The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 05 (21 page)

“HAAAAAA!”

The crackling circle of light slammed into to my shield and sent sparks flying in all directions.

The shield was strong enough to stop it, but if the skill had hit at a bad angle, there would have been real trouble to deal with.

“Hey, hey! You were able to stop my electric circle—pretty good!”

I had the Soul Eater Shield equipped, and its counter effect, soul eat, activated, sapping L’Arc of strength.

“What? What’s that? Doesn’t hurt much.”

But he was shocked and thrown off guard. It was like he couldn’t figure out what kind of attack he was dealing with.

Soul eat was a counter attack that activated whenever I successfully blocked an enemy’s attack.

The shield itself moved, and it stole the enemy’s magic power.

If the enemy was a hero, I wondered if it would decrease their SP.

It didn’t deal any physical damage directly, but it did it in an indirect way.

If the enemy was good with magic, then they would find their spells less and less effective.

“Heh, you’ll have to do better than that.”

“I figured as much. You didn’t even flinch. Therese!”

“Shining stones, karma fire!”

Therese cast a spell and sent it flying at me. The spell made something like a giant wave of lava, and it was rushing straight at me.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to withstand it.

“You better not forget about us!”

“Or meeeee!”

Raphtalia and Filo jumped forward from the back line and both started furiously attacking L’Arc.

“Ha!”

L’Arc back-stepped away from their attacks. They were within inches of connecting.

They kept up the barrage. Sometimes he dodged, sometimes he blocked, and sometimes he parried their weapons away.

Were they telegraphing their moves that much?

Therese continued to cast magic spells. I used the shield to charge forward, pushing L’Arc back so that I could block the spells.

But the second the magic hit me, it split apart and turned away.

For a split second, I thought I could hear a small voice saying “I’m sorry.”

“What was that?”

“I know. You don’t want to fight him.”

Therese looked very sad. She was talking to her bracelet.

It was the bracelet I’d made for her.

“Therese! Use that spell on him!”

“Yes, I know!”

What were they talking about?! She turned to cast something on me.

It was starting to look like the only way out of this was straight through. We had to win the fight.

Besides, they weren’t from this world, and they had come here specifically to kill me.

If that was true, then there was no way I was going to escape from the battle, and if there was no way to escape then there were plenty of people there that I had to protect. L’Arc and Therese said that they didn’t want to hurt anyone else, but there was no way for them to escape.

“Raphtalia! Filo! I’m going to open him up to attack—you two rush in when you see a chance!”

“Yes!”

“Okay!”

I turned my gaze back to L’Arc. I was going to have to find some way to trip him up.

“Air strike shield! Second shield!”

I summoned two shields, one at his back and one at his stomach—I was hoping to restrict his movement.

The normal way to use the skill was to summon a shield to block an enemy’s attack—then you could use change shield to switch to a shield with a counter attack ability to deal some damage.

But when you were fighting against a person, or other enemies that could move quickly, there was another way to use the skill. And that was to summon the shields in such a way as to limit the enemy’s movement.

My strategy was to think about how he might try to dodge an attack. I’d seen him back-step, so I summoned a shield behind him to prevent any retreat.

If he tried to jump back, he’d hit that shield, but what if there was another shield in front of him to block him moving forward?

That was my plan.

“Huh?”

L’Arc tried to dodge Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks, but when he tried to move a clanging sound indicated he would not be able to.

“Now!”

“Hyaaaaaa!”

“Take that!”

Raphtalia sliced with her sword from the right. Filo swiped with her claws from the left.

“Floating scythe!”

L’Arc’s empty hand was suddenly filled with another scythe, a mysterious one that seemed to float. He used the blade to block Raphtalia’s attack and then pushed Filo back using the handle.

“That was close. Naofumi, I see what you mean about strategizing now. I’d figured the Shield Hero wouldn’t have too many attacks up his sleeve, but I guess I better be more careful around you.”

“We’re not done yet! HAAAAA!”

Raphtalia reared back from the blocked attack and stabbed forward again.

A scythe was like a spear: the user blocked attacks with the handle. Which meant that it would be very difficult to block a stabbing attack.

“I’m not done with her!”

Filo flexed her arms and, bracing her foot, pushed back on the scythe handle that had blocked her last attack.

“Not so easy!”

L’Arc jumped straight up into the air, and both Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks slipped into the space between the shields where he had been standing.

“Therese? Still not ready?!”

“It’s ready!”

Therese raised her hands and began chanting a spell.

“All-encompassing power of the jewel, hear my plea and show yourself. My name is Therese Alexanderite. I am your friend. Destroy their unshakable protection!”

“Shining stones! Protection shatter!”

A flickering light flew at me. I wouldn’t let it hit me!

I jumped to the side to avoid the spell. It flew past me, then it turned and kept coming like a guided missile.

“Mr. Naofumi!”

“I’m fine! Focus on your attack! You don’t have the time to worry about me!”

“He’s right. But Naofumi, you really need to pay attention too!”

“ . . . .”

He blocked Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks.

But I felt like they were getting closer to breaking through. If they were close, then there was one last thing I could try.

I kept dodging Therese’s persistent spell as I chanted a spell of my own.

“That won’t be easy! L’Arc!”

The light from her spell grew stronger, then expanded to completely engulf me. I felt it seeping into me.

I couldn’t get away from it.

I felt like it was draining away my energy.

I quickly opened a menu to check my stats. Sure enough, my defense stat was blinking as the number dropped.

They’d noticed how high my defense rating was, and they were trying to deplete it with support magic

“Source of all power, I am the Shield Hero! Hear my words and heed them! Support them!”

“Zweite Aura!”

I had to respond with support magic of my own. I cast aura on Filo and Raphtalia, raising all of their stats!

It was affecting me too, raising my defense as it fell, effectively rendering their magic ineffective. Not only that, but it was raising all my other stats at the same time.

“Sorry to tell you, but that spell of yours won’t really work on me.”

“Guess you’re right, kiddo. Therese!”

“Raphtalia, you focus your attacks on Therese. Filo, stick with me! We’re taking out L’Arc!”

“Okay!”

“Understood!”

This time I would hold him down directly and get Filo to use her best attack on him.

He’d only be able to target me, and I wouldn’t have to try and dodge his attacks.

“This is good. That’s starting to hurt a little!”

L’Arc let out a sincere laugh, like he was actually enjoying himself. He swung his scythe at me.

Therese was dodging Raphtalia’s attacks and casting a spell. When she couldn't dodge, her bracelet flashed and a magic barrier appeared to block Raphtalia’s sword.

“Naofumi, aren’t you enjoying this too?

“I don’t have the time to enjoy myself!”

But he was right in the way. I was getting so worked up by the battle that I didn’t really have the time to remember why we were fighting in the first place.

That’s what a direct battle was like. It wasn’t about standing back and thinking and planning a strategy—it was about being there in the thick of it, reacting.

L’Arc. The guy was mysterious.

I knew he was my enemy, but I couldn’t bring myself to hate him.

Did it mean that I was still holding back?

Was this the way a coward thought?

I couldn’t laugh at the others who still treated this world like it was a game. We weren’t supposed to enjoy battle and yet . . . .

I wanted to know. I wanted to know who would win.

He kept coming at me with the scythe. Sometimes I dodged and sometimes I blocked it and was showered with sparks. It was all very mesmerizing.

I didn’t have any way to attack him. So I did what I could—I grabbed his wrist and held him back.

“Filo!”

“Yup!”

Filo crossed her arms and her claws filled with wind. She sent them flying at L’Arc.

“Wind claw!”

“Oh!”

There was a tearing sound, and two red lines appeared on L’Arc cheek and arms.

The cuts were not deep. But I still had a grip on him!

“Not bad! Let me repay you! Spirit scythe! Protection break!”

His scythe flashed brightly, and the tip touched my shoulder.

That was all.

And yet a searing spike of pain ran through my body, and my hand let go of his wrist almost on its own.

“Damn . . . .”

What?!”

L’Arc jumped away, dodging Filo’s second attack.

“Well, looks like we found what works against the Shield Hero.”

“Mr. Naofumi!”

Raphtalia shouted my name, though she was still locked in battle with Therese.

I was holding my shoulder to keep myself from bleeding out. I needed to get a healing spell cast, and fast.

“You’re looking at me like you don’t understand what just happened.”

“Not quite.”

I could think of a few explanations.

It could have been a defense ignoring attack.

Glass had done something similar when we’d fought during the last wave. It was one of the only ways to hurt someone with a high defense rating.

Those types of attacks dealt damage irrespective of your defense rating.

If I was dealing with something like that, then I’d have to give up the option of blocking the attack. The only way to avoid injury was to dodge.

The other possibility was not good at all.

“A defense rating attack.”

“Bingo, kiddo. That defense rating of yours is a liability now, eh?”

When Glass had attacked us, I’d been using the Shield of Rage, which had a high defense rating anyway, so it was hard to figure out what was going on.

I’d only been touched by the tip of his scythe, but he’d dealt some serious damage. If he’d hit me with the full attack, I wasn’t going to make it out of this with just a scratch.

Should I switch to a shield with a lower defense rating?

If I did that, I wouldn't be able to block his regular attacks though. This wasn’t a good choice to be forced into.

Still, there was a weakness to defense ignoring attacks.

I didn’t really know what kind of weapon he was using, but it seemed to be a lot like the hero’s legendary weapons—and the legendary weapons had attack skills.

If that attack was one of those, then it would have a cool down time or it would use up his SP.

But I’d just hit him with soul eat, so he shouldn’t have much SP left.

I assumed he wouldn’t be able to use his new attack very many times.

“You might just decide not to block my next attack though.”

“Yeah, there’s no rule that says I can’t just dodge.”

Being the Shield Hero didn’t mean that I had to use my shield all the time.

If he was only attacking me, it made since to prioritize avoiding his attacks.

“But I might not need to. I think that defense ignoring attack of yours has a major weakness.”

I was half bluffing to see how he reacted.

I didn’t know if he was going to answer me honestly, but I tried to think of a way around the attack regardless.

“It won’t be effective against my indirect defense skills, like air strike shield and second shield.”

It would probably break through the skill though.

But that was fine, as long as it didn’t hit me directly. So I still had a way to block that attack.

If he was able to use the skill quickly, time after time, then I’d have to defend against it with a shield that had a lower defense rating.

The Chimera Viper Shield had a counter attack that would poison the enemy—that might work out well.

“Correct. It only works if I can hit you directly.”

“You don’t have to tell me the rest.”

He didn’t have to give away his plan. That was suicidal.

I didn’t need him to do anything like that. I just needed to take the initiative and see what happened.

Besides, I still needed to keep an eye on Raphtalia and Filo. Filo continued attacking L’Arc, but he was quick on his feet, dodging all of her attacks with relative ease. If he used a ranged attack then I would have to jump in to defend the others.

“Let’s get back to it!”

L’Arc swung his scythe. The blade was glowing.

That meant that he was using a defense-ignoring attack!

I turned on my feet and dodged it.

“Yikes!”

“Now!”

Filo ducked low and swung around behind him; her claws flashed.

“Hya!”

“Argh! Damn. That was a good one. I didn’t think you were going to dodge that.”

“Of course I would, right? Why should I try to block all the attacks? There’s only one real job for a shielder; you know that I’m talking about?”

I only had to do one thing—protect. If the shield was the problem, then I just needed to dodge the attack.

I wasn’t some sort of mindless wall for the party. You didn’t need a person to do a job like that.

“This is getting better and better! Naofumi, I feel like I’m getting stronger the longer I fight you.”

“Ha! Leveling up in the middle of a fight are you? Cut the jokes. You’re no hero.”