Ranma of the Shield

"I am the hero who commands the origin of power. I have read and deciphered the law of nature. Now burn in a flash of light!" "Etain ・Fireball"

A nice basketball sized sphere of flame rocketed towards a blackened rock, the red flames licked over solid stone causing no damage. But that was rather the point of firing at a rock and not a tree, "You did it Ranma" Raphtalia told him.

Currently in girl from Ranma looked down at her blistered right hand and arm, they had made it to Raffan in about the time she thought it would take them. So they spent time doing generally four things, Mornings were spent training as he tutored her in what he knew about katana and they exercised their bodies. The next was one spending time at the dungeon to try and get a few levels, Raphtalia having more success her at it due to her lower level. But she had managed to gain several of her own, her current lv was 22 whereas Raphtalia had reached 18.

Third she tutored Raphtalia in reading and writing which while going slowly, as her companion had no stat boosts in the language learning department but it was still going well.

And finally Ranma had been studying fire magic, one and a half days of solid training and reading and up till this point severe burns on her right hand. But now for the first time it had worked perfectly. She closed her eyes for a moment sparks of Ki licking out over the burned arm, blisters disappeared, burn skin was replaced color was restored to normal.

That done Ranma smiled a little at the sky "Ya I did it" Glancing back at the book "Though I am almost afraid of trying to learn the two other spells the book hold"

"Nonsense Ranma is not afraid of anything" she said.

"Were that only true" the redhead said with a shiver thinking of a monstrous creature that toyed with its prey out of sheer malice. A creature who followed little red dots, a creature whom fish feared, the …. Cat.

Ranma shivered shaking her head "No, no, no, Neko ken was not going to be helpful right here, right now.

They had around three days tell the wave and Ranma had a good idea of what she wanted to do tomorrow. From what she had been given to understand the dungeon they had been using, an old abandoned mine shaft had a boss somewhere in it. Even if it were killed a new one, normally the same exact thing as what was killed would take its place. Since being in close proximity to other Legendary Weapons stunted growth the other three Heroes had avoided this place altogether since the shield had been pointed this way.

She remembered several boys from school doing some dice game and calling it a dungeon crawler well she was about to do the real thing. But that was tomorrow until then she had another spell to try and learn something called Flame Trap.

When it had gotten dark Ranma returned to camp, she had taken the precaution of wearing her old clothing before starting magic training and it turned out to be a good thing. Most of her old shirt was gone, in fact it covered nothing important any more. That along with her pants holding together by threads made for an image that would have given Motoyasu a heart attack if he had seen it.

Flame Trap turned out to be a spell that created an inscription on the ground or wall or tree or whatever surface it was fired at. The trick was aiming the damn thing, as pointing fingers did not work since it was not a projectile. It had taken several tries to understand what was going on and by that time she had unintentionally created a potent minefield of fire traps.

As it turned out you need to envision the place where it was to be set in your mind and hold it there. Any other way and it was appeared randomly, she did not understand why such a spell was considered beginner class. Or perhaps it was just the ungodly amount of intelligence that her girl form had that made it dangerous.

"Ranma?" Raphtalia asked in surprise.

Even though they were both girls right now she still seemed a little taken aback by Ranma's chesticles but right now she found herself not caring. The last healing she had done on herself had ended with her not having enough Ki to finish up. So while nothing major remained the skin of her chest back and legs was raw and peeling.

So Ranma ignored the Raccoon girls startled expression and went over the large pool of water they had made their camp beside. With a groan of relief she walked out a few steps and fell face forward into the water. It burned at first the sudden shock of cold burning her raw skin but as she held her breath and waited the sudden pain to slightly fade.

Vaguely the water stirred as another person entered, Ranma sighed letting out the breath she had been holding and surfaced. Gentle hands touched her shoulders "Don't turn around" Raphtalia whispered.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm helping" she said "Hold still"

Hands glided over her back as some sort of balm where it spread pain faded to a small echo and Ranma found herself almost whimpering. Ya she was probably spending too much time in girl form or perhaps guy form would have been doing the same thing.

"That's gona wash off you know" Ranma said in a quiet tone.

"No it won't, these are your heal pills crushed up and mixed with several plants my...my mother once showed me it's kind of like a soap."

Ranma said no more simply luxuriating in the moving hands of her companions "Where else are you burned?"

Eyes still shut Ranma turned and the hands resumed their movements over her chest and stomach. They paused on a blotch of burns that covered a fair section of her side. "Did you do this?" she asked.

"No that was an enemy of mine, probably the most powerful enemy I ever faced. I won, with a lot of help and a lot of luck but I never could get rid of those. Divine fire is a bitch to deal with" Ranma groaned again and nearly slumped forward as Raphtalia's hands began to move again.

"Am I hurting you?"

"No it feels good" Ranma whispered.

When she had finished Ranma laid back letting her body's natural buoyancy hold her up, Raphtalia then went to work on her legs. "I have never felt anything like this" she whispered.

"What?"

"A woman's gentle touch, it's almost sad, sixteen years and this is the first time I can remember being touched without fear of pain to follow."

"That-that sounds terrible Ranma"

"I didn't think it was so bad, until now."

They said nothing more as Raphtalia worked her magic on Ranma's aching body when she was at last finished Ranma felt more like a puddle of pleased sleepiness. Raphtalia had to help her out of the pool onto her sleeping pad, the last thing Ranma remembered seeing was Raphtalia's lovely smile as the girl dried her off. About half way through that Ranma simply passed out too tired to do much of anything and it felt amazing.

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Dawn was starting to raise when Ranma woke up, Raphtalia was sleeping by her side naked as the day she was born. Ranma had to blink a few times to process that, had she just slept all night with a naked women.

...Best not to overthink that, a glance at the status screen showed MP back to full and her burns were gone as well. Wonderful, now to get breakfast started. The Raccoon Girl's nose twitched as the smell of meat and herbs wafted through the air. She mumbled something as began to sit up, Ranma cleared her throat loudly and that shook the girl awake, she took note of the state of her current dress and wisely reached for her clothing before moving the blankets.

"Ten years old, ten years old, ten years old" Ranma repeated in her head. "Body may be adult but mind is child….unless she was bull shiting me which is entirely possible."

"Good morning Ranma" she said kneeling by the fire warming her hands. The days were mild at best but early morning was cool. A mug of water began to boil as she did so, Ranma focused ki to her hand and picked up the blazing hot metal mug. With a sigh she dumped over her hand activating the curse. Girl became boy for the first time in several days, Raphtalia blinked at that "Do you have plans for today that don't involve magic?"

"Ya, me and you we are going to conquer that dungeon"

"Ah so why do you choose to fight in your male form?"

Ranma shrugged grateful for the sudden abrupt lessening of pressure of his spine, "Because I'm more comfortable this way and my magic skill is not up to par yet."

"I see" Raphtalia waited patiently as Ranma served them some of the stew he had been making. They ate together in silence, letting a comfortable atmosphere build between them, things like this only happened on the rare occasions when it had only been him and Kasumi eating together.

When that was finished Ranma went about putting out the fire and grabbing something that might be useful in a dungeon. Raphtalia spent her time fighting her armor on and looking over her Katana. Ranma had shown her everything he knew about taking care of such a weapon right down to the proper way to resheath the blade.

Raphtalia had taken all his lessons to heart and worked diligently to take care of the weapon. A side note upon further investigation over the past few days Ranma had concluded that yes drawing the weapon did darken the area.

Raphtalia had also informed him that as she gained levels the sword itself was gaining small damage increases. He had a feeling that this weapon was a lot more than it appeared it be but any attempt to scan the thing or red its info was met with a blank section where the words should have been.

Well just one other thing to keep an eye on, when everything was set they made their way out of the forest that had been there camping site and into the town of Raffan. The people it seemed were used to Raphtalia by now but he had made it a point to not enter the place as male. It only took a few minutes before his identity was known.

The atmosphere while not precisely becoming hostile did become more guarded and unfriendly. Women gave him a wide berth and the guards watched his movements closely. But he was not here to go into any buildings or make friends this was merely the fastest way to the entrance of the dungeon

The place it started at was an old mine shaft that monsters had taken over, in fact according to reports some of the creatures had mined further in moving beyond what humans had done. So far he and Raphtalia had stayed near the entrance fighting various three foot tall lizard men and goblins.

He had gotten the, Scale Shield which had a small defense boost and the Scavenger shield which gave a slight bonus to money found on dead monsters from fighting them.

So far nothing equaled that Stone Hide Shield but then again he had killed what amounted to a secret boss for it. The monsters at the beginning avoided them, apparently there had been some witness to the way they had been farming them. Survival instinct told them that it was pointless to mess with those two, let the stronger ones deal with them perhaps they could have the scraps.

Two hundred yards into the mine they reached and passed the first room where much of their time had been spent. Once upon a time it had been used for a meal room of sorts, now a days the monsters Ranma and Raphtalia had been fighting called it home. However as stated above there seemed to be nothing here at the moment.

Passing the room they entered further, the torch light that was used for this mine faded as apparently the things beyond did not need sight as much. Raphtalia picked one up and so did Ranma, then he paused, thumped his own forehead and sighed touching the torch to his shield.

Requirements for the Glow Shield have been unsealed

True Power Sealed: Equipment Bonus: Aura of light thirty feet.

The shield became smaller but stayed rounded, the green gem in the center began to glow with an inner fire. Thirty feet in every direction became well lit and the light of the Glow Shield made it only slightly difficult to see up to one hundred feet.

As the moved down a narrow hallway the monsters struck, howls of hunger and dark joy exposed as give things charged them. They looked somewhat like goblins only five feet tall and built like an American fake wrestlers. They wore only loincloths like their brethren but each had a large spear on hand, perfect for tunnel like this.

Ranma did not need to say anything, he had prepared Raphtalia on how to fight. He was the vanguard, he was tear a hole through the attackers and Raphtalia would ruthlessly take advantage of it.

The Glow shield did not give him extra defense and it was smaller than he would have liked but seeing was more important in this battle. He deflected the first spear and batted aside the second one with his bare hand. Then he was inside the effective range for the spear, he grabbed the second one by the face and threw him into the spear of his fellow while deflecting a third spear thrust.

Raphtalia made her move an instant after, the first one whom Ranma had ignored moved to set itself again but Raphtalia drew and struck at the same instant sending an arc of black ichor onto the mine walls. She parried that thrust of the forth one sliding along the spear shaft Katana at a downward angle. Before her opponent could recover she rammed into him hip to hip just like Ranma had taught her. A male's strength came from his chest and shoulders, a woman's strength came from her hips. The Goblin stumbled back and Raphtalia's Katana slashed upward ending him.

Ranma got the last only leaping clear over the body of the Goblin he had thrown on the spear and kicking the last one hard enough for its neck to snap.

Ranma 120 exp

Raphtalia 80 exp

Silver 2

Copper 120

Requirements for Scavenger Shield 2 unsealed

True Power Sealed: Equipment Bonus: Money increase (Moderate)

The moved on in the light of the glow shield coming out into an open cavern. Straight ahead was the path they were flooring to the left was the stone walls of the mountain. To the right was a drop into an abyss of blackness. Ranma took out a stone he had grabbed beforehand and dropped it, it fell for almost a minute before very dimly he heard it hit water. "Ok not going down there" he thought.

Above them just only of vision movement stirred the thumping of wing beats against the blackness. "Bats" he thought "Hopefully"

The stayed close to the wall warily listening for any signs that the winged creatures in the blackness would strike. However nothing changed as they reached the end of the large chamber and entered another tunnel. Vein's metal glowed around them and Ranma could see why this place had been mined.

They encountered around ten more of those hybrid goblins but even with the advantage of spears in a narrow space they could not stop Ranma's charges. And once the line was broken Raphtalia could clean up with ease. He found himself very impressed with her movements and actions it seemed she was a natural.

Soon the tunnel began to slope down at an almost alarming rate following a gold vein that had never gotten around to being mined. He found out why at the bottom, the pathway straightened out and moved on into darkness and it looked just like the rest of the mine.

They moved further one when they heard it, several low growling sound moving closer to them. "Get ready" he said unnecessarily, or so he thought.

When he did not receive an answer he looked back, Raphtalia was shaking her face what white to the lips eyes locked ahead of them where the sound was coming from.

Something was very wrong here, glowing yellow eyes opened in the darkness, three sets of them. The growls became fiercer as three shapes made their way into the light. Imagine a Doberman but bigger with more muscles and longer sharper claws. Now Imagine that it has two necks that split off from the same body and two heads with mouths filled with razor sharp teeth.

The moved forward slowly deliberately as if wanting to savor the fear that filled the air, Raphtalia's mouth opened but no sound came out. The confidence of an adult he had seen in her was completely replaced by a child's terror. He knew the look in her eye's it was the same one that filled his when he looked at cats. Utter mind numbing terror at a sight you never wanted to see. The dog demons growled again, and that was when she started screaming as if that was the signal the demons charged howling their joy.

The moved swiftly parting to either side, one would keep Ranma busy the other two would rip apart the screaming female. That was the plan and perhaps against most adventures of lv 20 level it would have worked.

They charged in an arrow formation the first reaching Ranma and the other two at its right and left. Raphtalia's screams were echoing in his ears and that meant rage had ignited his soul, he struck out as the first dog demon reached him. The blow was something he had not done since coming here, for in this moment he held nothing back. His fist struck right between the splitting necks of the dog demon and pulverized every bone in its body, the corpse's momentum was stopped and reversed the body flying backwards. When it landed it resembled a meaty paste that splashed all over the floor.

In the next instant the two other dog demons were at both his sides, he grabbed with one on left by one of its skulls and blasted the other point blank with Moko Takabisha. The ki blast chewed a hole through the chest cavity of right most dog demon and it went tumbling forward a little past Raphtalia whimpering is its life spilled out over the floor in a pool of black ichor.

Spinning in time with his grab he hauled the last dog demon over his head by main strength and smashed it against the wall with his full might. A loud wet *Splat* echoed through the cave network as Ranma dropped the broken corpse of the last demon.

He moved over to his companion who by now was just crying in pure terror, he pulled her tightly against him saying nothing. It took a while for her to calm down, he alternated between stroking her back and whispering encouragements and they had the desired effect.

She made no move to remove his embrace nor did she look at him "I have shown you something shameful" she whimpered "I'm sorry"

"What happened?"

She was quiet for a moment "I grew up in a small border town of demi humans, even as a baby I was not able to breathe as well as I should have. Our healer said it had something to do with my lungs and she kept it from getting worse. When the first wave hit our village was wiped out," She shuttered "There was a Cerberus among them a three headed dog of terrible power, we tried to run but the monsters did not care they killed everyone. My parents fled with me but became trapped at a cliffs edge, the Cerberus followed us. My parents tossed my off the cliff into the ocean before the monsters could get me."

Her voice failed her and tears started to fall again, "Somehow I got ashore and by the time I made it back up the knights and adventurers had subjugated the area. I found my parents later...what was left of them. I-I don't remember much after that clearly until I woke up in a circus tent tied up to be sold, like a piece of meat."

Growling sounds emanated from the tunnel, and Raphtalia's breathing quickened in terror. Ranma stood up eyes hidden behind the shadow of his hair. "Please" she begged "Don't leave me"

Ranma turned away from her to face the Dog Demons as four more of them rushed into the light. Ki danced along the body of the martial artist, his body trembled his breathing erratic.

The dogs were halfway to them when Ranma acted "ARHHHHHH!" he howled letting ki empower his voice, his rage transform the sound into an attack all its own. The Dog's stumbled to a stop gnashing teeth and whimpering eyes lowered as the sound played havoc with their superior hearing.

He charged them eyes bloodthirsty and filled with wrath, Raphtalia could only watch the havoc as her master tore the demons apart. It was horrible, it was beautiful, it was awe inspiring, and never had she felt more useless in her life.

He had trained her, he had shone her strength and what had she gained?

"Indeed what have you gained" a woman's voice asked

Time seemed to stop for the Raccoon Girl "Who's there?"

"It matters not"

The Black Katana in her hand pulsed "He has given you the means to fight but he can not give you with will to do so."

Raphtalia whimpered "Fear is natural child, fear is important, fear teaches, fear protects, but it is never a thing to let dominate."

She could not understand who, what was saying this?

"Do you know why he is angry?"

"Why?"

"Because he was not there to save your parents, that child belonged to another world, there is no way under creation that he could have changed anything that happened to you. And yet he still angers, he still bleeds for you. Are you really going to watch him and do nothing child?"

"I don't want to watch" she whispered

"Then stand girl, if you are worthy of me stand!"

Time resumed and body trembling Raphtalia stood, legs remembered how to move her teeth bared against the fear she moved. "Do not pretend the fear does not exist" The female voice said "But strike, strike so that what happened to you never happens to anyone else. Stand beside that boy and together face the evil that is coming!"

A battle cry erupted from her lips as she charged the demon dogs her master was fighting. She was afraid, she was terrified of those demons. But she could not let that rule her, she had to stand at his side not his back, she owed him no less.

And so she struck the jet black Katana cleanly slicing the beast, it howled in anger and snapped its twin heads at her. She flinched the vision of her parents being torn apart as she fell blotting out everything.

But nothing touched her, in the blink of an eye an arm had bared the beast's path both mouths clamping down on it with all their might. Ranma had used his bare arm to shield her from those fangs.

Something inside her snapped, her battle cry became something truly hellish to hear, she leapt over the dog completely bring her katana down on its back slicing clean through the spine. She landed in a roll avoiding the last demon dog and she came up her katana dis as well opening its side. It snapped at her and avoided one mouth and flicked her Katana across the other's nose. The Dog did as all dogs did when hit in such a sensitive spot, it flinched back Raphtalia ruthlessly pressed her attack laying open cuts on both heads ending its life in a slash that cut both of the dog's throats.

And still she cut it her howls echoing over the mine, a shadow moved and she slashed at it. Ranma caught her wrist with ease moving inside her range and pressing her tight against him. She fought him at first nearly berserk in her fury but he held keeping her wrist locked and holding fast his supernatural strength an undeniable constant. Slowly the fury died, her arms lowered her breathing went from heavy to slow and controlled.

Her body went limp suddenly exceedingly tired, neither of them moved as Ranma sank to the ground once again. "That was amazing" he said gently "I wish I could do that against my fear"

"Master does not fear anything" she whispered.

Just this once he did not bother to correct her about using master "Not true" he said "In this moment you have proven your mind stronger than mine in some way and I am proud of you."

Closing his eyes he channeled his ki into Raphtalia washing away the fatigue, she made a pleased sound that got way the hell too much of a reaction from his body.

He pulled her to her feet thankful that his clothing was baggy enough to hide his sudden arousal, there was no place for that here. Especially since he did not know if her mind was a child or not, he was now suspecting that it was something in between.

"Come let's finish this dungeon"

"Yes master"

Together they moved on fighting through several more demon dogs and giant goblins until the reached the last room. It was a large dome with crystal growing from the floor to the ceiling and magic coursed through the place enough to make Ranma's spine tingle.

In one of the crystals in the back of the room had seemingly grown around a chest leaving the thing suspended in the structure itself. In the center of the room another demon dog stood up from its napping spot, it had one head but the thing was twice the size of the other demon dogs. Along its spine and around its neck diamond like shards had grown flat along its body forming a sort of armor over those vital areas. It pawed the floor once and motes of blue light fell from its jaws. Fifteen more diamond like shards floated up from the floor and began to orbit the things body.

"Diamond Dog Lv 30" the shield told him

"What the hell kind of beginner dungeon is this?" Ranma asked the world at large.

...wait a moment, just who had told him about this beginner level dungeon? "….that bitch" Ranma muttered as he readied himself for battle.

"Raphtalia stay back its almost twice your level do not attack until we know what its attacks and specials are."

He said it in his command voice and Raphtalia knew better than to argue, she took a few steps away as the Glow shield morphed into the Stone Hide shield. He frowned then decided there was no better time to try out the shields ability. As he thought that words came to mind and he spoke them aloud "I am the conduct of those who come before, take shape at my will powers of old. Those that bestow victory and grace to the pure of heart, show me the proper path for I am Worthy!."

There was an almost sighing like sound from the earth, the wind which by an stretch of logic should not have been able to do anything this far into the mountain stirred his clothing. His skin glowed in a red aura that shrouded his body, the diamond dog howled and Ranma charged it. Ten of the orbiting diamond shards shot out like bullets from a gun. The stone hide caught most of them and of the three that it did not Ranma avoided two of them. The final one pierced his clothing and hit skin, it shattered leaving only a slight pin prick.

Then Ranma returned the favor and struck at the Demon's head, it was stopped by a shield of magic that surrounded the dog. Cracks formed along the shield at the blow and it seemed like one another punch would shatter it. He struck with his shield and the remaining five shards moved in front of the shield interlocking. The shield strike met the defense and two of the shards broke apart, the dog leapt back and howled. On reflex Ranma dove to the right as the nine shards passed the air where his back and been and returned to orbit around the diamond dog.

It howled again and crystal suddenly shot up from the floor at Ranma's feet, he leapt clear rolling in a smooth motion. As he came to his feet he tensed and leapt forward unleashing all his strength, the thirteen shards interlocked and he punched clean threw them hitting the magic bubble shield again. The shards had blunted that blow enough so the shield did not break. Ranma struck with his shield arm and remaining eight shards reformed to defend two breaking as they blocked the shield. The stone hide shield was too big, it spread his power over too wide an area to have the same affect his fist did.

The demon snarled and the crystal that had erupted from the floor broke into smaller pieces and shot towards the martial artist. Crouching slightly holding up the Stone Hide Shield he protected his head and chest letting his legs take the shard storm. Apparently twelve damage reduction plus his ungodly defense meant that his legs only took some minor cuts and abrasions from the equivalent of magic machine gun fire.

The six orbiting shards shot forward again all hitting this time but like the first one that had hid they exploded on hitting flesh. Ranma punched the shield again and it broke finally, the Diamond dog leapt back mana rising from the floor and gathering to the demon. It grew twice its original size, its maw opened and Ranma had to dodge that left a stream of new formed crystal in its wake.

The demon whirled to face its opponent and did not see Raphtalia's move, the Racoon girl blurred forward bring down a vertical slash cutting into the demon's vulnerable side.

The Diamond dog whirled to face the new threat but Ranma hit him, striking its large shoulder, in that moment he found something in this world was not pulverized by his brute force. Something did crack and he brought up his shield into him block the breath attack, he knocked him all the way across the room and into the crystal walls the attack flowing around him and solidifying into crystal.

The demon snapped at Raphtalia but she rolled under it opening a cut across its belly, it moved awkwardly trying to get in a position to attack but she managed to keep herself at his flanks or under it opening several more painful cuts.

Ranma flexed his entire body and the crystal encase shattered, the dog turned in time to see the biggest threat back in the fight. As the martial artist leapt for it, magic flared and a wall of crystal erupted from the ground. Ranma punched right through it but the wall slowed him and the Diamond dog leapt to the side biting at Ranma's head.

He blocked it with his Shield shoving it in the huge dog's mouth, Raphtalia took full advantage of being suddenly ignored, she focused all her energy her breathing, her timing, her angle. Then she struck at the demons hind leg, the black Katana cut true severing the back leg. There was a yelp of agony as the dog let go of the shield. Sensing a large amount of mana gathering Ranma rolled under the dog placing himself between it and Raphtalia. An omnidirectional wave of force shot out. The stone hide was great against physical but magical not so much, the shards were an exception because they were magically thrown physical projectiles but against pure magical force like this it did not block jack. So instead at the last second he stomped his feet into the ground up to his ankles and Raphtalia grabbed his waist.

He held for the instant needed and the wave passed, of course the dog was attacking now and his feet were struck in the ground. Raphtalia stepped in front of him her blade striking a line of red across the creature's noes. Like the lesser dog demons it flinched away giving Ranma the precious second he needed to get unstruck.

He capitalized on its moment of weakness and leapt in striking in a vicious uppercut, the dog had been readying another breath attack but the instant before it could fire the strike of Ranma shut its mouth and broke its Jaw completely. It was a double whammy because its breath attack tuned in on the demon itself wreaking havoc to its insides.

Ranma struck on last time leaping into the air Stone Hide morphing, the Hide of the Ancestors ability faded with it as the shield changed and was replaced with the Sword Horn Shield. With a battle cry Ranma drove the bladed shield into the Demons brain with all the strength as his command. There was a one last whimper before the thing fell at his feet dead its head destroyed by the attack of the shield hero.

Ranma fell back on his ass "Holy crap" he said to nobody.

Higher Level Boss Bonus, Rare Monster Bonus Lv mod 5, Lay Line Empowered boss Lv mod 15.

Exp Gain

Ranma 4000

Raphtalia 3500

Gold gain 55

Ranma Lv 30

Raphtalia Lv 27

Ranma laid back blinking at those words, he flicked to the help section "Level Mod: Circumstances that empower a monster beyond its level." Hm he muttered "Lay Line: A vein of magic that runs through the earth like blood through the body. Can be harnessed at specific places of power or by a mage who has achieved the Archmage title."

"Holy crap" Ranma said again as Raphtalia gave him a hand up "So even though it was level thirty it was like fighting a fifty...empty night"

He began the process of absorbing the Diamond dog into the shield, along with a broken piece of crystal from the walls.

Requirements for the Crystal Shield Unsealed:

True Power Sealed: Equipment Bonus: Magic Resistance (Medium), Special Effect Crystal Encase "By thrusting the point of the shield into the earth the user can cause crystals to erupt from the earth and entrap and opponent"

Combo Move Gaia Prison "Crystal Incase into Shield prison to create Gaia Prison"

The shield itself was a Kite shield similar to a crusader or Saxon shield and it was completely made of translucent green crystal.

Requirements for the Diamond Shard Shield Unsealed:

True Power unsealed: Tremor Sense 150 feet(A creature with tremorsense is sensitive to vibrations in the ground and can automatically pinpoint the location of anything that is in contact with the ground and within range) Equipment Bonus: Defense 5, Special Effect: Diamond Shot( The user points the tip of the shield at an enemy and fires a razor sharp shard at them)

The Diamond Shard Shield was like his small shield only slightly bigger the very edge of a shard top coming out of the bottom.

Requirements for the Diamond Dog Shield Unsealed:

True Power Unsealed: Magic Defense Bonus (Small) Equipment Bonus: Defense 5 Special Ability: Crystal Wall (Summon A wall of crystal from the earth to defend allies)

This shield was round with a open maw of a diamond dog emblazoned on its metal.

Piece by piece he he cut apart the Diamond dog and absorbed it into the shield keeping only the meat he was going to cook. Corpses were not things to leave around, they had a bad habit of stinking and he had gotten sick once when forced to spend the night with his Pa near a dead cow.

Finally with that finished he turned to the crystal with chest in it, he popped his neck loosened his arms and grabbed both sides of the crystal and began to squeeze. Raphtalia watched in silence as cracks started to form on surface, the cracks began to spread further and deeper as the earthen element fell apart before the physical might of Ranma Saotome.

The chest was made of metal and colored red with the symbol of a thornless rose emblazoned on its top. It was not locked or if it had been locked at one point was not anymore. Ranma opened the chest and looked inside, there were several things of interest. First the monetary gain, there were four emeralds, three rubies, and 20 gold pieces, and five jet black pieces of ore. Beyond that there was an earring made of obsidian, and two golden bracelets one had a faint ring of script inscribed around its outer band and the other looked to have a diamond fused to the top.

Raphtalia had her mouth open at the find, if her expression was any indication they had hit it big, he carefully picked up the earring and bracelets easily being able to tell they were magical in nature.

He made a note not to put them on until there purpose was figured out, "Can we get out of this place Ranma?" said Raphtalia interrupting his thoughts.

Standing up he nodded "Yea,lets go"

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Absolutely nothing bothered them on the way out it seemed killing the Diamond Dog nothing in that place wanted any part of them. In fact Ranma noted that the aura of dread that he had been feeling ever since entering the dungeon was fading. The bats in the wide room either were gone or made no sound, as they reached the entrance he thought he could see for a moment the backs of Goblins fleeing the cave to disappear into the woods.

Raphtalia seemed to notice it too "One of these places" she muttered.

"Pardon?" Ranma asked

"This was a special kind of dungeon a onetime event if you will. They show up from time to time, monsters seem to have a knack for taking over places of importance. The village that was near mine had a large brewery at one point, it was the cornerstone of the town. Then overnight it was attacked and taken over by monsters who made it into a dungeon the town never recovered and soon died as people left."

"So that means?"

"More than likely there is some kind of reward for clearing that place out."

"...Where would we go to find such a reward?"

As it turned out the Raffan had a small adventures guild office near the central marketplace, Ranma entered it looking around. It was clean well kept, with some chairs and a table that several adventures sitting around it talking about good exp farming areas and things they had found in their travels.

There was a rather dapper looking man sitting behind a counter slash dest with a large board above him listing jobs for the adventurer's guild. On the very top things about the mine dungeon were written. Apparently the town itself was offering one hundred gold pieces and a rare spellbook of the user's choice from the town's mayor.

He walked up to the desk and the man looked up at him "Ah Shield sama" he said seemingly without any malice

"That's me and you are?"

"Chester. C. Eliot" the man replied tilting his head.

Well that name was out of place but Ranma did not want to make a fuss about it "I cleared the mine" he said simply.

Conversation stopped as Chester's well-trimmed eyebrows raised "Really?"

Ranma reached into his pack and pulled out two diamond dog shards and several of its teeth "Will these be enough to show I killed the boss of that place, the Diamond Dog"

"Um, please wait a moment" He pounded his desk once and a boy came out from the back room "Take Jasper and go to the mine tell me what you find."

The boy nodded once saying nothing and went into the back room only to ride away on a giant lizard. Chester meanwhile took out a book with pages and pages of monsters and monster parts. He matched the teeth and the shards to the right description "You have killed a Diamond Dog but please let us make sure it was the right one."

Ranma nodded went to lean against the wall when he noted several of the adventures had left leaving open chairs. With a shrug he took a seat along with Raphtalia "What kind of spellbook do you want?" she asked.

"If we get it, I'm kind of hoping on that will allow me to identify items."

Chester glanced up from his books "Hero sama you just need to raise your appraise skill for that"

"How do I do that?"

"Experience, reading books about materials and magic buying and selling items you find. Most of the best appraisers are high class merchants."

"Should I take my stuff to one of them?"

Chester hesitated "You should do that only with stuff you want to sell, if you let a merchant look at a high class item odds are good he will short sell to you in hopes for getting it for himself.'

"Hmm, you any good at it?"

"I am well versed but it is not a skill I practice"

Ranma considered that for a moment and took out the earring and bracelets "What do you see when you look at these?"

He walked over to the man and placed them on his desk, the man looked pursing his lips "These are well made where did you find them?"

"Chest behind the Diamond Dog"

"Ahh, well these have a lv restrict of 40"

"Well that sucks" Ranma muttered putting a finger on the earing "Wait, now the restrict is gone"

"What?" He said taking his finger off it.

"Now it's back"

The looked at each other and Ranma picked up the two bracelets "Lv restrict is gone"

He put them down "And now it's back...do you have a Lv modifier item on you by chance?"

Ranma shook his head "Well that is quite strange perhaps it is part of being a hero?"

The Martial Artist shrugged "Well since that restrict is not a problem I'll tell you what they do."

He held up the bracelet with the diamond fused to it "This one has the ability to store up to one hundred points of mana and convert into SP"

Ranma flicked on the status bar looking, the screen flickered and the bar SP appeared below "Ki/mana"

"SP, this is the power used to awaken the abilities of the legendary items"

That was strange, but then again he had only used a Shield Ability just today and he had not been looking at what it cost him to use it that was very good to know. "This one" Chester held up the bracelet with the inscribed writing "It's very vague to me something to do with the wind, I apologize but I can tell you nothing more."

Ranma nodded "That was more than I knew a second ago, please don't apologize." He picked up the black earing "What does this do?"

"Ah that one I do know, it is one in a rare series of ear ware created by the Legendary Queen Morrigan. It is quite a rare find and sells for a fortune to the right buyer."

"What does it do?"

"...Is that really a question?"

"What?"

"Queen Morrigan made them that would be a clue"

"I come from another world who is she?"

"Oh, my apologies shield hero Queen Morrigan Aensland was and perhaps still is the Queen of Succubi"

Ranma's arm went ramrod straight holding the earring as far away from himself as possible, slowly he turned and placed the earing inside a bag, which he then put in another bag and stuffed it in the bottom of his pack.

"I see you have been burned by charm effects before?"

"One time a charm made me think I was in love with the guy" Ranma shivered at that memory it had almost gotten him buried alive.

Chester did not say anything seeming to know that perhaps some things were better left mysteries. There was a sound of movement the large lizard the boy had been riding padded back to behind the guild office. The boy came out from the back a few seconds later looking excited "It's gone master, the aura is gone. I even saw dog demons fleeing the mine and growing smaller by the second."

"Well Shield sama it seemed you have earned yourself the reward, Chester went back to the safe and opened it handing Ranma a sack "One hundred gold coins sir, if you will follow me."

Chester glanced at the adventures remaining and they quickly left the office, he led Ranma and Raphtalia outside where he flipped a open sign to closed. Leading them on a walk through town they ended up at a large house near the northern end. Chester opened the house with a key and led them in "You're the mayor?" Ranma asked.

"Oh no the mayor is out for the rest of the week he went to the capital to try and get knights to come clean out the mine but with the wave prospects were not good. He left me the keys on the off chance anyone managed to do it while he was away. Chester led them to a small library within the home "Please choose any one of the spell tomes you wish but only one."

Ranma nodded and began to have a look, he avoided the fire section not wanting to try any of those advanced spells just yet. There were no lighting element tomes surprisingly and he questioned about that "The mayor was hit by a lightning bolt as a child never wanted to even collect books about that."

"Fair enough" Ranma said.

He went to where the wind tomes were, he had not yet even done a wind spell but they could not be as bad as his experience with fire. He found a book bound in gold trim titled Mastery with the symbol of Air below."

Well it would be a long time before he could be able to pull that off but still when the time came...he picked it out and showed Chester "I see I would highly recommend not trying anything from that before you have gained skill with that element."

The Martial Artist nodded solemnly he had not planned on even opening this book for a while, it would give him something to strive for. Raphtalia had been pretty quiet up till now her eyes distant in thought, saying goodbye to Chester they made their way back to camp. "Is something wrong?" he asked her.

She blinked sharply snapping out of her thoughts "Hm?"

"Are you ok"

Her eyes met his "I am much better than I have been in a long time."

Ranma nodded "Raphtalia?"

"Yes"

"After this wave, let's hunt down that Cerberus."

She was silent until they arrived back at camp, it was perhaps six thirty by his reckoning. "Master" she said "The knights managed to drive it off but only because there were sixty of them, there is no need to endanger yourself." Her lip quivered but she did not cry "My parents are dead, nothing can bring them back."

Ranma sighed and put his arm around her shoulder, which was hard since she was taller than he was "Even if it won't bring them back a monster like that needs to be taken down."

She said nothing "If you want I go get it by myself" Ranma said.

"NO!" she said in a panic, probably because she knew he would do it by himself if it came to that.

"Ok then" Ranma walked over to the pool and splashed some of the water over his head, the cures activated and he became she. Returning to their things she undressed and put back on her clothing from her world. The once pants now shorts covered enough for a comfort though the shirt was a lost cause, with a sigh she set it to the side and with Raphtalia's help she wrapped her chest in something akin to medical gauze. "Are you not tired Ranma?"

She shook her head "Na I want to work on magic a bit more before crash, tomorrow we do nothing, we rest up and prepare for the wave."

Raphtalia nodded and after a moment of thought moved to follow her, Ranma glanced at the beginner's tome of fire and made a face. She moved her hand over to the book of wind and brought it along with she would finish fire later when the memory of the burns had faded.

Leaning magic was at first almost boring, it involved Ranma leaning against a tree reading the beginner's wind tome. It was surprisingly scientific in the way it described how the spell worked, but a good chunk of mysticism was thrown in as well speaking of how mana interacted with the wind.

It was growing dark by the time Ranma felt prepared to attempt the first cast of a spell it was a simple wind blast designed to knock an opponent back.

"I am the hero of the shield who commands the origin of power. I have read and deciphered the law of nature. Now flail in the embrace of the wind" "Zephyr・Wind Squall"

To her complete shock it worked the first time letting her emit a jet of wind that would have knocked a human tumbling. "That was awesome" Raphtalia said eyes shining "And on your first try."

"No one is more shocked than me" Ranma assured her looking at her hands. What had been different about that? She had the affinity for fire but wind had felt much easier, granted moving air was different than messing with heat and energy. Perhaps wind had a higher tolerance for mana overcharge or was it that fact the she had mastered Hiryu Shoten Ha which while mostly based on the manipulation of hot and cold ki did cause a tornado, just to be sure she did the spell several times with the same result. Ok then perhaps time to move on to the second spell "Wind Bullet"

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They slept in the next day waking only when their stomachs demanded food, Ranma also boiled some water and changed back into a man. The day was spent lazing around with Ranma reading more about wind magic and Raphtalia working on her language lessons. They were both very good at saying nothing while still being comfortable, in fact the entire day they hardly said one word to each other. They had one more night of rest and then if Ranma judged correctly around noon the next day the wave would hit.

It was evening before the silence was broken "It's coming master" Raphtalia said

"Ranma" he corrected her "And ya the wave is coming"

"I'm afraid"

"Completely normal, even I am afraid"

"You're afraid you won't be able to save everyone, I afraid for my life it's not the same."

"Raphtalia, Its normal, is what mortals do, by most reasonable standards I'm insane compared to normal people. But even I fear for my life, I just consider the lives of others more important. A martial artist protects the weak it is because they have more power than others that they must do so. Now that I am the hero of the shield well that responsibility is tenfold."

"You really are like her" a voice said

Both of them jumped to their feet but the female voice laughed "No, no, I'm right here"

The black katana pulsed from its resting place dark but not malicious energy flowed from its plain scabbard. "A talking sword" Ranma said "Somehow I am not surprised"

"As a fulcrum of Chaos I should hope not child"

"I don't know if you just insulted me but I'm gona assume not...so any reason for talking?"

The sword said nothing more and after a few minutes waiting they realized it was not going to,

"Well now we know the blade is sentient perhaps that's why its stats are growing with you."

Raphtalia gulped "She helped me back in the dungeon but still it kind of scares me that it's alive."

"If you stick around with me I promise you that a talking sword is going to be one of the least surprising things to happen."

"You're not joking are you?"

"Not in the least"

The next day came and the timer was almost finished counting down "Ready?" Ranma asked shield in its Stone Hide form. Raphtalia took a cleansing breath "Ready" she whispered.

"I will protect you" he assured her as the timer went to ten seconds.

"And I will protect you" she told him back as the timer reached five.

He gave her a wide grin "Now that's the spirit"

The timer reached zero and Ranma and Raphtalia were shrouded by the magic of the Dragon Hour glass as time and space bent to its will sending them to the start of the wave.

It was time to begin the legend, it was time to watch the Rise of Ranma Hero of the Shield.