I think these two will be just fine… You made the right choice Rishia, and by yourself too... As your father I couldn't be prouder of you...
After another tearfully embrace between Rishia and Almond, the new addition to his party grabbed her own bag (that had been prepared the night before much to Ryou's annoyance), and they went on their way, or at least tried to, but unfortunately fate appeared set on making Ryou waste even more time.
Right before leaving, one of the villagers came to them with another request, one that sent a small shiver down Ryou's spine. Rishia on the other hand was more then used to deal with what appeared to be a common occurrence in the village.
"The man asked us to deal with a spider in his basement… How big of a spider are we talking about here?" Ryou questioned Rishia, his voice just a bit lower. There was no way it was a normal sized one, hardly any creature was normal sized in this world.
"I-Its about this b-big," Rishia exemplified with her hand hovering a little above her waist, Ryou took in a sharp breath at the description. It was even bigger then he was expecting.
"And you say you do this all the time?" There might have been an hint of doubt in his voice, but no one could blame him, the last thing he pegged Rishia as, was has a part-time monster-exterminator.
"Y-Yes, sometimes when father is busy. Since I-I know some magic, I-I deal with the s-spiders that sometimes wander i-into the v-villagers houses." Another shiver ran up his spine, since apparently dog-sized spiders, were common if uninvited guests around here.
At least that means she as some experience dealing with monsters, but that begs the question…
"Rishia, if your used to deal with this kind of thing, and are strong enough to deal with monsters, how exactly did you ended up being kidnapped in the first place?" Ryou almost immediately felt bad with how blunt he was, because her shoulders dropped slightly.
"Fuee... I'm not very strong… The spiders are easy to deal with, and give me time to chant…" It almost sounded like an excuse, however it this instance it was a very valid reason. Magic took some time to unleash in most instances, and there was no telling if the kidnappers had information on Rishia or not.
If she does this sometimes then the information that she prefers magic is most likely out there, and since she's not good at other styles of fighting suppressing her shouldn't be that hard, even for a common thug at least at this point…
"We are going to have to work on that, not everything we are going to face is going to give you time to use magic, you know that right?" The green haired girl nodded with a little bit more intensity then necessary.
"Y-Yes Ryou-sama!" He was satisfied with that, even if he felt slightly disgruntled at the honorific used.
"Good, so let me see how you do this."
The entrance to the basement, was just a door with stairs leading down into the darkness. Reaching the end of the stairs, Ryou could see a gigantic web on the other side of the room. He then felt his hairs on his arm rising, at the sight of the creature that was hunch in a corner.
Why… Why spiders, and why so big… Ryou wondered. Since little he had a slight fear of arachnids in general, but usually it didn't have much impact his life. Here though? There were spiders the size of dogs, and his fears where re-awoken. Thankfully his partner didn't share his fears of arachnids, and after mumbling a chant with her hand extended, she released what Ryou could only explain as a sharp blade of wind, that cut the spider from top to bottom, and instantly killed the abomination.
Rishia, then explained that the villager would dispose of the body. Unfortunately Ryou couldn't allow that to happen before he had a turn much to his disgust, and apprehension. With shaky hands, Ryou dismantle the spider, before grabbing a furry leg, and absorbing it.
[Northern Spider Bow - Equipment Bonus - +3 Agility, Gripping Skill]
Ryou then explained what he had just done to Rishia, since it was necessary for his party members to know how he upgraded his weapon.
With the simple deed done, they were showered with appreciation from the villager, much to the girl's embarrassment.
If she does this regularly, one would expect her to be used to this at least… Came the thought watching the girls face gain some more color, and her feeble attempts to stop the praise from coming.
Thankfully, that was the last interruption they had before going on their way back to the Capital. The driver was once again the old farmer that had hired him, and the Bow Hero took that opportunity to question the man about the mission. As it had turned out, the money for the mission had been provided by a beautiful woman, who had not given any information besides the existence of a party interested in solving the situation. By the woman's general description Ryou confirmed his suspicions, and swore once again to have a few words with the Shadow Maid next time they met.
On a different note, after adding Rishia to his party, Ryou had discovered some very interesting facts about his new companion.
The first had been that she possessed an higher level then himself, after the incident with the wolves, and killing monsters on the road he had reach level fourteen, Rishia's own level was eighteen. It actually made sense since she had been studying magic from a young age, and was apparently a part-time spider exterminator.
This lead to another discovery. After inquiring the girl about her magic, he found out much to his surprise that she could apparently use all forms of magic. Rishia mentioned she had not been particular good at any type back in college. A jack of all trades so to speak, but in Ryou's mind there existed another possibility. Instead of not being particular good at any type, if one was to take the fact that she had been part of Naofumi's party in another reality, then that probably meant she would eventually be insanely good at every single one.
In gaming terms, his new party member would most likely become one hell of a Nuker.
He had also inquired about her battle experience, and predictably she had nearly none since spiders hardly made for a challenging foe from what he had observed, and that was something he vouched to work as soon as possible.
During the trip back, Ryou also suffered another embarrassing moment to add to the count, only made worse because now he had a new party member that observed the Bow Hero make an idiot out of himself.
His new skill, the Gripping Skill, allowed Ryou to cling to surfaces with his hands, and feet. When he figured this particular piece of information out, the next step had obviously been trying to run up a vertical surface, and since during the trip they were mostly surrounded by trees, the target became a no-brainier. Unfortunately, Ryou made only an amazing amount of five steps up the tree, before he came crashing down with his back hitting the harden dirt. The damage was mostly to his pride, and it only became worse when Rishia quickly crouched next to him asking if he was alright, her face, and voice full of worry
After that Ryou decided to take the sensible approach, something he should have done right from the beginning. After some testing he finally figured out the way his new skill worked, and it wasn't as useful as he had imagined. While the Gripping Skill allowed Ryou to walk on vertical surfaces, in an act the defied gravity, he had to use the skill every time his feet met a surface, losing its effect the moment they lost contact - this not only drained his SP, (even if it only used very small amounts), but he also had to think, and concentrate to use it making the process of climbing the tree almost painfully slow.
However the Bow Hero was determined to master this new skill to the point where he could use it in battle. Mainly through repetition until it became second nature. It would be a long process, but the ability to relocate himself not only horizontally, but vertically was too good to pass up, especially since he was mostly range focused .
"Fuee! This is Castle town?!" Rishia exclaimed with admiration, gazing at the town before her, eyes sparkling.
Looking back to the girl, Ryou questioned, "You never been to Castle Town before?"
Rishia just shook her head, before falling in step with the bow hero, taking in everything.
"How does it compare to Faubley?" He had been curious about the other countries, knowing them only by name.
"Y-you mean the Capital City?" She inquired which he confirmed.
"I never been there, my college was near the border, but the town where it was located was more advanced in technology then Melromarc in g-general. B-But I heard that they have carriages that move by themselves in the Capital City!" Ryou took a brief stop to actually process that.
Cars? There's a country with cars in this world? From what Ryou had seen that implied a really big discrepancy in technology. Melromarc was stuck in the middle ages, and Faubley was at the very least in the industrial era.
Makes you wonder what other technologies they have already developed… A terrifying thought, especially given the fact that they were not fond of Melromarc. It was enough to once again question the King's sanity in pulling the stunt that had nearly marked his country as a world enemy. Ryou was stronger now no doubt about that, and definitely faster but dodging bullets, and cannon balls was not yet in the realm of possibility
Well hopefully they still have ways to go before bombers or god forbid it, nuclear reactions, because if they are already on that stage I'll just tap out…
"Ryou-sama?" Ryou twitched, being completely engrossed in his thoughts. Rishia had a worried look, and was peering at him slightly angled to look at his face.
"Yeah?" He questioned, before avoiding, and throwing an annoyed look towards the civilian, that decided the middle of the street had been the perfect place to go window shopping.
"Y-You had a strange look on your face just now…" Ryou waved off her worries.
"Don't worry about it, I was just contemplating world ending disasters, and stuff like that.".
Her expression changed to a pensive one, "Ryou-sama also thinks about really deep things too?" She questioned, finger touching her chin, gaze upwards.
"More like I'm really paranoid…" He muttered, looking down before his eyes snapped up again, not wanting to actually run into another civilian this time.
"What was that Ryou-sama?", She questioned, now right by his side, Ryou actually took a step sideways when he noticed.
"Nothing, nothing! By the way, just so you know, we are going to make a stop at the Castle, I have to speak with the king about what happened to your village, and with Gentlewood…" He trailed off, noticing she had gone pale at the mention of the old noble. A dreaded, and horrible thought made its way into to front of his mind
I never considered it because our response was pretty fast, and she looked fine, but she was still kidnapped for a few hours… Positioning himself in front of the girl, he locked eyes with her.
"Rishia, besides kidnapping you, did…" Gulping, and collecting himself, Ryou then continued,"...did they do anything else to you?" He asked lowly, looking strait in her eyes, one hand grabbing her lower arm.
"Fuee? Anything else? T-they, threw me down into the basement, and locked me in there. I-It was really dark, and scary before the other man came to get me." Ryou looked in her eyes for a few moments, her face flushing under the scrutiny before he release a breath of relief, and her arm.
A few moments later he realized they were in the middle of the street, a very populated street, and since the entire town knew who he was, every single person in sight had stopped to look at the scene.
Feeling his face getting slightly warm at the attention, Ryou restarted his trip to the castle, now in a faster pace .
"Fuee! Ryou-sama wait for me!" Rishia cried out, almost tripping on her feet trying to catch up with the hero.
There better not be any weird rumors tomorrow, or I'll flip…
The discussion with Aultcray had actually gone much better than expected. After explaining the situation, and exactly what Gentlewood had been doing, the King went slightly pale before thanking Ryou for his services towards the country, and helping maintaining peace. Although Aultcray had questioned his decision on giving Almond the right to rule Gentlewood Village, after a few logical arguments, the man dropped the issue with reasonable ease.
The pair's next stop was the Dragon Hourglass, Ryou wanted to know exactly how much time he had left before the wave.
Thankfully the church had been Pope free, he really didn't want to deal with a religion fanatic, from what he remembered from canon the Pope couldn't be reasoned with, and Ryou would bet that the real version would be very much the same if not worse.
After checking the hourglass, a timer appeared on his screen. Seven days, a week… Less then he wanted, but then again if Ryou had the power to do so, the waves would never be a thing in the first place.
The time until the wave was expected, and they would make do, no choice about it.
Another curiosity was that the timer stayed on the corner of his status window, so he made mental note of checking the hourglass after this wave, that way he could keep track of it.
The last stop Ryou, and Rishia made for the day was the blacksmith, aka Erhard.
Reaching the blacksmith's store, Ryou wasted no time in opening the door before proclaiming.
"Old man! I have returned and I'm in need of your services once more!" After his grand entrance, Ryou took notice that he had an audience, audience that was currently in the process of judging him with a raised eyebrow.
I was under the impression he staid in Lute village until a day or two before the wave… Well whatever… A smirk bloomed in his face, "I have been gone for two entire weeks... So why is it, that one of the first familiar faces I see after getting back as to be your ugly mug?"
The owner of said face, scowled crossing his arms. "That's my line Ryou…"
But before he could reply another voice reached him, "Kid I see your still alive!" Erhard stated in his usual lively voice, perched on the counter.
"Disappointed Old man?" Ryou asked tilting his head.
Erhard shook his head sightly, "Nah, I would be disappointed if you died, I would lose my second favorite customer after all."
Ryou took two steps towards the man eyes narrowed. "Second, what do you…" Ryou trailed off when, another figure appeared in his field of vision, one that had been standing behind Naofumi. He had been expecting it. It had been shown in the story, but seeing it in reality was quite different. No longer a child, but now a young woman, she had definitely changed, shockingly so.
"Raphtalia?" Ryou questioned blinking owlish at the not so little girl in front of him.
The demi-human, smiled softly, before bowing her head slightly, "Ryou-sama its good to see you again."
It was definitely a strange sight, however Ryou observed something else.
She's...She's, actually taller than me… For some reason that irked him, it wasn't much, maybe three or four centimeters. He had never been self conscious of his height before, however since coming to this world that had changed. Maybe it had something to do with being a hero, since normally heroes were portrait as tall, and imposing.
"Hey Naofumi, what the hell have you been feeding Raphtalia?" He asked his fellow hero, still in astonishment. Although he knew it had to do with the leveling process, there was still a need to ask.
Naofumi response came down with all the subtlety of lighting from the heavens," A few kid meals here and there, maybe you should try some…"
Motherfucker! Ryou raged in his head along with a death glare at Naofumi, and that bastard was actually looking quite smug about it too.
"Go screw yourself Naofumi!" The bow hero snapped, even if he would begrudgingly admit in his head that he had walked straight into that one.
Erhard laughed out loud, while Raphtalia hid her giggle behind a hand however her eyes filled with mirth gave her away.
"Fuee, Ryou-sama?" That broke him out of trying to set Naofumi on fire with his eyes, and everyone in the store turned towards the new guest.
"Right, right, introductions and all that." Ryou stated before pointing to Erhard.
"That guy over there behind the counter, is Erhard, our go to blacksmith, he is a nice guy when he isn't trying to squeeze every coin you have."
A frown developed on the blacksmith's face when he heard the introduction.
"Kid what kind of introduction is that!? Are you trying to put a stain on my good name?!" he demanded, and was obviously ignored since Ryou had already pointed towards the next person.
"Nasty face with an even nastier personality over there is Iwatani Naofumi, he's the Shield Hero." Rishia gave a soft gasp at that information, and Naofumi's scowl only got more sever.
"Yeah well, next time this nasty personality of mine is going to let you become wolf food…" he retorted followed by a very scandalized Raphtalia calling out his name, Ryou however decided to pour a little more gas on it, unabated.
"And as you can see, he can also hold grudges, and debts over peoples heads for a lifetime." Cue even nastier scowl. Pointing to the last member he continued.
"And that's Raphtalia, she's the only good egg in the bunch." Raphtalia took it in good nature with a shallow bow towards Rishia.
Waving his hand towards the new addition Ryou finished, "And this is Rishia Ivyred, she's the new member that strong armed her way into my party recently." Now was his turn to be on the receiving end of a scandalized retort, one that Ryou skillfully ignored.
Turning towards every one, since her party leader had apparently developed a deaf hear to her complains, she bowed at the waist."I-It's a pleasure to meet everyone, I'll be in your care from now on."
Naofumi for his part, raised an eyebrow followed by a "Whatever". Thankfully Raphtalia was a far better sport, and took a shining at the new girl immediately striking a conversation.
Well her only human contact for some time has been Naofumi, and that's a nightmare if I ever saw one, though I doubt she feels the same, but it makes sense she's trilled at meeting another girl...
"Hey kid, are you taking a card out of the Shield kid's book, and came here to brag?" Erhard commented annoyed, supporting his chin on his palm.
"Brag? Brag about what? You know what, never mind about that, I came here to get some upgrades and gear for Rishia." Ryou interjected. The blacksmith let a soft grunt, before his eyes moved towards the green haired girl.
"Do you already have something in mind for her?" Ryou scratched his cheek looking around the assortment of armors on display. He had thought about it, more or less, and decided to vocalize those thoughts.
"Well… Rishia's biggest talent is magic, so I was thinking something like my armor? Maybe lighter, since she'll fight like me at a range so it would be best if she remained mobile..." Erhard hummed, before going into the back.
Naofumi at this point decided to make his voice heard.
"What about a weapon?" Ryou looked, towards his fellow hero who was in what Ryou now knew was his go to position, with his arms crossed leaning against a corner.
"Definitely. But with so little time until the wave hits, it might be counterproductive to focus on more then one thing." Ryou thought out loud.
Shifting a little, Naofumi continued with his reasoning, "Maybe, but unlike us she doesn't have any restrictions, isn't that something you should take advantage off?" The Shield Hero's words had a little truth to them. Even if you possessed amazing speed, depending on the terrain you couldn't always stay at ranged, and Rishia wasn't has fast as he was, not only that there were no guaranties she could make through the wave unharmed with only magic.
"What do you think about getting a weapon, Rishia?" The question startled the girl out of whatever she had been talking with Raphtalia in hushed tones.
"Fuee… A weapon Ryou-sama? I'm not very good with weapons…" She explained her eyes lowering slightly.
Ryou released a slightly annoyed sigh, "I'm not asking you to become a master swords woman with so little time, but you know you won't always have time to cast magic, its better to have something you can defend yourself with if needed."
She looked slightly up, nodding, and began surveying the weapons displayed around the store with her eyes for a moment, before her eyes returned to her party leader.
"R-Ryou-sama what would be a good weapon for me?" Ryou scratched his head. He didn't have the slightest idea. He's go to answer would normally be a sword, because swords were awesome, but that would be some really asinine logic when choosing a weapon.
While he thought about it, Erhard returned carrying so many armor parts, you couldn't see his face, before dropping them in the counter.
"Here we go, now you can choose!" Erhard exclaimed with a huff, and Rishia looked astonished at the sheer amount of parts.
Well better consult the specialist then... Ryou decided. He really had no idea how to even go at picking a weapon for someone.
"Old man while you're at it, can you help her pick a weapon." Ryou questioned, Erhard just shrugged before asking Rishia to show her hands.
Two hours later...
After another tryout session in this particular shop, Rishia had something resembling protective gear made of light metal. A chest piece, along with shoulder, and arm armor with a short skirt over her normal dress. As the name implied. light metal was both light yet durable and also expensive.
Ryou was grateful that Erhard hadn't brought out anything resembling what Rishia normally wore in the manga. Contrary to people's beliefs. he had his limits, and he certainly would not have a Furry in his party. Not only would someone dressed as an animal look ridiculous ,but nobody would take neither Rishia or himself seriously.
Although… That idea as one positive… It's all fun and games until a furry pop's out of a bush, and blasts your head off with a fireball.
The mental image of Rishia wearing a beaver suit, and jumping from a bush hulling fireballs at random crooks, was both disturbing and amusing, so much that made Ryou snort.
Has for a weapon, she had settled for a rapier, a silver colored one, with metal twisting at the handle in some form of hand guard.
Ryou had also ordered a new custom made armor, using most of the materials he had gathered from his travel along with the Great Dire Wolf pelt. All-in-all Erhard had taken most of his savings, but if it allowed them to make it pass the wave in good health, it would be worth it.
"Ryou-sama, I like it, but I really don't know how to use it…" Rishia commented holding the weapon in her hand.
Crossing his arms, looking at the beautiful weapon in the girls hands, Ryou elaborated, "Like I said, I don't expect to you to master it anytime soon, but you should at least figure out where the pointy end goes. I also want to get a better feel for your fighting style, and have us working with some degree of teamwork...We have seven days until the wave, and I want to make the most of them." Hopefully it would be enough. The first wave the heroes had fought hadn't been too hard, nothing compared to the others, but with so many discrepancies, he couldn't bet their lives on it…
"Seven days to the wave? How do you know that?" Naofumi questioned confused. Ryou glanced at the other hero, beckoning him to scoot over with a movement of his hand, and opened his status window
"See that timer? That's the time until the wave…" Ryou explained, pointing towards the small box at the corner, that displayed a seven followed by a thirteen.
"How come you have a timer to the wave?" The Shield Hero questioned again but now a frown was marring his face. Ryou then explained the Dragon hourglass, and how the timer worked.
Nodding after the explanation, Naofumi went on his way to the Church with Raphtalia following behind.
"Yah!" The shout came from down the hill, that Ryou was seated on observing his companion fighting.
With a fast straight thrust, the balloon disappeared from existence. The owner then ducked under another one that had tried its luck on going for her head, Turning around, with a rising diagonal slash, the other creature popped. Releasing a breath, Rishia cleaned the sweat on her forehead, before looking up the hill to where the bow hero was located.
"Ryou-sama I think that's the last of them!" Ryou hummed, and took a look towards the left, seeing a few more trails in the grass, pointing he replied.
"Think again, you have more company…" Rishia, turned around, now locating the trails moving towards her, eyes closing in concentration she extended one of her hands.
"As source of thy power, I order thy. Decipher the laws of Nature, and scorch the land before me!" Rishia finished chanting and opened her eyes, In front of her hand was now an orb of fire the size of a basket ball, a moment later she released her attack with a shout.
"Faust Fire Blast!" Ryou admired mesmerized as the projectile shoot forward, leaving a trail of burned grass where it passed, before impacting on the ground in front of the trails. With a loud boom, it exploded. The Bow Hero had never seen a rocket launcher fire in real life, but he had a feeling it would be something similar, maybe with less fire. Hot air hit him making his black hair blow back a little.
I wonder if a first level magic, should be this strong, or is this her amazing magical potential showing? Ryou wondered in amazement. Now with one day before the wave, he had put both himself, and his partner through the ringer. What had started as a very clumsy attempt at poking balloons, had in the space of a week turn Rishia into a decent melee fighter in his opinion, she still had her clumsy moments, but he was far more then pleased with the results.
However, magic was definitely where the green haired girl shined the most. During these six days, Ryou watched her unleash an arsenal of elements that would make most magicians jealous. When Rishia had mentioned she could use every type of magic, the girl hadn't been kidding - from healing, to increasing their defense by the way of support magic, or even shooting out blades of wind and lightning bolts, she could do it all. Honestly, it was humbling to see, and Ryou had no doubt if it wasn't for her general clumsiness, lack of faith in her abilities, and his status as hero, she had enough potential to leave him in the dust.
The mentioned girl, had once again turned towards him, waving her arms in the air to get his attention. Ryou gave her a thumbs up, before once again pointing, this time behind her. It appeared that her explosion had attracted inhabitants from the forest as a pair of Usapils came hopping towards her.
Startled, she scurried away releasing her verbal tic, and almost tripping on her own feet. Ryou released a chuckle at the sight, Rishia wouldn't be Rishia without her clumsiness, and her 'Fuee's'.
Finally making some distance between the creatures, she once again raised her rapier, and waited before both of them were within striking distance. Dogging left, her feet almost gliding like a dancer, she stabbed one with another straight thrust in the head. Quickly pulling her rapier, within moments she crossed the distance between the final Usapil, before slashing it across the face, blood spluttering, and the creature released a shriek before it too fell, courtesy of a stab between the eyes.
Those were other things he had picked up about Rishia in these few days. The girl didn't even bat an eye at the sight of blood. He had expected someone as shy as her, to balk at the sight, before remembering that even has a noble, she worked in a farm and was probably used to it, not even mentioning her spider extermination activities, even if the arachnids bleed purple.
The other thing was that she always gave away space before re-positioning herself, and attacking. Perhaps that had been an habit she picked from watching him fight. Rishia could also be extremely clumsy one moment, and an elegant fighter completely commanding the flow battle the next, like there was a switch in her head that turned battle mode on, and off.
Taking a look at the sun to measure the time, he decided to call it quits, "Rishia that's enough, we have to get going!"
The girl, collected the bodies of the rabbit like creatures, before trekking up to where he was.
Breathing a little harder then normal, she put the Usapils near him.
"We're not going to keep training?" She asked, and Ryou finished dismantling the small creatures before shaking his head.
"No, we did all we could, I still need to pick up my armor, so until the wave we will take it easy and rest, okay?" She looked slightly worried, but agreed nonetheless.
After picking up his new armor, that still resembled his old one, only with patches of grey fur on it. Ryou couldn't help but to vocalized his distaste even if the stats spoke for themselves. The armor, not only provided better overall defense, but apparently Dire Wolf Fur was fire resistant. The only problem now was, he looked like something an Orc Shaman would use. However he had to put a lid on it when Rishia stated he looked like a true hero, even if her tastes were questionable in his opinion.
Since they had spent the entire week camping in the woods, Ryou decided that their last night before the wave should be spent in the comfort of the Inn. Not only was camping much more efficient when grinding, but they had also explored the entirety of Castle Town surrounding areas. There was also the small problem that between gear, and provisions his bank was almost in the red
Before going to sleep Ryou immersed himself in his status window. He had risen to level nineteen, while Rishia had hit level twenty-one. He didn't remember what level Naofumi had the first time around, but he was almost sure he was at an higher level, still the other heroes were probably much higher, not that it would count for much in the great scheme of things.
Opening another window, he couldn't help but to appreciate the amount of weapons he had unlocked. A great portion of them were only stat boosters, but there were a few unique ones, especially since he had wasted a little money on buying random crap from Erhard to unlock more bows. That thought had hit him when he remembered how Naofumi had unlocked the Air Strike Shield Skill. Now he had a couple of new interesting abilities that while situational, could be a huge help.
Closing his status window, Ryou laid his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, thoughts of what the next day would bring filled his mind.
The next morning, they woke before dawn, since the wave was stated to hit at daybreak, and after getting ready they made their way to the central street. Everywhere they looked, there were soldiers, knights and adventurers.
Taking a seat near a fountain with Rishia following suit, Ryou checked his timer.
Less then ten minutes huh… Apprehension filled him, once more he couldn't stop the dreaded what-ifs, and doubts from rearing their ugly face in his mind. It was Rishia that broke his reverie.
"Fuee... R-Ryou-sama, will we be alright?" She asked in apprehension,
Goddammit Ryou get a grip, you're suppose to be the leader here, and your acting like a little girl... He chastised mentally, before taking a deep breath.
"I'm not going to lie Rishia, this is going to be the first true trial for both of us, but I think we will be just fine." He reassured the girl, he couldn't afford self-doubt now, much less for it to be detectable by his party member.
However the girl still looked nervous so he tried a different approach.
"Rishia, what are rules number one, and two for our team?" He asked, and the girl gave a little jump before reciting them.
"R-Rule number one, nobody is a-allow to d-die, rule number two nobody gets l-left behind e-ever..." Ryou gave her a small smile. The rules that he had laid out a few days prior, were made more in an effort to reassure himself then anything else, however here in this moment, they actually served a purpose.
"Yup, so fight with those rules in mind, and I'll do the same. They, along with the progress we have made will get us through this." His smile widen when she gave a nod looking a little more lively.
Getting up he patted her shoulder, "Tell you what, after this I'll even throw in some food from my world in celebration. How is that?" He proposed, though mentally he had to wince. It was almost like those promises made before a big battle in fantasy, but like those it was the feeling behind it that counted.
"Food from Ryou-sama's world?! Does that mean that your cooking it?" She asked leaning forward, and her eyes widened after at the confirmation.
"It might not look like it, but I do know my way around a kitchen reasonably well you know!" He really didn't meant to brag about it, but his chest might have risen a few centimeters higher, in another life he had been praised for those skills by his friends.
Well she's not Filo, but apparently mentioning new food serves as good motivation? Ryou watched in slight confusion has the girl who was clenching her fist, looked somewhere in the distance something similar to determination now present in her eyes.
He was about to break her of whatever thoughts she was having, when a loud hum reached his ears.
Looking upwards towards where he heard the sound, he watched the sky change from dark blue into a eerie red in a matter of seconds, and luminosity went back down to near night levels.
Before he could even begin to react, a golden light envelop him. A few seconds later the light disappeared leaving them in a clearing of some sorts. The hum returned, followed by a sound similar to glass breaking only thousands of times louder.
"Fueee! R-Ryou-sama, look at the sky!", Ryou once again turned his eyes upwards, his eyebrows disappeared into his hair, mouth opening in disbelief, he couldn't help but to utter.
"Holy shit…" The sky above, against all common sense, cracked, and from the hole a red cloud unfolded, covering the sky around the shattered space. What appeared like whirlpools formed along it, some blue, some green, lightning crossing between them. Ryou had never believed in religion but now he couldn't help but to compare what he was witnessing to a scene straight from hell.
Small black dots started falling from the whirlpool's like rain, but the Bow Hero knew they were something else entirely.
"Rishia! Let's get to higher ground, we will decide what to do from there!" The pair took off into the forest sprinting, even as hell fell from above.
Small black dots started falling from the whirlpool's like rain, but the Bow Hero knew they were something else entirely.
"Rishia! Let's get to higher ground, we will decide what to do from there!" The pair took off into the forest sprinting, even as hell fell from above.
Ryou continued sprinting through the forested area, the only sound reaching his ears were the light footsteps behind him, it appeared that all the inhabitants of the forest had left as if they sensed the calamity before it hit.. Trees were nothing but blurs until the Bow Hero spotted a slope, a very familiar slope that stopped above the canopy. Running towards it Ryou stopped right at the start of the incline, throwing a glance towards the left his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the charred remains of a tree on the ground.
So this is where we were teleported… The place where his first true battle was fought. Shaking his head of those thoughts Ryou continued upwards until he reach the peak, turning his eyes towards the direction of the wave. Far into the distance, the raindrops could now be identified as monsters. Rishia reach him at the same time a flare when off into the distance behind a large hill.
If I'm not mistaken, that's the direction of Lute Village...
...Naofumi…
In canon the three heroes had went ahead and fought the boss - if he wanted to stay as close to the original story line as possible he should follow after them, however he had already made his choice. The others had commented how easy the boss had been, not only that, they also had full party's with them so even without Ryou they would be fine. There was also two other factors to take into account…
I hate to have debts left unpaid, and for all the time we spend at each other's throats, I trust Naofumi to watch our backs far more than I trust the other's… It wasn't so much for himself, but for Rishia's sake. The green haired girl was now a member of his party and for all the progress she had made, one week was hardly enough to get ready for this kind of battle. He might be cuddling her a bit, but he couldn't help it, she was his first party member, and he had a responsibility to ensure they both made it to the end of this in one piece.
Turning around to face the girl who was biting her lip nervously even if her eyes were narrowed with focus, he laid down the plan. "Rishia that flare came from the direction of Lute Village, the knights will never make it in time so we are going to help them…" Ryou stated, and waited until she had nodded before continuing, "...Try not to engage too much in melee unless needed, you have your MP potions so make good use of them, and stick close to me. Let's move!" Rishia confirmed she got the gist of it and they were off again in the direction of Lute Village.
It wasn't until they had passed the top of the hill, and started their way down, Lute Village in the distance that they came across opposition. Ryou, eyed their enemies, walking corpses stumbling towards him, moaning. Raising his bow Ryou shot a barrage of arrows towards their heads, thankfully they were slow so they had no time to dodge the volley, each arrow going through their heads, and the sheer attack power behind them blew off parts of their heads ending the immediate threat. Another group came stumbling from behind the trees, and he took aim again however before he could shoot, a blade of wind in the form of a half-moon came from his right bisecting the undead. Even cut in half their upper bodies still moved, very much like zombies in movies and games.
Rishia took out her rapier with grim look, and darted forward intent on finishing them off, but Ryou grabbed her by the shoulder halting the action, "Leave them. If we stop to kill every single one, we'll never make it to the village. From now on we are breaking through." With that they continued on their way.
Thankfully the Inter-dimensional Zombies were not only slow but apparently quite weak, even the Inter-dimensional Giant Zombies could be brought down in a couple of attacks, they did however more then make up for their weakness with sheer numbers. By the time the gates of the village came in sight, mostly destroyed, the pair had dispatched dozens and those were only the ones that stood directly in their way.
Now much more than a dozen of Inter-dimensional Zombies stood between the pair and the gate. Ryou gritted his teeth at the annoying opposition before turning to his partner who stopped by his side.
"Rishia, can you open us a path with magic?"
The girl who was surveying the horde before them in apprehension, jumped a little at being addressed, and her eyes met Ryou's, apprehension morphing into grim determination.
"Y-yes, I just need a moment R-Ryou-sama." She stuttered, before turning towards the front and raising her hands. Ryou took aim and shot at the ones closer to them, giving Rishia time to chant. A tingly sensation passed over his skin not all that different to what he would feel from a numb limb, a sensation he now could identify as magic being gathered.
"Faust Fire Blast!" Rishia exclaimed. A now familiar ball of condensed fire shot forward incinerating any undead in its path before reaching the center of the horde and exploding forming a spectacular dome of fire. The heat passed by them, and Ryou took off motioning Rishia to follow.
The path was littered with charred corpses some still twitching. With a leap, he passed the gate and was inside the village. A scream of panic brought his attention to the side of the gate, where a man was on his rear, cowering in fear. A Zombie stood menacingly above the man a spear in hand. With a gurgle, the zombie brought the spear back, with the purpose of ending the man's life. However before he could even begin the motion, a projectile cut through the air, leaving a faint streak of light obliterating the zombies head and part of his neck. The zombie's body dropped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Crouching next to the man Ryou, took note of the nasty gash below the knee and brought an Health potion to the man's mouth. Gulping it down, a orange glow formed around the gash, before it closed leaving nothing but a few red stains.
Finally raising his head, the villager eyed him in disbelief and faint hope.
"Yuusha-sama! You also came?!" The man asked and Ryou nodded before helping the man up with a heave.
"From that statement, I take it that the Tate no Yuusha is also here?" Ryou inquired, and the man confirmed his suspicions.
"Fuee! Ryou-sama you knew Naofumi-sama would be here?" The question brought a small grin to Ryou's face.
"Yup, call it intuition. Come on let's go help that idiot." Ryou ordered, before moving towards the center of the village, the man now armed with a pitch fork trailing behind them.
Reaching the main square, Ryou took note of the amount of monsters in it. Searching around, head darting from side to side he finally found what he was looking for.
The green cape had been a dead give away. Naofumi ran like a madman with a swarm of bees or wasps far bigger than they should be right on his tail.
"Rapid Shot!", Ryou shouted, and his arrows did their job tearing through the bees. Naofumi came to a stop when he heard the shout, turning to face him eyes widening slightly, he then made his way towards them.
"Ryou..? What are you doing here?" Ryou smirked, eyeing the shield hero. There were few scratches on his cape along with some singed parts but no other visible damage.
"Saving your ass apparently…" Ryou trailed off, repeating the phrase that Naofumi had said to him, in what felt like a lifetime ago. The statement made the shield hero scowl for a few moments, before his face returned to a more passive look.
"I thought for sure you would have followed the others." The Shield Hero admitted, and a second later he dropped to the ground, an arrow passing centimeters from his head. Taking a look behind him Naofumi saw another zombie dropping dead, headless. A hand appeared before him, and he raised his head to look at the owner.
"Do we really have time to be playing twenty questions? Come on let's deal with this shit show…" Ryou honestly expected Naofumi to ignore his hand, but to his pleasant surprise the Shield Hero actually took it and with a heave he was back on his feet.
"By the way, where's Raphtalia?" Ryou asked, taking aim and releasing a few more arrows to the monsters closest to them.
"She's evacuating the villagers to the mine." Naofumi answered motioning towards the mountain behind the village with his head. Ryou grunted in acknowledgment, surveying the area around them, eyes stopping on what looked like a tool shed.
"Rishia! I know I said to stick close to me but can you go help Raphtalia? It'll go faster if both of you are helping the villagers!" Rishia agreed and took off with the man in towel towards the mountain opposite to the gate.
Ryou then darted towards the tool shed, before jumping and landing on the roof in a crouch.
"Naofumi! We need to start dwindling their numbers, can you round them up for me?" Ryou shouted, bow already in hand, shooting at any stranglers that came near the few villagers that were fighting to defend their home.
A mutter that sounded very much like, "who made you leader," reached his ears, yet the Shield Hero started running towards the closest batch of undead. The sight made the corner of Ryou's mouth rise a little, even in the middle of the chaos unfolding.
Naofumi, weaved around the undead, not as fast as Ryou could move, although he was using his skills with reckless abandon to protect anyone in danger of being hurt, and his shield defended from any attack that came from the front, Ryou took care of any creature that ventured too close to the shield hero, and the ones he thought could be troublesome.
Now with both heroes on the job, even the few villagers that had remained to fight started being evacuated, and he caught sight of Raphtalia, and Rishia, from the corner of his sight a couple of times, helping the townsfolk.
However even with the monsters dropping like flies, their numbers didn't appear to be dropping in the slightest, for every one that died, two others took its place. The Bow Hero eventually lost track of time, his fingers already going numb after shooting so many times.
I don't remember there being anywhere close to this many, and is the wave suppose to be this long? Is my presence here, instead of with the others, making a difference in the time that's needed to take down the boss..? Ryou thought in slight apprehension, before hearing a buzzing sound. Turning around he immediately leaned back, a stinger big enough to puncture a hole through his head, passing by.
One hand lashing out, he grabbed the offender by its head, before slamming it down on the roof, the tiles cracking on impact, The stinger darted around blindly trying to impale him, an action that brought a glare out of the Bow Hero, before lifting his foot and stomping on its head. A small electric shock passed through his leg bringing out an hiss from Ryou, who banished the warning window that had pop up from the action.
More buzzing sounds reached him, and dropping low Ryou let the stingers pass over his head, before pulling on the string of his bow, and with a shout his skill took care of the remaining bees.
Rising back to his feet, he wiped both sweat, and purple blood that had splattered on his face. Taking note of the battlefield. He couldn't find Naofumi anywhere until he heard a bell, causing him to look upwards towards the tower, where he finally found the shield hero, torch in hand.
Is he actually going to pull that again..? Ryou wondered, watching as Naofumi dropped the torch, and fire erupted from near his feet quickly racing down towards the zombies that were climbing the tower, also setting them ablaze.
"Change bow, Chain Bow!", With a shout, a new bow materialized, replacing his Great Wolf Fanged Bow. Now in his hand was a bow made completely of chains twisting around themselves, but strong enough that he couldn't bent them if he tried. Closing one eye in focus, he took aim at the roof above Naofumi's head.
"Chain Arrow!", At the command an arrow made completely out of dark grey steel flew from his bow, a chain attached to it. The arrow pierced the roof before unfolding releasing four hooks. Ryou then grabbed the chain and pulled, the now grappling hook coming back down unto the roof sinking the hooks in.
Pulling on the chain a few experimental times to make sure it was stable, Ryou then twisted the chain around his arm twice.
"Naofumi! Slide down!" Ryou shouted, and the Shield Hero, looked at the chain, before looking around the small tower for something he could use to slide, after a few seconds he stopped, and with a green shine his shield turned into a bundle of rope. With the new shield Naofumi made a makeshift rappel, and he slided down. Ryou planted his feet on the roof at the additional weight, but the chain held.
The Shield Hero's feet finally touched the roof before straightening himself, and looked towards the tower. Ryou let go of the chain causing it to disperse into blue particles that drifted in the wind, before changing his bow back into his offensive one.
The two heroes, stood side by side breathing slightly harder than normal, faces stern, as the flames consumed the tower. Finally a cracking sound was heard, and the structure tilted before crashing into the ground, kicking up dust, and embers into the air.
"The hell are those guys doing, the wave is still going…" Ryou, took a side glance at Naofumi, both his face and tone giving off the same frustration and unsureness that he felt at the moment.
"The wave is not going to stop until they take out the boss…" Ryou commented softly, then it morphed into a frown "...You would expect for all the bragging they do, this would already be over…" Although, he knew that partially the fault rested with him.
"Shit, at this rate the village will be nothing but ruins…" Naofumi muttered before jumping down to ground level. Ryou, watch the shield hero go forward to meet a new group of undead, that were once again starting to fill the square.
Closing his eyes for a small moment, Ryou, took a deep breath.
Hopefully Raphtalia, and Rishia are almost done… With them here we should be able to make some progress, I wanted to keep her away from this but at this rate its impossible…
Opening his eyes, Ryou raised his bow once again, ready to start round two.
He took aim and went to shoot, when something made him launch the arrow sky high. A thunderous roar with different pitches echoed all around the village turning the blood in his veins into ice.
Looking behind he tried to find the cause, before another thunderous sound was heard. A crashing sound of something breaking apart over a tremendous force.
What little was left of Lute Village's gate literally exploded in shards of wood kicking a cloud of dust, and Ryou narrowed his eyes trying to see the culprit.
A big shadow appeared, slowly making its way out of the dust cloud while another roar echoed all through the village.
Wait isn't that thing… Shit! It took only a moment to recognize the new menace, and when it did, Ryou couldn't really halt the dread that pooled in his stomach.
It was large, larger than the Great Dire Wolf had been, purple fur covered its body. It stalked inside the village, crushing one zombie under its paw. Eight pairs of eyes surveyed the village, and another zombie, unlucky enough to cross its path was ripped apart by a lion like head. Another head, resembling a lizard of sorts with horns snarled, and the third one was unmistakably one of a goat. The tail, was waving above the body, like a scorpion's one, only instead of a sting there was a snake or a cobra replacing it.
The boss of the wave… Ryou realized looking apathetically at the creature, although the thoughts that were running through his head told a very different story. Why was it here? Were the others defeated? Was this his own fault? Had he, in his poor judgment doomed them all?
If the others are dead we are done for… If the waves grew exponentially more dangerous with the death of a hero, no miracle would save him or this world, they were already hard enough has it were.
Fists and teeth clenching, Ryou couldn't stop the surge of anger that came over him.
After all the talk and bragging they did, they went and got themselves killed by the very first boss?! Are you serious?!
Between anger and self loathing, Ryou hardly heard Naofumi shouting from under him on ground level.
"What the hell was that Ryou?!" Ryou eyes were locked on the creature, and he ignored the question. It was slowly making its way towards the square passing behind the houses, next to the tool shed he was on, ripping apart any unfortunate creature that got in its way.
After passing another house, Ryou finally had a good look at the beast, his eyes widening in realization after examining it better.
Wait a minute… It's brand new, there isn't a scratch on it… That observation actually gave him some hope, no matter how bad the other heroes were, they would have at least dealt some damage to it. But that brought about another question.
So either they failed to locate the boss or there's two of them...
The creature finally passed the last house and it's heads came into view, bringing out a sharp intake from Naofumi, however even though its eyes had shifted in their direction, the creature continued forward ignoring both of them. Naofumi just watched completely frozen as the creature passed by not even ten meters from them.
It doesn't matter if its a second boss or not, we have to deal with it right here or the wave won't end...
Deciding that now wasn't really the time to ponder on neither the mechanics behind the wave or what had cause this, Ryou crouched on the roof leveling his bow with the creature.
One step, then another, and another. It was more than halfway into the square when the snake tail turned around almost dancing from side to side. Forked tongue tasted the air a couple of time before the snake zeroed in on them.
The Chimera gave a low rumbling, turning his massive body around slowly in their direction, and then another roar was launched directly at them.
"Shit it saw us!" Naofumi cursed before moving in a dash towards it, Ryou for his part just let go of the string, unleashing his favorite skill in quick succession.
"Rapid shot! Rapid Shot! Rapid shot!" A barrage of arrows flew, however instead of blowing holes like they did in the Zombies, the just punctured it, hardly producing any effects.
Its nothing like the rest of the monsters! Its defense its too high for me to deal any true damage! Ryou realized, watching has the creature took off galloping towards them. Following its path with his eyes, he saw what stood directly in the creature's path…
Is he insane?!
The Shield hero stood right in the creature's path, legs spread and feet planted on the ground, with his shield raised in front of him. Releasing another volley with his skill, the arrows embed themselves into the Chimera's chest, and neck once again failing to even slow the creature down.
The creature almost came into smelling distance from Naofumi, when its hind legs bended, and lashed out against the ground sending it into the air. Ryou could only watch in utter disbelief, as the monster completely ignored Naofumi, and sailed over the Shield Hero.
Eyes fixed on the three gaping maws dripping with saliva, and full of very sharp teeth flying through the air in his direction, Ryou dived to the side and off the roof, vocalizing in a slightly higher pitch what he thought about the entire situation in general.
"Nope!"
Turning around in middle air, he observed as the creature obliterated the roof he had been standing, and crashed into the house behind it bringing the whole thing down on it.
Ryou hit the ground on his side, rolling. Standing up a moment later, he didn't even spared a single glance behind him, making a bee line towards Naofumi.
"Come on follow me!" Ryou urged the Shield Hero, before continuing his dash, coming to a stop on the other side of the still burning debris that were once the tower.
"What are we going to do?!" Naofumi hissed, now crouched next to Ryou.
"Listen, I think that thing has really bad vision, it didn't see either of us when it first entered the square even when we were both in plain sight. What saw us was the snake head…" Ryou started explaining, before rising to take a peek. He watched as the creature was slowly crawling out of the house that had fallen on top of it.
"How does that help us?! Even if three heads have bad eyesight, one can still see us just fine."
Crouching again, he turned to Naofumi before continuing with his reasoning "... Some snakes have the ability, to see or sense heat, it's how they hunt…" Naofumi's face only showed confusion, and just as Ryou was about to explain it further, The Shield Hero's head when up looking at the debris they were hiding behind.
"It can't see us if we blend in with other sources of heat." He muttered, eyes still on the flames.
"Not very well at least, we'll use that to confuse it… However we still need to figure out how to deal with it since my attacks aren't dealing that much damage." Ryou took another peek, observing as the creature now out of the debris, searched for them with the snake head dancing above it in an almost mesmerizing fashion.
"Don't you have any other skills or bows?" Naofumi inquired crouching again, after also observing their enemy.
Ryou shook his head, "No nothing that will work better then my rapid shot, and this is my highest attack focused bow." The only other attack he had was the poison arrow, and taking in consideration that Naofumi's Chimera Viper Shield most likely came from this boss, its poison resistance was probably through the roof.
"Should we make a run for it then, using the fire has cover?" Naofumi inquired not seeing a way out, and Ryou once again shook his head.
"We can't, that thing is most likely one off, if not the boss from this wave, this will only end when its dead." Ryou finished bringing out a curse from the shield hero.
"Shit! What can we do then? I for sure can't kill it, and we will be here for a while with just your bow…" Naofumi had apparently reached the same conclusion he had.
"We have to wait for Raphtalia and Rishia, they should be about finished, then we will think of something... It will be better odds at least. " Taking another peek Ryou watched as the Chimera stalked around the square, low rumbling and hisses coming from its heads.
"It might be better odds, but Raphtalia can't deal anymore damage then you can, and with so little blind spots it will be hard for her to even land an attack." Naofumi countered.
"She might not, but Rishia can." He really didn't want the soft spoken girl near it, but at this moment his party member was their best bet. Naofumi however just look dubious at the proclamation.
"I don't really see how she can do any better than you or Raphtalia, she doesn't seem very dependable to me." That brought an hard look out of Ryou. While Rishia's general demeanor might not make for an intimidating sight, her strength even if unpolished was the real deal.
"She might not look like it, but Rishia as both the highest level out of all of us, and she also possesses the strongest destructive capabilities among any of us. Her biggest talent is magic after all, offensive magic." Ryou finished rising to a straight position.
"Well that sounds promising." Naofumi actually looked a little more hopeful, and maybe a little bit impressed.
"We'll see, either way we can't stay here forever. I'm going to try and take a few shots at it using the fire to confuse it, in the meantime try to think of some plan, or something among those lines…" With those instructions Ryou was off leaving the cover, and Naofumi behind.
Eyes leaving the Chimera for a moment he dashed in the direction of a burning carriage. Thankfully there were a lot of things on fire around the square, so there was no shortage of places to hide. The snake head locked on to him for a few moments, and the Chimera turned to face him but made no other movement. The reptile started dancing once again probably confused, since Ryou had reached his goal, the burning carriage now behind him.
Crouching on one knee, Ryou surveyed his surroundings quickly, with his heart beating a little bit quicker in his chest, and adrenaline running through his veins. Finding another piece of flaming debris a little further away, he had an escape plan. Taking careful aim at the creature, he locked on to it, and with a soft whisper Ryou released his arrows.
"Rapid Shot."
This time the arrows carefully aimed, hit the lion's head bringing a flinch along with a shriek out of the creature. One arrow had pierced its nose, the other just below it, almost going through the mouth and the last one hitting just below the eye.
The creature reared itself before galloping at full speed in Ryou's direction, who had expected it and put all his weight in one leg. Waiting until nearly the last moment, he dived to the side, and watched as the Chimera rammed the burning carriage. The carriage was completely obliterated on impact, and the great beast started to back pedal almost tumbling before coming to a full stop. Once again raising its snake head into the air, the creature waved it around, before releasing a frustrated roar.
Ryou, who could almost feel the flames licking his back, observed as the creature released a roar still unaware of his position.
Well now… A grin formed itself in his face. He could most certainly use this hit, and run tactic.
Once again taking mental note of the closest source of fire, still crouching he repeated the process. This time the arrows hit the goat head, and the creature released a growl, before making a mad charge in his direction.
Ryou waited yet again until the last minute before jumping to the side, however the Bow Hero had underestimated the creature who instead of back pedaling like last time instead stuck its claws in the ground, kicking up dust everywhere. By the time he was on his feet the creature was few meters away, already facing in his direction.
"Shit!" He grunted dropping to the ground as a very sharp claw that could probably cut him into ribbons passed above him. Teeth clenched Ryou rolled sideways and raised himself on all fours. Eyes widening, he launched himself sideways again ending on his back, avoiding a gaping maw that had been aimed at his torso.
His chest heaved, before he was forced to roll once more, courtesy of the snake head that came from above crashing and embedding itself on the ground where he had stood previously.
Finally able to come to a standing position, he saw as the snake raised itself again in the air, the other three heads growling at him. Getting ready to put some distance between them, his next actions were brought to a halt when a blue light hit the monster on its side. Lightning danced across its body, as the creature released a deafening shriek, before falling on its side, twitching and growling.
"Fuee! Ryou-sama are you alright?" His partner asked the moment she reached him, face etched in worry, and eyes roaming every inch of his body looking for wounds.
"Yeah, I'm fine Rishia, nice timing by the way!" Ryou answered, giving her a smile and the thumbs up. Rishia's shoulders sagged slightly as she let out a breath of relief.
A growl, had their attention a moment later. Ryou turned towards the monster that was still twitching, but trying to get back up. The lightning bolt certainly courtesy of Rishia had stunned it, but it was clearly very much alive, although its side was now sporting a nasty burn.
"Come on let's regroup!" Ryou shouted urgency lacing his tone, extending one hand towards the girl, who wasted no time in grabbing it and both made a run for the downed tower.
Coming around the tower, Ryou saw Raphtalia fussing over a crouch Naofumi and made his way towards them.
"Is it death?" Naofumi asked, turning towards Ryou who shook his head.
"No, only stunned, although I found something thing is weak to magic, so our best bet is to keep it distracted while Rishia does her thing." Ryou explained, and Naofumi raised an eyebrow.
"Not a bad plan, but lets leave it as a second choice for now, because while you were playing Limbo with that thing, I came up with a plan of my own to take it down, and much faster I might add..." At the slight jab, Ryou threw an annoyed glance at the Shield Hero who was looking just a bit smug, before reining it in.
"Let's hear this plan of yours then."
"Before that, can you use fire magic?" Naofumi asked, motioning his head towards Rishia, who looked unsure but nodded anyways.
"Why fire magic in particular?" If anything Naofumi looked even more smug, oozing with confidence.
"Well, I happen to know this is a mining village. Quick question Ryou, what do miners use to mine?" He asked.
"Are we really playing twenty questions again, when there's a giant monster on the other side!" The Bow Hero hissed between clenched teeth, yet the Shield Hero continued to look expectantly at him, finally throwing his arms into the air Ryou gave up.
"I don't know?! Pickaxes!?" Naofumi shook his head, however Rishia came to the rescue.
"P-Pickaxes, depending on what they are mining, maybe magic or explosives?" She half answered, half asked uncertain. Ryou turned towards her, wheels turning in his head, before looking towards Naofumi who sidestepped, and pointed behind him with a malicious grin blooming on his face.
Ryou followed the finger with his eyes, and on the other side of the square, piled against a house were multiple barrels.
"Take a wild guess what's in those barrels?" Naofumi asked, however Ryou had already connected the dots, his mouth that was slightly open before, formed a very identical grin to the one on the Shield Hero's face.
Naofumi… You magnificent bastard… Apparently just like his canon counterpart, since he didn't have an offensive weapon, Naofumi still had the tendency to find outside of the box solutions.
"Fuee! R-Ryou-sama, N-Naofumi-sama, your b-both making scary faces!" Rishia exclaimed in an hushed tone, and Raphtalia only placed her hand in her forehead, wondering why their chosen heroes, looked far more like villains than anything else.
"Now we just need to get it near the barrels, without any of us being caught up in the blast." Naofumi added, crossing his arms in thought.
Ryou grabbed his chin with one hand, "Well lets pool resources, and see what we can come up with…"
The square was mostly silent, besides the occasional sound of fire crackling, and the heavy thumps of the Chimera stalking around it, trying to find its prey.
"Hey over here!" Naofumi shouted waving a hand in the air, coming from behind the tower.
The snake hissed, although it was drowned by the roar, finally finding its prey the Chimera charged.
Taking a page from Ryou's book, instead of defending, Naofumi dodged behind the tower. The Chimera passed where he had been standing a moment later, paws sliding on the ground, before coming to an halt. The snake head locked on Naofumi who was now running at full speed, and without the cover of fire he was easy to identify.
Naofumi took another look, confirming he was being followed before urging his legs to go faster. Passing in front of another house the Shield Hero's feet went over a chain on the ground, the end embedded in the wall.
On the other end of the chain, stood both Ryou, and Raphtalia slightly glowing with an yellow shine around them, the mark of a defensive buff. Ryou had the chain circling around his arm armor, his other arm grabbing Raphtalia who had the end of the chain loosely tied around her mid-section below Ryou's arm.
This is gonna hurt… Taking a breath he faced the Demi-human that he was holding in what some might consider a rather intimate position, however the situation didn't allow the two to even consider such a thing.
"Ready?" He asked Raphtalia, who nodded with look of pure seriousness and determination on her face. Ryou took another look towards the charging beast, waiting a moment before shouting.
"Now!" And together they pulled through clenched teeth, the chain coming straight hovering a little more then a meter above the ground. The Chimera didn't even see the obstacle, and barreled into it.
Ryou almost screamed both at the pain, and the pressure on his arm, grabbing on with every inch of strength he had both at the chain, and at Raphtalia who had her feet planted on the ground also pulling the chain. One last powerful pull sent them flying into the ground, however the deed had been done.
The creature tumbled, rolling on the ground coming to a stop right next to the barrels, and a moment later a flash of white swallowed it.
The moment Naofumi had passed the chain, Rishia had started chanting her most powerful fire spell, completely focused on the task with closed eyes.
"As source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of Nature, and scorch the land before me!" Flames gathered in front of her hand, condensing into a shining orange ball of fire.
Opening her eyes, she watched has the monster came tumbling towards the barrels. and released the destructive projectile with a mighty shout, the complete opposite of what one would connect with her normal meek attitude.
"Faust Flame Blast!" The ball of destruction shot forwards towards the barrels leaving a trail of flames under it.
Ryou only saw the ball going for the barrels, before covering both his and Raphtalia's head.
The projectile hit the barrels, and the entire village shook with the enormous explosion that took place.