Chapter 11: The Hero’s Parting Gift

Chapter 11:
The Hero’s Parting Gift

 

THE OVERWHELMING FOE that emerged from the Stone of Peace utterly terrified me. I just wanted to run away. Clad head-to-toe in gleaming plate armor, it wielded a sword that could cleave a mountain in two. When I used my Discerning Eye on him, I just wanted to cry.

 

Name: Gaien Guardian 4

Level: 250

Skills: Greatsword Ability (Grade C); Physical Resistance (Grade A); Abnormal Status Effect Immunity (Grade S)

 

The perfect offense combined with the perfect defense. In life, Gaien had probably used it as a guard. It’s level was on par with the magmafish, but it towered over that monster. At least the fish had been kind of cute.

“I’m, uh, not sure we can handle this…” Emma said.

“I agree,” I said. “Normally, I’d say we should run.”

But it was right in the middle of town. That was a massive problem. If we left it here and it started joining the destruction, it would do more damage than that wyvern ever could have.

“We don’t have a choice,” Luna said. “We have to protect the townsfolk.”

She struck a gallant pose and fired off several Speed Shots. I was about to cheer her on, but they had no effect on the creature at all. Not only did this thing wear armor, its body had a strong resistance to attack. How were we supposed to fight something like this?

The guardian prepared to swing its sword.

“We should get back.”

We turned and ran away together. The guardian was heavy, so its movements were slow. We safely dashed out of range, but it brought the sword down anyway—reducing the fountain to rubble. If that had been us, we’d all be dead.

We split up and surrounded it. That way whoever stood behind it could attack. Tragically, we still couldn’t do any damage. I dodged toward the creature’s feet with my mallet. I mean, its greatsword was so long that it would struggle to attack something at close range, right?

“PRAISE BE TO GAIEN!”

“I’d rather die than praise that evil jerk!”

I hit the guardian hard as I could, but my mallet bounced right off the armor. That wasn’t going to work either.

“Noir, look out!”

“Wah?!”

The guardian lifted one massive boot and tried to stomp down on me. If it succeeded, I’d be crushed to a pulp. I scrambled out of the way as fast as I could.

That was close!

Luna and Emma kept firing off rounds and spells, but the creature didn’t even flinch. It just continued swinging its sword, smashing the cobblestones to pieces and sending fragments flying. What were we going to do?

I thought back to all my previous battles and remembered another strong-but-slow opponent I’d faced once: the dead reaper on the third floor of the hidden dungeon. It had a one-hit kill attack, and I’d defeated it by slowing its movement.

I checked how much it’d cost to Bestow the skill Heavy on the guardian. On a more nimble enemy, that required a large amount of LP, but on this guy? It was only around 400 LP to create and Bestow the skill. I went ahead with my plan, and it slowed the guardian down considerably.

“Did you do something?” Emma asked.

“I gave it Heavy.”

“Smart!”

“But it’s just slower, it’s not weaker. Also, it doesn’t seem particularly interested in us. It looks like it’s trying to get to the houses.”

That greatsword could do some serious damage to those buildings.

“What if we all attack the same weak point together?” Luna suggested. “Could we get through its armor that way?”

“Might as well give it a shot.”

We focused our attacks on the guardian’s right foot. I fired off an Icicle, a Stone Bullet, and an Iceball, but none had any effect. Lightning Strike was much the same. The guardian just kept moving like nothing had happened. I could always break its Physical Resistance skill, but that would take more LP than I had to call on.

“Damn… What do we do?”

“Hey, look over there!”

Emma pointed toward a man rushing toward us, cutting through monsters like butter. Before we knew it, he was at our side.

“General Stey!”

“Stardia, situation report.”

The general listened to my hasty explanation as he held guard against the creature.

“Gaien’s Stone of Peace attracts the monsters,” I said. “But breaking it meant unleashing a powerful enemy. Under the circumstances, I opted to break the stone. This is what came out.”

I was afraid he’d think I’d made a grave mistake, but he clapped me on the shoulder.

“Excellent judgment. I knew you had potential.”

“Th-thank you!” I stammered.

I explained the guardian’s abilities as quickly as I could.

“I’m going to see if I can get past its skills,” said Stey. “Back me up.”

The general charged the guardian head-on. Honestly, I thought he had lost his mind. The guardian swung its greatsword but the general just dodged and ran up its greatsword as though it was nothing.

“PRAISE BE TO GAIEN! GLORY TO GAIEN!”

“False heroes deserve no such honor.” Stey jumped and buried his blade in the guardian’s shoulder.

“Gahh?!”

We hadn’t even put a scratch on the guardian, but Stey flew in and chopped off an entire arm. I couldn’t tell if Stey had aimed for a gap in its armor or just cleaved right through it. One thing was clear either way: General Stey was no ordinary fighter.

Maybe it was his Iron Cutter skill? Before I had the chance to figure it out, General Stey called out again.

“Why don’t you show me your skill with that bow?”

At first, I thought he was talking to me, but I wasn’t holding a bow. Then the arrows came flying in, aiming for the wound where the guardian’s arm had been and exploding in plumes of fire. I followed the paths of the arrows and found Lyrica, master archer, smiling on the rooftop.

“Listen up, Noir,” she called. “One of the keys to archery is attacking from a spot your opponent can’t reach. Gotta take ’em when they can’t fight back, you know?”

Despite the rather unsavory undertone, it sounded like good strategy, and her attack had visibly weakened the guardian. The general took the opportunity to lob off its other arm, and its greatsword clattered down into the square.

“You’re up next, Stardia.”

“Noir,” Lyrica shouted, “just follow my example and you’ll do great.”

“Got it.”

I took out my enchanted bow and aimed an Exploding Arrow at the guardian’s exposed flesh. At last, the arrow did considerable damage.

“Good job,” said Stey. “But the enemy isn’t finished yet, don’t let your guard down.”

With no other way to attack, the guardian tried to trample us under its feet.

“I’ll bait it,” Emma said. “Then all of you can attack.”

She was quick on her feet and had wind magic, so she provoked the creature into following her, dashing out of the way just before getting trampled. My heart was in my throat the whole time.

Luna fired off several rounds with her magical firearm and the guardian lurched backward.

“Hm, it’s weak where its head connects to its body,” she said.

Thanks, Luna! Now I knew just where to attack.

“You need a spear,” Stey called. “Do you have one?”

“I have one with piercing strength.”

“All right,” he said. “I’ll toss you up. Aim for its throat.”

“Got it.”

The general clasped his hands and held them out to boost me up. I took a running start and jumped onto his palms.

“Go!”

His arms sank slightly, then launched me straight up into the air. As expected, his aim was excellent. I didn’t even have to maneuver in the air. I flew straight at the guardian’s neck.

“Ooooh!”

I let out an unseemly yell and stabbed the guardian right through where its Adam’s apple should’ve been. There was a lot of resistance, but I pushed through using every ounce of my strength. With the help of all my skills, I drove the spear into the guardian’s neck. It groaned and toppled backwards.

Once it landed, I yanked the spear back and took a deep breath, shaking.

“Nooooir!”

It was Lola and Leila! I was so glad they were okay.

“We got the ghouls,” Leila reported. “Wow, this thing looks like a real nightmare. Look at that sword…”

“You can say that again. I thought I was gonna die.”

“Goodness, sounds like you had it rough,” said Lola. “Good work!”

I smiled at her, but my good mood was destroyed by an astonished shout from General Stey.

“Stardia! It’s still alive!”

A shadow fell over me. And when I turned, I saw the guardian looming over me like a mountain. It was trying to crush me under its boot again! My first instinct was to run, but I was so exhausted. Instead, I tripped and landed on the cobbles.

No way could I escape in time, but I could at least make sure Lola and Leila were safe. I glanced toward them and saw that, for some reason, Lola was holding the guardian’s massive sword.

Wh-what was going on? Surely that was too heavy, even for her.

She swung it with no problem.

“Be a good boy and die already.”

Shwump! The guardian’s head split cleanly in two, right through the helmet. It definitely couldn’t survive that.

It was finally over. The square fell deathly silent as everyone stared at Lola. She calmly set the sword down and wiped the sweat from her brow.

“The neat thing about humans is that we can do anything if we set our minds to it,” she said.

“I’m pretty sure you’re literally the only person who could do that.”

“Oh, don’t be silly.”

But I was right. She really was exceptional. Who could have guessed that she could go toe-to-toe with a monster like that? Her superhuman strength was really something!