Chapter Three: Tyrant Dragon Rex
“Oh… Oh…”
A huge dinosaur appeared in the sky. I didn’t call it a dragon on purpose. It looked exactly like a dinosaur.
To be more specific, it looked like an overgrown Tyrannosaurus Rex, but meaner and scarier.
It wasn’t like a normal monster in the field. It was a dinosaur. A rift opened in the sky above us, and the massive beast came crashing down into the mansion.
“Ha, ha, ha! For the glory of God!”
The mansion collapsed under the weight of the dinosaur. Then, with insanity still in his eyes, the nobleman was instantly crushed under the foot of the advancing beast.
He was crazy all the way until the end. And he did crazy things until the end. How were we supposed to defeat such a huge monster?
“We’re all escaping together! Filo, you understand?!”
“Yeah!”
Filo ran back to the courtyard entrance, and picked up Nice Guy and Keel before running away.
Raphtalia, Melty, and I all took off running in unison. We made for the property exit.
“GYAOOOOOOOOOO!”
The dinosaur roared and started to destroy what remained of the mansion.
“I come to a new world and have to deal with DINOSAURS?!”
I didn’t think there were monsters like that here.
But, thinking a little more, there WERE dragons here. So I guess dinosaurs weren’t such a stretch.
Dragons and dinosaurs were in pretty similar categories, after all.
“Why would he summon something like that just to kill Naofumi?!”
“The fool. He didn’t think through this at all.”
He would see his whole town destroyed just to kill one person?
So he would rather see me die than survive himself? What was wrong with him? Just how much did he hate me?
“Hurry! If you don’t hurry, he’ll chase after us!”
Raphtalia was right.
“Filo.”
“What?”
“Can you make yourself big enough for all of us to ride you?”
“Naofumi! Don’t ask for impossible things!”
“I’m not. I think Filo can do it.”
“Really? Can you do that, Filo?”
“Yeah… Filo might be able to do it.”
Filo, with Nice Guy and Keel on her back, ran up to us.
“Um… I don’t think I can… I can’t get much bigger than this.
“Damn.”
I guess I should have expected that.
“What if you were bigger?”
“I wonder.”
Wasn’t she still growing?
“See, it’s not impossible.”
“Don’t you think she could?”
“GYAOOOOOOOO!”
Melty turned to see the beast then turned back to me. She nodded.
I’d heard that dinosaurs like moving targets… We ran, but that only attracted it. Now it was chasing after us.
We didn’t have time to sit and chat. We were about to end up as dinosaur food.
With such a large monster chasing us, it felt like we were in the middle of an earthquake. The ground shook with every step.
I was starting to understand why people always fell over in movie chase scenes like this.
Running was hard enough. I felt like I’d lose my footing. And if we fell, that would be the end.
The debris from the destroyed mansion was cluttering the path, which slowed the dinosaur’s progress. But once we cleared the debris entirely, Filo was the only one who stood a chance of outrunning the beast.
“What should we do? Fight?”
“Here!? In the middle of town? Think of all the damage we’d cause!”
“That’s true, but…”
I wasn’t sure that we could win. But I did know that we didn’t stand a chance running.
“All right then, we run, and lure the beast after us. Once we get to somewhere we can fight without endangering others, we do it.”
We left the mansion grounds to find the streets filled with panicking pedestrians.
I could see the headlines now: “Shield Demon destroys town, causes uproar.”
Damn! This was all the proof I needed to see that Ren and Itsuki weren’t nearby.
The dinosaur was sniffing around to see where its prey had vanished too.
This didn’t feel right. There, I caught sight of its name: Tyrant Dragon Rex.
Something on the dinosaur’s chest began to glow. At the same time, Filo’s stomach started glowing too.
“Um… Filo?”
“What?”
“The dinosaur is looking straight at us, and I think it might have something to do with your glowing stomach.”
“Hm…. Well, you know what? I think that big gecko wants to eat me!”
“Okay, Filo, you run! Lure the monster out of town!”
“What? Naofumi? Are you going to abandon Filo?”
“No, I want her to lure the monster somewhere away from people and then come back!”
“But he’s after Filo, so I don’t think he’ll just let her go!”
“…You’re right.”
I’d thought that Filo was fast enough to make it, but I shouldn’t use her as bait.
“No! I want to stay with you, Master!”
“Mr. Naofumi, you shouldn’t ask that of her.”
“I know, but…”
“It must be hard to be the Shield Hero.”
Nice Guy chimed in like nothing was going on.
“Still, the monster is drawn to Filo. We need to lure him out of town, then fight and defeat him.”
If we fought in the center of town, the damage would be tremendous.
The nearest exit was… Actually it wasn’t very far at all. And Filo could jump over walls.
“Okay, so we are going to lure the monster out of town to keep the civilians safe. What are you going to do? We should probably split up.”
I was asking Nice Guy and Melty.
Keel was unconscious, so there was no asking what he wanted. I don’t think we could take him with us though.
“I’m going to run away with this kid… But first I’d like to help evacuate the town.”
“Can you do that?”
“The demi-humans from my town are here, so I think we can do it together.”
Nice Guy climbed down from Filo.
“I feel like we are abandoning you here. I wish we didn’t have to.”
“It’s not like that. All this happened because I reached out to you, Shield Hero. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay then, I won’t. Melty, what will you do?”
“I’m going with you, obviously.”
Back at Nice Guy’s place, she’d thought that she could sneak off back to her father and fix things, but after having her life put in danger by that crazy nobleman, it really only made sense for her to stay with us. Entrusting herself to an authoritative nobleman put her in just as much danger as she was in with us. So nothing changed.
“Looks like we’re all set.”
“Ugh…”
Keel moaned, and his eyes blinked open. Maybe he still wasn’t totally unconscious. His eyes seemed to have trouble focusing.
He held his hand out to Raphtalia.
“Keel. Really terrible things are happening right now. But we’re going to take care of it—so you have to go on living.”
“Raphtalia… No… Don’t go…”
“Keel, it will be okay. I have to go do what I can. I’ll get our flag back, Keel. Wait for me!”
She slipped off the bangle that I’d made for her and put it on Keel’s arm.
“Let’s go, Mr. Naofumi. We have to stop this before anyone else gets hurt.”
“Yeah… But are you sure you want to give him that bangle?”
“I should have asked you first. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s yours. Do whatever you want with it.”
She must have meant to signify that she was making him a promise. If so, I wasn’t going to step in and ruin it.
“Keel! Good-bye!”
“But... but, Raphtalia!”
“GYAOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The Tyrant Dragon Rex’s roar was so powerful it made my head ring.
“Let’s go!”
“Okay!”
“Roger!”
We all immediately set about our duties.
As if to break the silence, the dinosaur came crashing after us.
I couldn’t see where Nice Guy had gone.
We climbed onto Filo’s back and took off running. We slipped through town and jumped over the wall to escape.
“GYAOOOOOOOO!”
The Tyrant Dragon Rex was right behind us. It crashed through the town wall.
We ran through a field bathed in moonlight. The town behind us was smoking.
This wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t to blame for it.
“Good thing he keeps chasing Filo.”
“Yeah.”
“Naofumi! If we don’t hurry, he’ll catch us!”
“I know! Filo, can’t you go any faster!”
We had to get as far from town as we could.
Even if we fought well enough to defeat it, if it ran off through another town then the casualties would only get worse.
So we ran, the dinosaur on our tail.
“Think we’ve gone far enough?”
The town looked far in the distance now. Had we put enough distance between us?
“We better start fighting soon. Are you all ready?”
“Yes. I’m ready.”
“If I stick with you guys my life will be a short one!”
“Filo, are you ready?”
“Yeah! I’ll do my best!”
“Right!”
When I shouted, Filo stopped running and spun to face the monster.
The Tyrant Dragon Rex was crashing after us, shaking the earth with each step.
White breath puffed from its mouth, and its teeth dripped with saliva.
If it sunk its teeth into me, there was no way I’d survive.
…Not that I was going to let that happen. We jumped off of Filo’s back and readied ourselves for a fight.
“GYAOOOOOOOOOO!”
The beast didn’t slow down at all. It kept running at us but lowered its head to attack.
“I don’t think so! Air Strike Shield!”
The Tyrant Dragon Rex was running straight for me when the shield materialized in front of it.
Something about this reminded me of the way we’d fought the Zombie Dragon.
We’d done all right for ourselves back then—so things should be fine this time too… right?
With an echoing crack, the beast bit right through my Air Strike Shield. It crumbled and fell.
…But it left itself open for attack.
“Hiya!”
Filo lead the charge.
She reared back and swung a powerful kick into the dinosaur’s jaw.
But she was wearing iron claws now, so her attack was higher than it had been back when we fought the Dragon Zombie.
Still, the kick didn’t seem to affect the dinosaur the way it had hurt the Dragon Zombie. He didn’t seem to hesitate.
“Ugh! It’s so hard!”
“Be careful!”
When Filo fought the dragon, she’d left herself open for a second, and the dragon had swallowed her. Luckily the dragon didn’t have teeth, and its organs had been rotting. What would happen this time?
“Yeah!”
After delivering her kick to the beast’s jaw, she immediately jumped back, gaining distance before rushing forward in a flash and kicking at the monster’s stomach.
She was acting like a skilled fighter now.
“Zweite Aqua Slash!”
Melty sent a magic spell flying at the Tyrant Dragon Rex.
It was a sharp blade of water.
“Take that!”
Raphtalia was with them now, and she thrust the magic sword into the beast.
All of their attacks produced satisfying sounds of connection, but the monster was too big… None of them were able to take the beast down.
“Master! Platform!”
“Got it! Air Strike Shield! Second Shield!”
Two different magic shields appeared before the dinosaur.
My Air Strike Shields would remain deployed for fifteen seconds. Honestly, it wasn’t very long. But Filo was fast…
“Hiya! Hoo! Pop!”
She was flipping and jumping from shield to shield, delivering powerful kicks each time.
“GYAOOOOOOOOO!”
Finally unnerved, the Tyrant Dragon Rex let out an enraged howl and began to violently thrash its head and tail. Filo jumped out of the way before its attacks connected.
Raphtalia was the one in danger.
I ran forward and blocked the thrashing tail before it could hit her.
“Ugh…”
“Mr. Naofumi!”
It was very heavy. I was able to hold it back for now, but if the tail was this strong then I’d never survive a bite from the jaw.
This wasn’t good.
The monster was very large but slow enough that we’d been able to hold our own. Still, none of our attacks were strong enough to bring the dinosaur down.
Filo was getting a lot of good hits in, but if she wasn’t strong enough to bring the monster down, then Raphtalia wasn’t going to be able to do so either.
Melty’s magic wasn’t very powerful either. At the moment she was throwing out spells as a way to assist Filo, but they weren’t strong enough to deal much damage on their own.
Had this been a game of some kind, it would be the kind of battle in which you just needed to run the clock down… too bad this wasn’t a game.
If we figured out its weakness, it would run. Sure, that would be good for us, but then we’d have to worry about where it was running TO. A town full of people, no doubt.
Furthermore—I realized this when I blocked its thrashing tail—the thing had a lot of attack power. I was probably the only one with a defense rating high enough to survive an attack.
I might have to rely on the Shield of Rage. It was strong enough to block the beast’s attacks, plus it had counter-attacks of its own.
The Shield of Rage was the strongest shield I had, but it was very dangerous.
It was formed from the hatred I had for this world. The first time I used it was in the battle with the Dragon Zombie, after it had eaten Filo.
When I use it, the rage takes over my body, and I get violent.
Because of that, I’d accidentally cursed Raphtalia, who’d been trying to help me.
It was the sort of shield that gave me a lot of strength but asked for something in return. It wasn’t the sort of thing I could just whip out on a whim.
But it was also true that there were times when, had I not used it, we would have all ended up dead.
“It’s okay.”
“Then I’m going.”
“Be careful!”
“Okay!”
Raphtalia brandished her sword and ran for the Tyrant Dragon Rex.
But her attack didn’t seem to be very effective.
Filo was fighting well and holding her own, but she wouldn’t be able to keep that up for very long. Her stamina had limits, after all.
I didn’t know how much stamina the Tyrant Dragon Rex had, but it seemed reasonable to assume it was more than we did.
If we kept fighting as we were, this wasn’t going to end well.
But what other choice did we have?
After I got the Dragon Zombie Core, my Shield of Rage grew stronger. Because of which, and because Filo had also eaten from the Dragon Zombie Core, whenever I used the Shield of Rage, Filo went crazy.
Was it worth the risk?
“Naofumi.”
“What?”
Melty was yelling for me from the back line.
Was she able to see something from her vantage point at the back?
“Something strange is happening!”
“Huh?”
I looked around to see what she was talking about.
Off in the distance I heard some kind of animal call.
What was it?
The area started to fill with small floating lights, like fireflies.
“Huh?”
Filo held her wings against her head, like she was trying to concentrate.
“What is it?”
“I can hear someone talking. They’re saying that they will be here soon, so we should wait.”
“Who said that?”
“I dunno!”
What was happening? We were right in the middle of a battle here!
The Tyrant Dragon Rex seemed to sense that something was happening also. It raised its head and was looking around.
“Naofumi.”
“What?”
“There’s some kind of force field.”
“Force field?”
“Yes. Can’t you see it? It’s like a mist hanging over us.”
I tried to look far into the distance, but the air grew thick, and I couldn’t see very far.
“That looks like a very powerful force field.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve heard of a mysterious forest. There are legends about it. I heard that the old weapons of the Heroes from long ago are sleeping there, and that it’s protected by a force field to keep people away.”
“Sounds like you know all about it.”
“My mother likes legends, and she took me to see the mysterious forest. The force field looked just like this.”
What was that supposed to mean? Did it mean that we weren’t going to be able to escape even if we tried?
“When you try to cross over it, it brings you back to where you started. I think someone has cast a force field over us.”
Someone was trapping us? That didn’t sound good at all.
I imagined that Bitch or Trash had hired an assassin to do this to us. I imagined them reclining back and watching us to make sure we died at the hands of the Tyrant Dragon Rex.
What it meant was this: there was no way out. I looked around. The grass and trees were filled with strange lights. What the hell was going on? Suddenly an enormous herd of Filolials appeared and came running
straight for us. The whole field was covered in Filolials. This was turning into a
traumatic experience. “Wow… Filolials!” Melty’s eyes were shining. She looked so happy. Why did she like Filolials so much?! Whatever—this was not the time to
entertain her hobbies. “GYAOOOOOOOOO!” The dinosaur howled in anger at the new developments. Then he
lowered his head to attack. Dammit… We had no choice. I prepared to switch to the Shield of Rage. “Don’t.” My shield arm flew back, struck with a sharp pain. I looked down to find the shield itself glowing.
I was still able to change shields if I wanted though.
I tried, again, to switch to the Shield of Rage.
But…
—Due to interference, you may not change weapons.
A flashing icon appeared in my field of vision, and I was no longer able to switch shields.
There was also a small clock displaying the remaining time before I could make a switch. I could probably switch shields again when the timer ran out.
“Who’s there?!”
A voice I’d never heard before had interjected and kept me from changing shields.
Why would they stop me? What were they after?
“You will be all right. Just wait. You do no need to turn to that power.”
“Damn...”
“Hiya!”
Filo flipped through the air and delivered a solid kick to the dinosaur’s jaw before landing deftly in the grass and dashing back, picking me and Raphtalia up, and taking us back to Melty.
“What’s happening?”
“They said to stand back.”
I didn’t hear that. Or did she mean that strange voice?
We were completely surrounded by Filolials. There were too many to count.
Their eyes were shining in the dark. The sheer number of them was unbelievable.
What was happening?
My only idea was that they were somehow trying to trap the monster there. Could it be that they formed giant herds to hunt giant monsters?
Or maybe they were trying to get Filo to join their group?
The herd of Filolials split around the monster. It was just like the parting of the Red Sea.
“Gah!”
One of the Filolials stepped out of the group and started to walk in our direction.
It looked a lot like Filo when she was in her “normal” Filolial form, but this one was light blue.
It stood about two meters tall, and looked a lot like a large ostrich.
But it looked… fluffier than other Filolials. Like its feathers were softer. It also had a single feather that stuck vertically up from the crown of its head.
Most Filolials were pink, but this one was a light blue color. There were still white patches, but most of it was blue.
It was pulling a gorgeous carriage, and a large gemstone was set in the center of it.
The jewel reminded me of a gemstone I’d seen before… but I couldn’t remember where.
I looked at my shield. Then I realized… It was the same shape as the jewel in the center of my shield.
“Hey! It’s that Filolial from before!”
“You know this thing?”
“Yes. I met her before I ran into you guys.”
“Really?”
She had a sense of authority about her. She was clearly the leader of the herd.
And she didn’t seem as dull-witted as a typical Filolial.
The Tyrant Dragon Rex appeared to recognize these qualities in her as well. The beast seemed to be on guard.
It seemed ready to attack at any moment, but was holding back to see what the blue Filolial would do.
“Wow! What a cool carriage! I’m jealous…”
Filo’s eyes sparkled when she caught sight of the carriage.
I didn’t like it. The last thing I wanted was to parade around like new money.
Besides, I could imagine what the public would say if they saw me in that thing.
“Gah!”
The blue Filolial removed the reins herself and stepped forward.
Another Filolial swooped in behind her and removed the carriage.
“What’s happening?”
“Gweeeeeeeeeeeh!”
The blue Filolial let out a sustained call. All the leaves on the trees and bushes began to shine a bright green, and a powerful wind blew through the area.
What was going on?
The blue Filolial began to grow. She expanded into a large, black silhouette.
She was huge…
The silhouette was big and puffy. She was transforming, but she was able to grow much larger than Filo could.
When she’d first stepped forward she stood about two meters tall, but she’d grown to at least six now.
She kept growing until she was the same size as the Tyrant Dragon Rex. Then she stopped growing.
“Wow! She’s so big!”
Melty was unable to hide her joy. She whispered to herself like a giddy child.
Compared to the pink and white Filolials below, this Filolial Queen was clearly light blue.
The major difference was the vertical feather that stood from the crown of her head.
“I’ve kept you waiting, Shield Hero. And you too, little girl who likes Filolials.”
The huge Filolial Queen finished greeting us and then directed her gaze to the Tyrant Dragon Rex. Her voice sounded a lot like Filo’s but was perhaps a bit deeper.
“She spoke!”
“Filo talks too.”
“I know that!”
“Woooow! She’s so big!”
“Uh… Uh…”
I stood there, mouth agape, as the huge Filolial Queen took a step towards the Tyrant Dragon Rex.
“Looks like the Dragon King Fragment has puffed you up a little. I think the Dragon King Fragment doesn’t suit you. That’s why you’re so big. You might be big, but you’re just an everyday monster. ”
The enormous Filolial Queen spoke to the dinosaur.
“If you give me the fragment now, I will let you live. Hand it over and go.”
The Tyrant Dragon Rex lowered his head and roared in response.
Attempting to scoop her into his jaws right then and there, he ran forward.
“No avoiding it then…”
The enormous Filolial Queen raised her foot and kicked the dinosaur.
But she seemed to have been holding back, as she didn’t put much of her weight into it.
Regardless, when the kick connected, the Tyrant Dragon Rex went flying like a kickball.
The Tyrant Dragon Rex came crashing down in the dirt and then rose shakily to its feet.
Then it quickly turned and attempted to swing its powerful tail at the Filolial.
“Weak.”
The Filolial raised a wing to block the tail easily. The Tyrant Dragon Rex roared in anger, bared its fangs and rushed at the Filolial Queen.
“Hiya!”
The Filolial Queen reared back and kicked the dinosaur’s jaw hard.
Flipping backwards like a rag doll, the dinosaur crashed to the ground.
In a flash, the Filolial was beside it, kicking at its torso. The dinosaur flew into the air.
The huge beast was suspended in the air!
“Hiya! Hiya! Hiya!”
Without touching down, the Filolial delivered a series of kicks that kept them suspended. She was blindingly fast.
What the hell?! I considered myself an experienced gamer, but I’d never seen a combo like that.
It was like a fighting game. It was like an aerial combo. A counter indicating the number of successive hits appeared before my eyes. At the end it read 35 HITS!
The difference in strength was apparent—overwhelming.
With a final slam, the dinosaur came crashing down. The combo was over. The beast rose on unsteady legs.
Immediately afterwards, a large magical seal appeared in the air.
“Is it going to cast a spell?”
The Filolial Queen readied herself.
Then the beast leaned forward. I thought it was going to cast a spell, but instead it opened its mouth—and a massive pillar of flame came roaring out of it.
Whoa. I could feel the heat on my skin from across the field.
Had I been hit with an attack like that, I don’t think even the Shield of Rage could have withstood it.
The Tyrant Dragon Rex was running at the Filolial and breathing fire. No matter how large she might have been, if the pillar of flame hit her she’d be roasted alive.
“Lukewarm.”
The Filolial raised a wing, or I thought she did, and stopped the pillar of flame without blinking.
What was this? Some kind of monster battle? We were standing in the field and watching but didn’t have anything to contribute.
“Let’s end this.”
The Filolial raised her wings and crossed them before her.
I’ve seen something like that before.
The second I thought that, the massive Filolial Queen appeared to blur before immediately reappearing behind the Dinosaur.
Yup, that was Filo’s trump card, a magic attack called Haikuikku.
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Her claws tore through the monster time and time again until, finally, the dinosaur fell to pieces and died.
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