Until Fitoria arrived, one hour had passed as we continued to hold back the Spirit Tortoise. It was incredibly rough.
Fitoria rushes up from behind it, raising a cloud of dust.
“Sorry for taking so long… you’ve done well to buy time. Fitoria will respond to the Shield Hero’s efforts.”
When Fitoria made her whole body bigger, the Spirit Tortoise sensed Fitoria’s presence and turned around.
“Hiyaaaaaaahhh!”
Fitoria jumped and stamped the Spirit Tortoise’s head with her claws.
It looks like its head is crushed. Awesome! I have a feeling that this is going to be an overwhelming match!
We quickly withdraw and return to the Allied Forces, then turn our attention to the fight between Fitoria and the Spirit Tortoise.
“The Legendary Filolial… so it really existed…”
I nodded at the Queen’s words. If I had any doubts, I wouldn’t have chosen to hold that monster back for an hour.
“Hopefully, this will solve the matter.”
Fitoria repeatedly attacked the Spirit Turtle.
“——!”
The Spirit Turtle shoots the thorns on its back into the sky.
Fitoria sensed this and retreated quickly… Even as she was doing so, she deflected the falling thorns and redirected their trajectory. How skillful.
“Crash Charge!” Fitoria spreads one wing open before shouting out, then, as if responding to Fitoria’s will, the carriage that Fitoria was pulling gigantifies and… transforms!?.
The carriage became a chariot. With it in tow, Fitoria charges and collides into the Spirit Tortoise with a force that could possibly send it flying.
Smashing the head and the two legs of the Spirit Tortoise once more.
“Haaaaaaaaahhh!!!”
With that momentum, Fitoria continued to pull hard on the chariot. Then, cracks started forming on the Spirit Tortoise’s shell.
Oh!? Maybe this will work!?
“Go~!” Filo raises her hand and cheers.
The cracks in the Spirit Tortoise’s shell began widening as more force was exerted into Fitoria’s attack… breaking the shell further as she kept going.
The Spirit Tortoise’s shell eventually shattered into two pieces.
“””OOOOOOOOHHHH!””” The Allied Forces cheered as well.
“She did it!?”
I turned to face Ost, who was stroking her chest with a relieved expression.
I then noticed particles of light appearing bit by bit from her feet, and then disappearing.
“Sir Shield Hero, and the Queen of the Filolials… thank you for finally defeating me, in one way or another.”
“No need to thank us. Either way, it’s what I had to do as a hero.”
The fight beforehand had been pretty rough, but it isn’t that bad of a result.
“Fufufu… I thought you would say that… It took a while, but I came to understand you.”
“Heh, say what you want.”
Ost smiles with satisfaction.
“Naofumi-sama, are you okay!?” It was then Raphtalia rushed over to me.
“For the time being. I’ll rest for a while after this.”
“Umm… Ost-san is…”
“I’m fine. If I disappear, it means that the Spirit Tortoise is dead.” Ost turns her eyes to the corpse of the Spirit Tortoise and mutters. “A guardian beast that can’t fulfill its role has no reason to exist.”
Filo senses the sad atmosphere and begins to fluster.
Ah… yeah. Ost was very useful in the endurance battle earlier. If she hadn’t been there, I would have run away too.
“Ah, that’s—”
And when she was about to take a step forward, Ost raised her eyebrows and pointed to the corpse of the Spirit Tortoise.
It was the moment when Fitoria was checking the corpse of the Spirit Tortoise after having just wiped the blood off her feathers with magic
Even from a distance, I could tell that Fitoria’s expression stiffened along with Ost’s.
What’s going on? For the usually calm Fitoria to make such a face… is there something more to this situation?
Even from my perspective where the Spirit Tortoise appeared to simply be enduring Fitoria’s attacks without resisting all that much, I thought there might be something else going on, and it seems like I might be right. Though I can’t see anything with it being so far away.
The Queen had brought out her binoculars, so I borrowed them and got a good look at the situation.
Um…
Inside the shell, I see… a familiar sword, spear, and bow… and some sort of crystal? Oh, they turned into light and disappeared.
Fitoria trembled in fear. No way… Don’t tell me the three heroes were inside the Spirit Tortoise!?
In that case, Fitoria, it would mean that you have killed the heroes.
“Ost, I’m sorry, but can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“The weapons you saw earlier… could they be the Holy Weapons of the Four Holy Heroes?”
“… Yes. It would appear so.”
Fitoria turns away from us, seemingly in a cold sweat.
“Fitoria doesn’t know aaanythiiing about thiiiis~!”
“Hey! Don’t run away!”
Fitoria fled the scene instantly.
“Uhm…”
Even though I think the scenery looked beautiful with all the sparkling lights, Ost gradually disappears while feeling overwhelmed by the situation.
“Umm… Sir Shield Hero, please do your best.”
If any of the four Holy Heroes died, the waves would get tougher, was it?
Why were they in such a place to begin with!?
I mean, I had an inkling that they might be in there, but don’t just get yourselves killed in the damn crossfire!
“W-what is going to happen from now on?” Raphtalia asks me with a pale expression.
The same goes for those around us.
“I want to know too!”
What are we going to do next?
—
Conclusion: Onwards to an ending that is no laughing matter.
