Curse Shield

Curse Shield (呪いの盾) is the eighth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
A powerful epidemic breaks in the village where Ren had defeated a dragon earlier. Naofumi treats the villagers and realizes that he needs to remove the source of the problem. As he rushes to the source, his comrades were put on the edge of death. This again unlocked the mysterious Curse Series with ominous-looking Shield, the Wrath Shield.

Will he be able to control this curse? Or will he be consumed by it?

Plot
Late at night, Naofumi is working on making accessories for Raphtalia and Filo, a bracelet and a hairclip respectively. That morning, as they finish packing up for the road, they are encountered by an elderly woman and young boy who warn them that only death lies ahead, a deadly plague that their medicines can't cure and their people can't survive has taken hold of the village.

Arriving in the village, Naofumi makes with his usual routine of treating the sick and injured and collects his payment, though he warns that the only thing that he's really done is to treat the symptoms. The village doctor explains that the source of their woes is the wind from the mountain, where lies the corpse of a dragon that was killed about a month earlier by Ren, who then left the body where it was slain. He left the corpse as a source of income for the village, and many came to see the dragon. The village was becoming prosperous, but soon they were infected by the poison from the wind of the mountains.

Making things far worse, monsters in the mountains have been mutated by the influence of the corpse into savage poison-spewing beasts and normal adventurers can't go anywhere near the mountain. The Kingdom claims that the Knights and Heroes are too busy to clean up the mess and promise more medicine for the time being. Naofumi asks them to cancel the request made to the guild and agrees to deal with the matter for five hundred silvers, an outrageous price but one that Naofumi uses to emphasize the fact that he is not a saint and won't be taken advantage like one.

Casting a buff on Filo, the bird rampages through the mountain all the way to the dragon's corpse, defeating every monster in their path. However, upon arriving at the Dragon's corpse, it reanimates and turns into a Zombie Dragon. Filo quickly attacks the reanimated beast for it being the dragon (recalling the fact that Dragons and Filolials are natural enemies) but ends up being swallowed whole. Filo's life flashing before his eyes, Naofumi snaps, again and again, this world has taken away the things that he cares about.

A glitched message appears in Naofumi's mind asking if he wants power and if he hates everything. Memories of Malty, King Aultcray, and the Heroes flash through his mind as Naofumi flies off into a berserk rage. Tanking the dragon's attack, Naofumi is bathed in flame from the Rage Shield as he tells it to burn, suffer and die. However, Naofumi is snapped out of his rage as Raphtalia talks to him.

However, between the poison from the undead dragon's attacks and the burns from Naofumi's new shield, Raphtalia is in horrible condition as the dragon is still coming after them, and the only Shield strong enough to beat it is the Cursed Shield. Naofumi realizes that he may again lose control of the power and incinerate everything. Miraculously, the dragon suddenly keels over as Filo claws her way out of its stomach, revealing that she was alive and also ate a magic crystal that was apparently the source of its power.

Although Naofumi immediately wants to treat Raphtalia's injuries, she insists on cleaning up the dragon's corpse first, which he does. Naofumi uses the payment from the village to have their doctor treat her injuries, he explains that he's treated her as best he can, but what Raphtalia really needs right now is High-Quality Holy Water and the doctor gives Naofumi back the bulk of the payment so that he can buy some.

Filo gives Naofumi a piece of the crystal she found in the dragon's corpse. Feeding the crystal to his Shield, Naofumi unlocks something that he can't yet use, he also sees that the Wrath Shield isn't part of the upgrade tree, which only makes him feel more ominous about using it. Apologizing for his cowardice, the two girls also apologize to Naofumi for their weakness and recklessness, their warmth actually makes Naofumi smile.

With this, Naofumi vows to become stronger.

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