With a swift cut, a beastly balloon popped, spraying out blood as shreds of orange hide fell to the ground. Your blood was beginning to take further effect. These balloons were growing stronger. Their legs were more developed to taking low, stealthy stances, to ambush, latch onto, and burrow into their enemies. Alongside this, they began to bleed. Popping them would cause a small explosion of infected blood as well, indicating suicide runners in later stages of life.

If balloons alone changed this much, how would the stronger enemies be affected? You turned around, swiftly switching to the trick form of Ludwigs Holy Blade(by placing the weapon in its sheath and using the sheath as the blade of a massive great-sword), and speared another balloon, splattering the blade and the grass around it. You continued walking into the field, looking for more things to kill.

"Excuse me sir?" From behind you, someone called out. You turned back to see a small group of guards in knights armor.

"Are you the shield hero's companion, by any chance?" The one in front asked. You slowly nodded, placing your sword on your back. The guards looked between each other, muttering as they looked at your bloodstained clothes, evident of a late night hunt.

"Then, we have no choice but to place you under arrest."

"From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you would be nothing but trouble!" You heard shouting from the other side of the door to the throne room. You hadn't been tied up or even cuffed, just escorted to the throne room. The doors opened, and you were met with a rather unexpected scene.

Naofumi was on the ground, a shocked look plastered on his face as the king shouted at him, before noticing you.

"And YOU! To think that you would help commit such a heinous crime!" He shouted at you. You looked from Naofumi, to his companion Myne, who was hiding behind the Spear Heroes back, to the king again.

"....being outside the town at night?" You asked. The king's face grew even angrier at your response.

"Don't you get cocky!" He turned towards the red headed 'victim.'

"Myne, I apologize to do this to you, but-"

"It's fine..." Myne spoke timidly.

"I entered my room, a bit drunk from last night... and both the shield hero and his companion forced their way in... and his companion held me down as the shield hero began to...." she let out the fakest sob you ever heard as you began to understand the whole situation.

Myne was accusing you and the shield hero of.... violating her.

You looked around the room at the various people, who all stared at you with hatred. Then a familiar scent began to fill your nose. The sickly sweet scent.... you felt your hand twitch towards the handle of your sword.

"Wait, no! This is all a misunderstanding!" Naofumi yelled out. He looked to Myne for support, to see her mischievous smile, as she stuck her tongue out and pulled down her bottom eyelid in a classic 'got ya' face.

"Y-Y/n! Please, tell them that...." he looked back at you to see you holding your original weapon, that massive cleaver with the saw on the backside of it.

"...Y/n?" He called out to you. You looked towards him, past the spears of several guards.

"Guards! Why does he still have his weapon!?" The king called out angrily. One guard tried to get to you, to grab your weapon, before you held up a hand, stopping him.

"We don't have time to argue." You spoke. Despite your low volume, everyone seemed to be able to here you.

"A scourge is spreading, and we must stop it." You said, looking at all the guards. One of them began to sweat, panting.

"Don't try to change the subjec-" Motoyasu was interrupted as you hefted your weapon towards the nervous guard. He seemed panicked at your action as ten more spears were pointed at you. You narrowed your eyes as he nearly dropped his weapon.

"How dare you lift your weapon against a guard!?" The bow hero shouted. You kept your stance, as the guard slowly backed away. The scent kept getting stronger, until you decided that the guard wasn't the source. Slowly lowering your weapon, you looked around again. Someone took in your blood, and was already doomed to become a beast.

Keeping a glare up, you lifted the Beast Cutter as you released a portion of your power over the blood.

A guard that was holding a spear up to Naofumi dropped it, holding his hands to his head. Growling, he let out a scream of pain as blood erupted from his pores. Hair grew unnaturally quick, and his teeth began to sharpen themselves, coming at a fine point.

"There you are." You pushed past the other guards, towards the beast as guards scrambled to get into formations. The king and hero's watched in utter shock as you swung the Beast Cutter effortlessly, sawing through the flesh of the monster. You turned a full circle, and using your momentum, cleaved the beast in half, waist separated from hips. As soon as it fell, more spears were pointed towards you as whispers burst out.

"As I said before, we have bigger problems." You spoke, poking the dead beast.

"There is a scourge spreading, and it's powering up the monsters, even turning humans into them." You spoke. Murmurs around you slowly rose, as you looked to the other heroes.

"Don't tell me you can't tell the difference. The balloons alone have evolved past what should be possible." You pointed out. The sword and bow heroes slowly looked at you, to the blood staining your clothes from the morning, then to their parties, who seemed to shy away from them. In the throne, the king banged his fist against the armrest.

"That doesn't mat-"

"Are you implying, good king...." you interrupted him, looking him up in the eye.

"...that you care more for a single person to receive fake justice, then for your entire country to receive salvation from the waves?" The king seemed conflicted, clenching his fists.

"I would have you both put to death for such a crime!" He shouted at you. You looked to Naofumi, who looked at you. His sad, desperate look had disappeared. Now, he seemed mad, almost apathetic.

"Even if I can't, the entire country will know of your heinous crimes!" The king shouted. You chuckled, shocking the heroes.

"Again about that? Even if I wanted to rape some innocent woman..." you turned to the king, an unsettling glint in your eye.

"I wouldn't choose a bitch like Myne." When the king didn't respond out of shock, you turned to the shield hero.

"Sir Naofumi, I believe we should leave." You told him. Naofumi nodded, turning to the door. He stopped for a moment, reaching at his shield.

"If you're going to steal from me... then take it all!" He shouted, throwing a handful of silver coins on the floor, shocking everyone even further.

"Y/n and I will fight the waves ourselves if we have to, so stay out of our way." He threatened. You couldn't help but smile at him as Motoyasu stepped forward.

"Wait, Naofumi-" he tried to speak before you interrupted.

"Let him go, Spear." You told him, walking after Naofumi.

"We need our time to get stronger. When the time comes, and the hunt arrives, it may be your only option."

You walked through the streets, with Naofumi behind you, looking rather tussled from short encounters with some rather angry guards. Nobody, however, seemed to be able to gather the courage to swing at you.

"Hey shield brat!" You heard a voice speak up from an alleyway. Looking over, you and Naofumi saw that blacksmith from yesterday.

"I hear about how you two raped your comrade. Let me get a good awing at you." He spoke. Naofumi muttered under his breath, before the smith grabbed him by his shirt.

"You say something?" He asked. You put your hand on the beast cutter's handle as the smith looked Naofumi in the eye, before looking towards you, glaring at you. Eventually, his glare softened, he closed his eyes, and dropped Naofumi.

"What? Not gonna hit me?" He asked.

"...don't feel like it." The smith responded. You took your hand off the beast Cutter.

"Then you just saved your own life." You remarked as Naofumi began walking away. You walked after him, before a bath sailed past you, hitting Naofumi.

"Hey, What the hell!" Naofumi shouted.

"It's a farewell gift." The Smith responded.

"Nobody's gonna take you seriously in that getup." The contents of the bag spilled, revealing themselves as clothes. Naofumi reluctantly grabbed them.

"They're not free, are they?" He asked.

"They're on clearance, only worth about five copper coins." Came through response. Naofumi sighed, tossing on the getup in exchange for his casual clothes.

"I'll make sure to pay you back!" He shouted, walking away with you behind him.

"You come back safe, you hear!" The smith shouted back. You gave him a wave as you both walked outside of the town.

With a shout of fury, Naofumi punched another beastly balloon, popping it and splattering beast blood on his shield. It seemed to be taken in by the gem in the middle, something Naofumi failed to notice.

Something you didn't fail to notice, however, was how similar the balloons blood was to your own. With all that, you had a theory of what these balloons evolved to do.

They snuck up on their prey in lone numbers for weak opponents, and packs for groups or strong opponents. They would attack, digging into the flesh of their prey, until they sat well inside of the body. Then, with the body still alive, they burst, spreading Old Blood through their victims, dooming them to a beastly fate.

"Hey, you see those leaves? Naofumi called to you. You looked where he pointed to see a large, frilled leaf.

"Yeah?" You questioned. He reached into the bag the smith gave him, pulling a small pouch out. From it, he grabbed an identical leaf.

"Think it's medicinal?" He asked. You shrugged, plucking a leaf.

"Maybe..." you noticed a glow from Naofumi's Shield.

"The shield's reacting? Naofumi places the leaf near the green gem in the center, and watched as it got sucked in.

Just like the blood... you watched as Naofumi sighed, reading a black window that had appeared.

"Leaf Shield?" He looked at his Shield, before sighing and looking at his items.

"Clearance my ass. The amount I have to pay back just keeps growing." He looked at his shield as a large, black window appeared, sporting a massive skull tree.

"Woah! All this from the Small Shield?" He asked himself. He looked at the ones he had unlocked.

"Both materials and levels unlock stuff, by the looks of it." You pointed out a small orange shield that appeared on the list. Naofumi nodded, as he noticed a shield he hadn't unlocked, but made progress in.

"The Beast Blood Shield?" You tilted your head in curiosity. Naofumi had unlocked only about 0.3% from the balloons he popped. Seems he would need a lot of blood from beasts.

"Alright. Well, let's get this stuff sold..."

You watched as the person currently in line finished selling balloon skin. It was bloody, meaning this guy managed to kill a beastly balloon.

He finished his stuff, and Naofumi got to the counter.

"And how can I.... oh." The merchants mood darkened at the sight of the two framed offenders. Naofumi placed a pile of cleaned balloon skins on the counter.

"I would like to sell these." He spoke. The keeper looked at the pile of skins on the counter.

"Let's see. There's about 20, so I can give you a coin." He offered. Naofumi narrowed his eyes as you stepped forward.

"You gave the last guy a coin per skin." You told him.

"Well, who knows?" He shrugged, smirking.

"I choose the prices." He remarked. Naofumi's glare lightened, before shrugging.

"Very well then." He grabbed the merchant's collar, listing his cloak to reveal several beastly balloons, clinging to his body, trying to dig through. Of course, being the Shield Hero, none of them could even pierce his skin.

"Maybe I can sell these for more then?" You enjoyed watching the man struggle as the balloons gazed at him, gnawing on Naofumi.

"They're fresh, after all!" The man screamed as one balloon let go of Naofumi and glared at him, shining it's transformed white teeth.

"Alright! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The merchant was let go as the balloon continued trying to dig into Naofumi.

"One coin per skin!" Naofumi demanded. The merchant nodded frantically, grabbing coins.

"You can have it! I wanted to refuse business whatsoever, but we have no sin here." He admitted, giving Naofumi his due amount.

"Alright. Now go talk about us to the other merchants." You demanded.

"Tell them how you almost paid with your blood for trying to dupe us." Naofumi assisted.

"Yeah, no need to say so." The merchant sighed in relief as Naofumi gave you five coins.

"Go take that to the guy that gave me this stuff.

I'll see about selling the rest of our loot." Naofumi instructed you. You nodded, giving the coins a toss, before turning and walking off.

As soon as you left everyone's sight, you tossed the coins to the ground. Beneath them, a single messenger emerged from the ground, grabbing the coins. Without any need to command it, it sunk into the ground. Now you had to kill some time so Naofumi wouldn't get suspicious.

You walked around the corner, your garb seemingly changing instantly. Instead of your classic hunter clothing, you wore a hooded black shirt, with a white undershirt. Bandages covered your hands, which held a seemingly normal cane. As you walked through the streets, some guards ran past you, holding someone.

"Out of the way!" They shouted, rushing into a building. Out of curiosity, you entered the building behind them, using your cane to fake a bad leg.

In the building, a seemingly young boy was held onto a table as he screamed in pain, probably at the hole in his chest.

Oh yeah, remember your theory on how the balloons evolved? By the looks of it, you were correct.

"What's happening to all the monsters!?" A guard shouted, probably referring to the balloons. They looked around at other people in the hospital, as the boy was wheeled to another room for treatment.

"Ever since the heroes arrived, the balloons have been like this." Another guard pointed out.

"Listen, I'm going to report this to the castle, you guys need to close the gates NOW. Only let adult adventurers out. No lone children. One guard ordered. Another nodded, running out of the hospital. You pulled your hood down, walking out of the building. This scourge was spreading quite well. It was beginning to hold the intended effects.

Naofumi ate a meal, sitting at his table alone. He looked up at you, who leaned against a wall.

"You're not getting anything?" He asked. You shook your head, arms crossed.

"I scarcely eat. Know it's not good for me, but I never did act on it." You explained.

"Fine." He pushed his own plate of unfinished food away.

"Has no taste anyway." He complained. Behind him, several people, possibly drunk, stumbled up to him.

"Hey guys, it's the shield Hero, eating all alone!" One remarked, placing an arm around Naofumi's shoulder.

"Hey, we'll be your allies, how would you like that?" Another smirked, chuckling with the others.

"Yeah, you should thank us, cause we're so kind!" The last spoke up. You narrowed your eyes, your mask covering your frown.

"Then, let me make something clear." Naofumi responded. He got a chuckle in response.

"Alright!"

"The first thing is, you'll have to work every day, understood?" Naofumi started. Before they could respond, you stepped forward.

"Secondly, we all split profits. 25 percent to me, 50 to the hero, you guys split the rest. You must buy all your own gear." You chipped in, prompting a nod from Naofumi.

"I decide how it's split among you. If you don't work, you don't get anything." He added.

"What? No way! You just want to keep everything for yourself!" One protested.

"I will give what is due, only if you help. Properly, that is." Naofumi retorted.

This whole thing continued as you and Naofumi left the inn, the pests in tow. Lowly, mortal, non-hero humans.

"Well, we're going to buy our equipment." One of the pests said.

"Do it yourself. We have no obligation to do it for you." You told them. They chuckled some more, trying to surround you two.

"That doesn't matter anymore. Give us your money." They told you. You let out a low growl as Naofumi spoke.

"If you had said that from the beginning, we could've avoided wasting time. Y/n, if you would?" He asked you. You smiled, as a plain metal mace appeared in your hand. No spikes or anything adorned it.

"My pleasure, Sir Naofumi." You responded, whipping the mace through the air. The pests stepped back as lightning crackled over the head of it. One of them tried to rush forward to you, only to get smacked away, electricity flowing through his body.

"Wha- what did you do?" One of them asked, looking to their comrade as you pointed the Tonitrus at him.

"The same thing that'll happen to you if you don't leave this instant." You threatened. The thugs began to back away, before shouting and running off. You put away the lightning mace, turning to Naofumi.

"How many weapons do you have?" He asked you. You shrugged.

"How many breads have you eaten in your life?" You responded. The both of you were silenced by a low chuckling. You looked back at the alleyway to see a short man standing there, holding up his glasses to look at you two.

"Greetings, Shield Hero." He spoke, his grin growing.