Reluctant Hero | Amaki Ren

Chapter 7 | The First Wave

"Vultures always find a way to get what they want."

The day of the first Wave has finally arrived. Sakura made sure that her party members were all fully equipped for what is to come. She still has yet to know about the monsters to appear during the Wave of Catastrophe, but she had a vague idea when Haru told her about the past Wave that they had to fight off by themselves because there were no Cardinal heroes present to protect them.

She stands in front of her party, arms folded as they waited in the midst of the grassy field for the countdown to end. When she looked at the timer above her vision, she sees that they only have a minute left until they get transported to the place where the Wave will appear. This is the task she was forced to do for her to return to her world. There is no justice to what she is doing in the first place. She was summoned here without her consent, forced to fight for a kingdom she doesn't even know, and protect people who degrade their said heroes.

Just thinking about it already infuriated her to no end. 

Her eyes glanced back at the timer, watching as it strike zero. The sky darkened into a bloody shade of red, the same time their bodies glowed. Before they knew it, they were transported in the middle of the woods with the Wave of Catastrophe hovering above. The negatively colored spirals were portals for the dimensional monsters to appear and torment the world.

Sakura looks around to see Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu summoned with her along with their parties. She only ignored their presence and turned to Freya. "Use your search ability, Freya."

"Got it,"

Her eyes glowed upon using her magic. "Sakura-san, let's go." Itsuki invites.

"Sakura-sama, there's a nearby village at the right side of the forest." Freya points to the direction of the village she managed to spot with her magic. Sakura looks back at Itsuki.

"Where are you heading?" She asks.

"In the middle of the forest. The boss monsters are bound to be there."

"My party and I are going to protect the village from the monsters. Feel free to join us if you'd like." Sakura turned to her members. "Let's go."

She took out her daggers from their scabbards and held them upside down, her pointer fingers curled at the end of the handles. She uses it to teleport her entire team to the village. When they arrived, she managed to catch sight of a rain of fire arrows falling down the village without mercy. Her eyes widened at the damage it caused.

The monsters were certainly still alive. It only ruined the village and their homes.

"Sakura-sama, the royal knights initiated the fire arrows!" Ria reports.

"Those damn knights. Do they even care for their people?" She scowled. "Prioritize evacuating the villagers. Nami, you're with me. Ria, you're in-charge of leading the villagers to safety. Freya and Haru will keep the monsters at bay."

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

They split their forces according to her command. Nami runs to follow Sakura going after the large armored monsters. She twirled her blade expertly and launched herself up in the air, spinning around to slice the armored monster in two vertically.

Nami summoned a barrier behind her and stopped the skeleton soldiers from getting near her as she landed on her feet. Sakura turns to the frightened royal knights with a merciless scowl. "The fire arrows only made the situation worse, scumbags. Get up!"

She didn't waste her time waiting for their response and only focused on finishing off the rest of the monsters present in the area. She was sure that three of her members can take care of the villagers. Their only focus now is to defeat the rest of them until the Wave is over. Her figure dashed around the village, protecting the other villagers who were near her area.