maybe I could get the cook to wrap some stuff up for me later on. Maybe he could give me some left over stable goods too.

As I was thinking all this over, my mortal enemy, Motoyasu, was pushing his way through the throngs of people and coming over in my direction.

What did he want this time?

The thought of talking to him made my stomach turn, so I tried to avoid him by walking off into the crowd. He followed me, glaring the whole time.

“Hey! Naofumi!”

“What?”

Very purposefully, he removed one of his gloves and threw it in my direction.

I think… Yes, that was supposed to signify a duel.

The crowd erupted in surprise at Motoyasu’s next exclamation.

“I challenge you to a duel!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He’d finally lost it.

Sounds just like the kind of person that spent too much time in games. Then again, he was the kind of animal that would leave people to die while he goes off to fight a boss. Some hero.

“I heard all about it! That girl with you, Raphtalia, she’s a slave!”