The Death of... (Part 1)

"Wow, these monsters smell so bad!" Filo shouted in disgust after sniffing another corpse.

We were hiking up and through the mountains for about forty minutes, and end still doesn't appear in sight.

"Do you really have to smell and taste almost every single monster?" Raphtalia sighed, walking besides the carriage. Naofumi and I agreed with her, although Wolf begged to differ. To think Wolf and Filo has something in common, what a strange world.

Oh yes, the carriage. Apparently Filo didn't want to leave the carriages and carts behind, and threw a fit until Naofumi finally agreed to let her pull the carriage.

At least there was a mountain path that leads towards the top of the mountain and towards other countries, otherwise the cart would just tip off. That's how we were advancing up the mountain, no matter how slow we are. No wonder its taking so long to reach the destination.

Curses.

The monsters we met along the way were just the standard poisonous ones, nothing too special. They're just the appetizer after all. The main course awaits.

Still, we picked them off easily, with Naofumi absorbing their parts along the way. As we had already absorbed them, I just sat on the carriage.

As we got higher and higher up the mountain, more monsters would appear. We beat them, and even more monsters would appear. It got to the point where I had to take action, sniping them one by one, with the rest of the party on the frontlines.

Even with our overpowered party, fighting against a horde of mosnters without huge AOE type attacks will be too troublesome.

Naofumi had the right idea, because he shouted to Filo-

"They're too many! Filo, get us out of here!"

"Okay!"

With that said, we all got onto the carriage while Filo was preparing herself. Seconds later, she pulled all her strength into the carriage, running at full speed. Wolf flew besides us, unperturbed by the sudden change of speed. With Filo's speed and strength, enemies got in the way were trampled.

We still gained experience, even if its only a little.

We met several newer monsters along the way, one of them appearing to be a mud monster, but we made quick work-meaning I oneshotting it-and Naofumi and I absorbed its remains.

...

"Phew, we made it," Naofumi stretched in relief.

After a couple minutes, we finally reached what seems to be the top of the mountain, and we saw the source of the disease.

The dragon was around ten meters, and looked like those standard medieval dragons, with reptilian like skin, wings, etc. Well it used to, because now the corpse looked so distorted, it was hard to actually describe. It just looks like blackened skin sticking to bones, its meat still connected to the bones.

Looking at what seems to be its stomach, we saw it was slashed opened. Probably by a single strike. There was a deep cut there, rotting organs and the like spilling from the opening. Poisonous Flies from the mountains were gathered over the rotting meet.

Looking at it makes me want to barf, even when I have no food in my being. It is truly disgusting. Why'd you do this to us, Ren?

With the way the dragon's corpse looked like, it was obviously reeking the stench of rot, poison, death, you name it.

"Disgusting."

Wolf snarled, trying to shake his head from the smell. Our sentiments were shared, as all our noses involuntarily twisted. It was truly disgusting.

"Master, I'm hungry!"

We all looked at Filo with astonishment and confusion, well, all but Wolf. He understands how she feels.

Naofumi's eyes were twitching once more. With the amount of eye twitching he's done, it'll be ingrained as a habit that he can't control.

Or it already is one.

"Looking at this, how can you stilll say that you're hungry?!"

By then Filo was rummaging in the carriage, looking for things to eat.

We easily dealt with the flies as Filo started eating, After we killed the last of them, Filo finally came out of the carriage, her belly full.

"Ugh, I feel yucky..."

"You just ate too much," Naofumi said as he glared at her.

With that being said, Raphtalia walked over to the corpse, and was about to start chopping it to pieces...until...

I stared closely at the corpse.

Anytime now...

All of a sudden, we heard a rumble, with Raphtalia staggering back.

"Was that just me?" Naofumi looked around, readying his shield.

All of a sudden, the corpse suddenly pounced into the air, stretching its clawless feet. It lunged, roaring loudly with its teethless mouth. It prepared to bite down on the closest person-

Raphtalia.

"Raphtalia!"

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[Naofumi] POV

I cursed underneath my breath

The dragon lunged at us, we were caught off guard.

Before I was able to use Air Strike Shield, a couple arrows landed at its head, pushing it back.

Kindred-no, Lamb-calmly began to draw an arrow from who knows where, notching it into her bow. Her bow's strings mysteriously appeared in a blue light, for also some reason I don't know. Magic I guess.

I swear, I can't tell what she's thinking with that mask on.

I rushed over to Raphtalia, standing in front of her.

Still, Zombie Dragons? Are you kidding me! I've seen them in games before, and they were always more powerful than when they were alive!

It could be the same in this world. Let's not take any chances.

Reeling back from the knockback of the somewhat effective arrows, the dragon rose to its feet, its joints cranking like a creaky door, and it started regenerate its body parts, and turned to face us.

The rotting meat became liquid, flowing over its decayed body, moving towards the wings and tails quickly, and it grew. Its wings quickly regenerated, its tail lashing back and forth in anger. It seemed the claws and fangs would take a bit longer.

The same thing was already happeing to its regenerating organs, and looking at the once fatal wound on its belly, it had already closed. That's not good.

We can't let it regenerate any further, and apparently Kindred was thinking along the same lines.

"Now Wolf!"

While Lamb kept firing her arrows, Wolf rushed onto its body, biting and tearing everywhere around it.

The dragon roared in anger, trying to swipe it off, but it just phased passed Wolf, who was latching onto it too tightly. Although they were doing a lot of damage, the dragon is undead, and so what normally kills monsters won't work, but they can at least hold it down.

Although we can try to escape, it'll probably chase us quickly, with the chance of it attacking the healing village. I believe we can kill this dead dragon, just like Ren did. We can't let a chance like this pass, with its claws and teeth not regenerating yet, otherwise we wouldn't stand a chance.

That means we have to fight!

"Filo! Raphtalia!"

""Right!""

Raphtalia rushed over to the undead dragon, who was still trying to get Wolf off, and ran up the neck, delivering a solid kick on the head.

It was a satisfying crunch, the dragon bending over backwards due to the knockback, and when I was about to smile, I saw its belly swelled, and that swelling moved up to its throat. Gas seemed to appear from its mouth.

Is that...a dragon breath attack?!

"Filo! Raphtalia! Stand back!"

"No I wanna attack now!"

Before she had a chance to move, I just got in front of her when the beast opened its mouth, breathing out a heavy purple cloud of gas in our direction.

With Raptalia already moving behind me, and I switched to the Chimera Viper Shield. I got the shield from the Chimera boss, and it had the highest defense in my arsenal.

I held up my shield, trying to block off the bellowing gas, but-

It flew right past me.

"What-!"

"Cough! Cough!"

The breath was so noxious, my head was reeling back, and trying to breathe hurts, even with my Poison Resistance.

"Cough!"

Raphtalia was already coughing harshly.

However, Filo on the other hand seemed be fine-she probably just held in her breath-and ran around it, kicking its flank. The dragon, already being occupied with Kindred, and so wasn't able to dodge her kick, making it crash sideways onto the ground.

That gave me some time to check on Raphtalia, who was on the ground.

"Raphtalia! Are you okay!"

"Ye-*cough! *Cough!"

She tried to say she was alright through her tears, but she was unable to say anything. She was coughing too much to say anything clearly.

She always had weak lungs, and with this poison washing over her...this wasn't good!

"Lamb! Help her!"

I shouted to Lamb, who seemed to be just doing fine. Apparently the poison didn't get to her, as she was moving around acrobatically with grace, trying to shoot arrows at its vital points and joints, but the dragon blocked some of it with its wings.

She turned to us and nodded at me, and began running over to us.

"Raphtalia, stay back okay? Head back to the carriage, there's antidotes there. Take it and rest."

"Mr. Nao-*cough!"

Raphatalia fell into another coughing fit, desperately pointing behind me at the dragon, trying to cough out a warning.

I turned around, and was dumbfounded.

With Lamb not providing cover fire anymore, and it unable to touch Wolf, the Zombie Dragon focused its attention on the only one left: Filo.

Filo was jumping in for another kick, but it was a fatal mistake. It left her wide open. The undead dragon opened its wings, rising to the air to meet the filolial, only to open its gaping mouth and-

"Air-"

*Crunch*

Time seem to stop for a moment, my hand reached out to her, trying to shout a skill, but it was too late.

Sound seems to have deafened, and I can only watch in horror as red liquid streamed down from its jaw.

"Fillllooooooooo!"

And then there was screaming.

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[Lamb] POV

I only watched as the dragon chewed, loudly swallowing her, with Naofumi screaming.

*Gulp*

Just for seconds, I turned my attention away from the dragon, only for it to catch Filo off guard...

Just like in the light novel, manga, and anime.

"Mr. Naofumi!"

*Slap*

I turned to look at the source of the noise.

Raphtalia apparently just slapped Naofumi, who was in a daze.

"Get a hold of yourself! We can't afford to be distracted!"

Her face showed a different story, as she was crying, tears filling her eyes.

As she was telling him that they had to do something, that things were only go worse if they didn't do nothing, I saw Naofumi looking down onto the shield.

'Hmm? Why would he-'

Realization came over me in a flood.

So, it was time? It was time. And the moment I was waiting for.

And it came.

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[Naofumi] POV

Raphtalia was telling me something, but I couldn't hear her soberly. I felt I was drowning in a sea of anger. I felt so angry-so angry that I just lost a treasured friend right before me. And, and-!

Ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ ｐｏｗｅｒ?

I suddenly heard a voice, from my shield.

My eyes focused onto it, and I could hear its voice again.

Ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｈａｔｅ ｉｔ ａｌｌ? Ｈａｔｅ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ?

I could feel something dark, something disgusting, radiating from the depths of the shield.

I remebber this feeling...this feeling appeared before, back when I lost the duel unfairly against Motoyasu...

All of a sudden, the shield's tree appeared before me-a list of shields I have currently acquired-and it suddenly flipped.

The shield's tree was still there, but the screen was in the color of red and black, and words appeared on the tree-

𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.

As those words echoed in my mind, i noticed a shield listed on the tree, glowing. Shining.

𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬:

𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐚𝐠𝐞: 𝐀𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝

𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐩 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬: 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 "𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 (𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤)," 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 (𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥)

(𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥): "𝐈𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧"

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭: 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐡 𝐮𝐩

-𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬-

As I rea through it, the shield appeared on my arm. I didn't know if I willed it to appear or if it was involuntary, but I followed my heart, and it was already in my hand.

The Shield of Rage. Huge amounts of anger came our, flowing from the shield, and the shield glowed in a strong red-black light as it began to change form.

The shield was then covered in black, ominous looking flames, and once it barely cleared away, I saw it. A blood-colored flame-like patterns decorated the above-average sized black shield, and what seems to be a red eye was centered in the middle. A black pupil, it seemed to look down on everything in anger and disdain.

*Thump, Thump*

My heart beated rapidly, my entire being was covered in anger, so steeped into its sea of despair-

The last time this happened was when Motoyasu threatened to take Raphtalia away-and thats when I truly began to hate everything, hate everything in this world-

Everything looked so bleak, so dark, so black, it looked to be made out of shadows-and the shadows, they mocked and hated me! It hurt so much...and-!

And my sanity was overcome by emotions.

That's when a huge shadow towered over me, howling. It reached for me-

And I screamed right back.

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[Lamb] POV

I stared as the Zombie Dragon clawed at Naofumi, who only just lifted up his shield-

*Clang*

The dragon was knocked back, confused and shock.

Naofumo, grinning with madness, yelled-

"Die!"

Naofumi knocked it away, flinging it.

The dragon shrieked, crashing down, but it only got up and came running back at him.

"Lamb...what's going on?"

Wolf asked me as the dragon once again tried to attack Naofumi with its tail, only to be knocked back. Wolf had already left the dragon by then, around when Naofumi awakened the Shield of Rage. He floated back to me with a confused look.

"Naofumi has finally awakened his power, dear Wolf."

"Power? How did he come to get it?"

"Through anger and hate. Hate towards those who hate him. Hate at the world. Hate at everything."

"I see..."

Wolf shot Naofumi with a complicated, yet understanding gaze.

As the dragon once again struck Naofumi's shield, all of a sudden a whirlwind of black flames spiraled around Naofumi, and flew towards the dragon. The fire latched onto the dragon's tail and arms, setting it ablaze.

"GAAAAAOOOOHHHH?!"

The dragon fell to the ground, trying to shake it off.

Meanwhile, Naofumi, while dumbfounded, started laughing hysterically.

"If this attack is this strong...heh...I wonder if it can counter-attack..."

The dragon began backing away, intimdated.

"Now you beg for your life?! No mercy shall be spared onto you! No forgiveness!"

He then raised his shield, shouting a skill-

"Iron Maiden!"

We watched, staring at Naofumi as nothing happened...

Naofumi stared at the shield in shock, only for realization to dawn on his face.

"A skill link? So there were requirements? That doesn't matter, I'll kill you for sure!"

He walked with a deadly gait, approaching the dragon. The dragon tried to back away, flinging its arms about, trying to get him away. Only for it to connect with the shield-

And the shield bursted into flames once more.

It covered the dragon, melting its bones, burning up its rotten meat, but it wasn't enough to kill it. It didn't matter.

Naofumi began to cackle.

"This time I'll really kill them...all of them-!"

The flames from the shield bursted with even more energy, so overwhelming! So hateful!

As the flames started to burn away at the dragon, Naofumi was gleefully cackling, only to stop as someone suddenly appeared behind Naofumi.