The Wrong Hero

Chapter 56 - Repercussions

Dante needed a new shield.

While his go-to shield for combat has been serving him well, he knew there were better options out there. The closest he had was the Titanic Ogre Shield. He upgraded it to the same level as his Dark Tyrannosaurus Shield, and it gave him a decently higher attack and strength stat. If it had the Shock effect from his Dark Tyrannosaurus Shield, it might have worked against Conrad and the Axe Hero, instead of doing nothing. However, every other stat was lower, especially his agility.

It's not as though he wasn't copying shields. He even had specially crafted shields brought to him, though even those weren't up to the same level. A few dragon type shields he unlocked looked to have good base stats, but they upgraded poorly. Of course, those were revealed with old scales, claws, and whatnot. Never a true dragon corpse. It was a drawback of not doing proper adventuring.

The benefits couldn't be ignored. They were able to get just about anything they needed from Siltvelt, for a price. That included Sadeena's new harpoon. They had gone to the shops to find one that suited Sadeena. After a few dozen samples, she found a good one.

Of course, this need wasn't an immediate problem. If things worked out like the books, an idea he'd normally hold with little regard, tomorrow's wave would have the Soul Eater as its boss.

They were going back to Melromarc.

When they heard the news, Werner, Jaralis, Noaroa, Ushan, and every other tribe head he happened to run into pleaded with him not to go. They all had a few reasons, but he always heard one in particular: he was wanted. Dante didn't concern himself with that. He would go, fight the wave, protect the people, and return. If anyone interfered, he'd put them in their place.

Eclair was disappointed, due to the fact she wouldn't be able to face Aultcray. While her closure was important, she was well aware it would cause unneeded conflict.

Most of the preparations were done. The only thing left was figure out what all his curse could do.

"Ready?" Dante asked.

"Ready, little Dante~." Sadeena gave him a wave.

"Yes, Mister Dante!" Atla enthused.

The two of them were to watch as Dante cast a few spells and tell him what they noticed. With Sadeena's use of Way of the Dragon Vein and Atla's life force sensing, they had a good range. Due to the test involving a curse, a priest from the church was present in the village. He gave a nod to Dante's question.

Incidentally, while Atla and Sadeena stood back, Keel had a hold on Dante. He received his obligatory teasing when he volunteered, even while staying in his therianthrope form.

Starting with something simple, Dante cast a spell he already knew, just not at that level.

"Drifa Fire Shot!" He launched the spell at the target, destroying it.

The result: no apparent change. The priest used a lens he saw the healer use a couple times before, and his conclusion matched the other two's.

"Alright. Now I'll try a different spell. Any suggestions?" Dante asked the group.

Sadeena hummed. "Well, since you have a fire attribute, why not a water spell~?"

Dante nodded and turned back. The curse he got wasn't limited to Way of the Dragon Vein, after all. It read as much in his status.

Curse of Greed. Magical aptness. Endowment reduction.

As far as he was aware, he could cast any spell that existed. That wasn't to say he knew every spell. It was more like intuition and desire. If there was an effect he wanted to create with magic and the spell existed, it temporarily appeared in his mind. That also meant he couldn't add points to those spells with the Staff's power up. He was also a little faster at casting spells, though he'd been steadily getting faster as he practiced. It was somewhat ironic, since he was pretty sure the Staff gave every magic attribute to its wielder and greatly increased casting speed.