Reluctant Hero | Amaki Ren

Chapter 11 | The Raven Intruder

"Know your duties." 

When Naofumi and Sakura's party arrived at the floating ship where the boss monster was located, they found the three heroes in complete chaos. They were broken apart, holding tightly on to their pride way too tightly that it prevented them from working together. While Motoyasu was dealing with the kraken, Ren was fighting off the Skeleton Pirate. Itsuki was down below shooting arrows at the statue of the ship.

They all claimed that their targets were the ones they needed to finish off first to spawn the Soul Eater.

When Naofumi saw that Motoyasu and Ren were about to fight each other in the middle of a boss fight, he jumped down from Filo and intervened. "This isn't the time to fight each other!" He yells.

"Tsk, go defend some village!" Motoyasu scoffs.

"Yeah, we don't need your incompetent self to--"

"Who's really incompetent here?! Instead of fighting together, you three are doing whatever you want!" Naofumi then turned to Myne. "I don't know what the hell you did to her, but you're the reason why Sakura's not fighting with us in this Wave."

Ren's eyes widened at the sudden revelation. He takes a step forward, worried for the raven-haired girl. "What happened to her?" He asks worriedly.

Naofumi turns to him with a disappointed expression, though it was not directed to him. "Ask them." He looks behind him to see Sakura's party landing down from above, all of them drawing out their weapons to help in the fight.

Haru, who noticed Ren's questioning glance, took a step forward to the Sword Hero. "If you want to know about Sakura-sama's whereabouts, I cannot help you with that. She chose to not fight alongside us or the heroes for..." Haru looked at Myne. "...reasons that even we are unsure of."

Ren was already mad after arguing with Motoyasu, but adding that Myne was the reason for Sakura's absence only fueled his anger more. He doesn't know the entire story. However, he was sure that Sakura is not one to suddenly back down from a serious situation.

"B-but, she was the one who strategized for us." Nami added with a determined expression on his face. "She will be here in no time. Let's trust her."

Naofumi suddenly commands for Raphtalia to summon a flash of light. The demi-human was hesitant, but she obliged and released a bright light with her sword. "Stab the shadow!"

Raphtalia ran over and stabbed down the shadow by the pirate's feet. Ren noticed that it was spawning the Soul Eater. He quickly ran towards the shadow of the kraken and used his own sword to help in releasing the boss monster. The impact managed to summon the Soul Eater in an instant.

Itsuki climbed aboard with his members, stating that Soul Eaters were appearing all around the ship. It all gathered above them and formed one big Soul Eater, impersonating that of a white fish with demonic pinkish eyes. The three heroes were fast to send their own skills towards the monster, but none of them had any effect on the Soul Eater.

"Tsk, we can't beat it with just lightning." Naofumi thought. "If Sakura was here, she would be able to sneak up close and use her daggers to deal more damage."

"Don't worry," Haru said beside him. "I'm sure she will arrive soon. Until then,"

He pointed his rapier towards the Soul Eater and released a battle cry. Nami followed up by summoning flat shields on the air to help Haru and Ria run up to get up close. They expertly slashed at the Soul Eater and dealt more damage than the three heroes combined.

Ren's eyes widened at their swordsmanship. It looked familiar. That form was the same Sakura once had when she had a duel against him. "They learned all that from her this quick?"