The Wrong Hero

Chapter 70 - Therapeutic

"Of all the stupid fucking shit that could have happened, someone had to go ahead and release the damn turtle!? I'm going to kill them! I'm going to murder them! I'm going to tear off their arms and burn them to ash!"

Dante had been yelling since the notification popped up in his status. The angry tirade had been going on for almost five minutes and he was repeating himself often. The others didn't want to get in his way, likely worried he might lash out at them.

It wasn't unfounded, since he wanted something to kill.

The time he spent ranting wasn't wasted. At least, not entirely. He'd taken to hacking away at the flesh of the Wave boss, the Vassal Axe being handy for such a thing. Since he was clearly dissecting the dead monster to absorb it and not at all letting out his frustrations, his shield didn't complain about using a weapon. This dead monster was no more a threat than the trees he felled with the same axe.

Eventually realizing something was wrong, Atla came over on Lilith to calm him down.

"Alright." Dante said, having already taken a few deep breaths, rewrapped the cursed axe in the blessed cloth and stored it on his back with the harness once more. "Alright..."

"Are you done freaking out over nothing?" Itsuki asked condescendingly.

"The Guardian Beasts aren't nothing!" Dante barked at him. "They're meant to protect the world from the Waves if the heroes can't, and someone just woke one of them up!"

"Maybe we should discuss this back on the ship?" Motoyasu offered. "We can gather up the Wave boss remains and figure out what to do next."

Everyone settled on that idea, including Dante. It would give him some time to cool off properly.

The revealed shields had good stats. It wasn't hard to figure out which one Naofumi used out of the bunch. The Whale Magic Core Shield was the best. After awakening it, Dante realized why he wouldn't be using it in the fight to come. The shield had a water element, and he was pretty sure the Spirit Tortoise's main attack was some sort of lightning breath.

Once they were back on the ship, the heroes had their meeting. Glass, L'arc, and Therese joined them, with minimal awkwardness from one of them having fought against the four heroes before. Unfortunately for Dante's mood, Aultcray sat in for the meeting. He was the former Staff Hero, the current king of Melromarc, and might possibly have some insight into the current situation. Dante couldn't give a real reason to exclude him, outside of personal enmity.

However, aside from Therese and Aultcray, no other non-heroes were present. That was especially true for Atla and Fohl, neither of whom wanting to be near their uncle.

Together, everyone pulled their knowledge of the Spirit Tortoise, either from their games, the books, or personal experience of a similar monster.

"This is the consensus." Aultcray spoke. "The Spirit Tortoise uses familiars to collect the souls of people and monsters from far off. Those killed can then be turned into familiars to expand further outwards. The Spirit Tortoise itself has a powerful lightning attack in addition to its massive size and physical attack, as well as an impressive regeneration ability. It can also drain the MP of those close by, as well as SP from heroes, and has strong gravity magic."

Both the heroes from this world and the other nodded in agreement before Aultcray continued.

"What's more, the Shield Hero speculates that the Spirit Tortoise may have additional abilities, dependent on who awakened it and if they are in control of it. Further, to defeat it, a sealing spell is required to be used on the heart at the same time its head is destroyed."