Watching Motoyasu's spear-wielding posture, Takeru was somewhat speechless.
Although he had become the Spear Hero, he had never thought about honing his spear techniques. Instead, he pursued levels and enjoyment.
Hearing his words, Naofumi didn't say anything. He just switched his shield, choosing the thickest one. He had listened well to Takeru's earlier advice: the Holy Weapon, the shield, had great potential. So, he had worked hard to develop the shield's abilities.
Although the shield had never had any offensive capabilities, he had unlocked over twenty types of shields.
Also, through continuous training, Naofumi's level had reached thirty-six. Combined with his physical fitness and combat awareness, even without the slime, in a normal fight, he would definitely not be weaker than Motoyasu.
"Begin!"
As the referee's voice fell, Motoyasu initiated the attack. With a dash and a leap, using the momentum of the jump, he immediately executed several consecutive thrusts at Naofumi.
Naofumi directly used his shield to block all of Motoyasu's attacks, and the two became locked in a stalemate.
"Blocked it? As expected of the Shield Hero!" Watching Naofumi block his attack, Motoyasu was somewhat surprised. Then he mocked, mocking that Naofumi could only defend.
"You've lost. If it's a contest between the sharpest spear and the strongest shield, the moment you fail to pierce my shield, you've already lost." Naofumi naturally caught Motoyasu's mockery, so he directly mocked back.
Hearing Naofumi's words, Motoyasu fell silent. However, he wasn't thin-skinned enough to take Naofumi's mockery to heart.
He did a backflip, aimed his spear at Naofumi. After a flash of light, Motoyasu finished charging.
"Wild Thrust!" As he spoke, Motoyasu rushed to Naofumi at extreme speed and attacked him. A large number of energy beams thrust toward Naofumi.
Facing the sudden numerous attacks, Naofumi could barely dodge and soon took some damage.
However, because his defense was extremely strong, the beams could only break Naofumi's skin.
Seeing his attacks only causing minimal damage to Naofumi, Motoyasu clicked his tongue in displeasure.
Naofumi, however, seized the opportunity. He charged forward and punched Motoyasu hard in the gut.
"Hmph, how could a shield's attack be effective?" Myne mocked. But she was soon proven wrong.
Motoyasu was seen clutching his stomach and retreating several steps. Clearly, Naofumi's attack just now had been effective.
"It hurts! Why?" Feeling the pain, Motoyasu was incredulous.
Speaking of this, it relates to the shield Naofumi had obtained a few days ago. It was the Tyrannosaurus Shield, evolved using materials from the Tyrannosaurus Takeru had killed.
Although it had no offensive skills, it granted Berserk and a boost to strength. This strength boost was more than enough to break through the Spear Hero's defense.
"Damn it!" Seeing his HP was even lower than Naofumi's, Motoyasu felt angry. He then regrouped and thrust his spear at Naofumi again.
However, Motoyasu's straightforward attacks had already been mostly figured out by Naofumi. With a simple lift of his hand, he used his switched Two-Headed Black Dog Shield to block Motoyasu's attack.
Then, the unique skill of the Two-Headed Black Dog Shield, [Rebound], was activated. Two strands of demonic energy, like pythons, appeared from the shield and bit down on Motoyasu.
Motoyasu was caught off guard by the sudden attack.
After barely breaking free from the rebound's bite, Naofumi followed up with a Spirit Shield Strike, hitting Motoyasu square in the gut, making him spit out bile. His HP dropped rapidly.
Naofumi's consecutive attacks completely exceeded everyone's expectations. The king, watching, was extremely angry, hating the Spear Hero for his poor performance.
The Pope, watching, maintained a smiling facade, but inside he was thinking it might be time to replace this batch of Heroes.
In other words, disliking Motoyasu and Itsuki's poor performance and hating Naofumi, he wanted to kill Takeru and the others and summon a new batch of Heroes with more potential, provided the potential didn't come with a Shield Hero...
"Just a Shield Hero, daring to treat the Spear Hero like this!" In the spectator seats above, some nobles were angered by Naofumi's actions, their disgust for Naofumi undisguised.
Naofumi glanced at everyone's ugly faces, then looked at Motoyasu, who had fallen to his knees.
"Hurry up and surrender. Stop embarrassing yourself, pretty boy." Arriving before Motoyasu, Naofumi spoke condescendingly.
"W-who's surrendering!" Hearing Naofumi's condescending words, Motoyasu said stubbornly.
"Is that so? Then I'll focus my attacks on your face and your crotch. After all, I am a despicable person." As he spoke, Naofumi let out a self-deprecating laugh. The shield in his hand switched back to the Tyrannosaurus Shield, and he raised his fist.
"S-stop!" Watching Naofumi's action, Motoyasu quickly raised his hands to protect his face.
But at that moment, Naofumi was hit by a special attack and sent flying. Turning his head, unquestionably, it was Myne's doing.
'Magic? That woman.' Seeing Myne's mocking expression, Naofumi stood up and angrily shouted, "Damn it!"
Seizing the moment Naofumi was distracted, the regained Motoyasu thrust his spear, aiming straight for Naofumi's face. However, Naofumi reacted in time, retreating slightly to dodge the thrust.
Although he narrowly avoided the sneak attack, Motoyasu's attacks followed, with overwhelming force assaulting Naofumi. Instantly, Naofumi was forced back step by step.
After pushing Naofumi back again, Motoyasu's spear turned red. "Lightning Spear!"
After a moment of charging, an energy attack crackling with white lightning hit Naofumi squarely.
"Ah!" Hit directly by the powerful energy attack, although he had no external injuries, Naofumi's HP dropped to an extremely low level. Naofumi collapsed directly to the ground.
Above, Emilie, watching tears stream down her face, could do nothing.
Then, Motoyasu forcefully thrust his spear into the floor in front of Naofumi. The great force sunk the spearhead into the floor. Motoyasu was panting heavily. "I win."
"Great!" Above, seeing this scene, everyone cheered, as if Motoyasu's victory was what everyone had expected.
"Wait! Someone interfered in the one-on-one duel. The result just now is invalid!" Just as Motoyasu was about to leave, Naofumi stood up.
"Ha!" Hearing Naofumi's words, Motoyasu found it amusing, thinking Naofumi was just a sore loser.
"Your companion interfered in the duel!"
"Bluffing!" Hearing Naofumi's words, Motoyasu mocked.
"No. The people over there saw it too, right? That woman, Myne, used magic. Definitely saw it. The reason I fell was because of that woman's magic!" Looking at Motoyasu, Naofumi spoke loudly.
But upon hearing Naofumi's words, the people above fell silent. Not because they hadn't seen it, but because the king was giving them a warning look.
"No way. They should have seen it!" Seeing this, Naofumi was stunned.
"There's no need to believe the words of a criminal. Spear Hero, you have won!" At this moment, the king stood up and said.
"That's amazing, Motoyasu-sama!" Hearing the king's words, Myne quickly ran over and threw herself into his arms.
"Shield Hero, I understand your feelings. Oh, by the way, those two monsters have already been eliminated. What a shame. You're going to be fighting alone again. Hahaha." After sucking up to Motoyasu, Myne turned back to mock Naofumi.
"Well done, Motoyasu-sama!" At this moment, the king came down.
"Yes."
"As expected of my daughter, Malty's chosen Hero." The king then spoke with a smile.
"Come to think of it, I was quite surprised when I found out Myne was the princess." Hearing the king's recognition, Motoyasu was very pleased.
"Yes. I want to contribute to world peace." Hearing Motoyasu's words, Myne put on an act of sacrificing herself for the world.
"The slave enslaved by the Shield Hero has been beautifully liberated by the Spear Hero. Furthermore, the two monsters the Shield Hero carried were extremely dangerous. They caused many casualties and even ate people. Therefore, we have decided to destroy them, and we issue another warning to the Shield Hero." At this moment, the minister who had been acting as the referee spoke again.
"Oh, we should never have summoned a Shield Hero."
"Exactly. He even carried man-eating monsters."
"The three Heroes besides the Shield are enough, aren't they? Just dispose of that criminal directly."
"This country doesn't need a Shield Hero. Execute him!" Hearing the referee's words, the people above shouted loudly.
Hearing everyone's words, the anger in Naofumi's heart burned even fiercer, 'Yes, did a country like this need protection? It seemed everything Takeru had said before was completely correct.'
Although angry, Naofumi was very calm. Because he knew, with Takeru around, he still had hope.