Light Novel Volume 7/Synopsis

Prologue - The Search
Naofumi continues to look for the missing heroes - Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu. However, the search continues to come up empty. Naofumi, along with Raphtalia and Filo, decides that they need to check where the monstrous Spirit Tortoise was first sealed. However, on their way there, they hear screaming in the distance.

Chapter One - Helping Others
Rushing to the screaming, Naofumi and his party finds a group of people being attacked by the bat type Spirit Tortoise familiars. They are able to fight off the familiars. Naofumi heard from the group that the three missing heroes were last seen trying to fight the Spirit Tortoise. He then teleported back to Melromarc to bring the rest of his company - Eclair, Rishia, and the Old Lady - up to speed on their search. He then made his report to Queen Melromarc.

Chapter Two - Spirit Tortoise Familiar (Human Type)
The next day, Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo teleported back to the town where they were searching for the Heroes. They found everyone running away from a powerful chimera zombie familiar. During the fight, the mysterious woman arrived again to aid in battle. Naofumi used his Shield of Wrath to finish off the monster. The mysterious woman reveals that she is the Spirit Tortoise's familiar and that she (the Spirit Tortoise) has still not been defeated.

Chapter Three - The Spirit Tortoise Reawakens
Reeling from the information the mysterious woman had revealed, they decide to have a talk. The woman, named Ost Horai, revealed that her purpose was to collect souls to stop the Waves of Calamity. The "7" in the waves counter refers to the power-level of the danger. The Spirit Tortoise has been taken over by someone else who wants to use its power for their own means. Just as she mentioned that the Spirit Tortoise isn't actually dead, Naofumi received news that the Spirit Tortoise has reawakened. She offers her help in fighting her body and Naofumi accepts her into his party.

Unable to teleport to where the Spirit Tortoise was originally slain, they teleport to the Melromarc castle to strategize with the Queen. The Queen recognized Ost as her act in a wicked country's government. She made it understood that she cannot trust Ost but they all head back out to fight the Spirit Tortoise.

Chapter Four - Spirit Tortoise Tyrant
Naofumi, his party, and the Melromarc army marches out to meet the Spirit Tortoise which had crossed into Melromarc territory. It is heading straight for Castle Town and has already caused many casualties. The Spirit Tortoise had changed into a more terrifying form and was able to shoot missile-like spikes. Finally, Naofumi noticed the fragments of the coalition army and ran towards them to help;

Chapter Five - Mass Destruction
Meeting the army generals, Naofumi introduced Ost who offered her services. Being the Spirit Tortoises, they almost kill her but Naofumi stepped in and defended her. Naofumi then tells Ost to meet with Rishia to figure out a way to defeat the Spirit Tortoise. Ost suggests attacking closer to Melromarc, where there is less magic power in the earth for the Spirit Tortoise to use. The Melromarc and coalition army prepare to initiate the final attack on the Guardian Beast. The Beast is currently stopped and resting.

Chapter Six - Versus the Spirit Tortoise
After an hour, the Spirit Tortoise starts to move again and chase after the coalition army. Despite their research, no new information has come up. Naofumi and his party then hurry to fight the Spirit Tortoise a second time. With the Tortoise's power-ups, it was clearly more difficult to fight but eventually, they were able to behead it a second time. Unlike last time, however, the Spirit Tortoise regenerated a new head immediately and started attacking. Naofumi and his party retreat.

Chapter Seven - Buying Time
Naofumi and his party arrive back with the coalition army. Since when they have left, the Queen has found a reference to a spell that can seal the Spirit Tortoise's power. Fitoria also tells Naofumi through Filo that she is on her way to fight the Spirit Tortoise however Naofumi will have to keep the Spirit Tortoise from destroying Castle Town in the meantime. Naofumi, Filo, and Ost prepare to fight the beast while the rest of his party start evacuating the town. During the fight, Naofumi switched to the Shield of Wrath. A new countdown appeared which showed how much time Naofumi had before being consumed by its curse. The curse was just about to consume Naofumi and Filo when Ost took some of the curse energy and redirected it at the Spirit Tortoise. They continued fighting until Fitoria showed up. Naofumi, Filo, and Ost, nearly dead from their efforts, return to camp.

Chapter Eight - The Search
Fitoria is able to stall the Spirit Tortoise by herself, but could not defeat it. Naofumi, his entire party, and some of the Queen's army decides to travel into the beast in order to find a way to defeat it. They sneak up behind the Spirit Tortoise and climb up onto its shell while it fights Fitoria.

Chapter Nine - The Spirit Tortoise Cave
The relatively large invasion force searches around the Spirit Tortoise's back until they find a cave. The Queen uses a map that was created during the first excursion on the Spirit Tortoises back which leads the group deeper. They travel through but the map starts to be inaccurate. They reach a cavern full of familiars which they clear out to make their base of operations. While the other soldiers recover from their fight, Naofumi and the Queen heads to the temple with the mural from the ancient hero.

Chapter Ten - Strangers
Using Ost's intuition, Naofumi and the Queen were able to make their way toward the exit. On their way, they come across 3 "adventurers" which they haven't seen before. Raphtalia was able to realize that they were using illusion magic and dispelled the magic. Standing in front of Naofumi was L'Arc, Glass, and Therese. Before Naofumi was able to get answers, all of them were attacked by the Spirit Tortoise's familiars. The heroes from Glass' World then disappeared under a small cave-in. When the dust settled, they were replaced with eerie mimics of the three. Naofumi, Ost, Raphtalia, Rishia, and the Queen defeated the mimics with some difficulty and then continued towards the temple.

Chapter Eleven - The Heroes' Inscription
The temple they find is a different temple than the one where they first saw the mural. However, this one was also in ruins due to the fighting. The same message existed but was in ruins so Naofumi could only make out the words "head" and "heart." Putting the two murals together, Naofumi hypothesizes that the only way to defeat the Spirit Tortoise for good is to destroy the heads and the heart at the same time. They all then return to their base camp deep into the tortoise.

The other search parties had returned and had fully mapped out the tunnels. It looked like all paths lead to a dead-end. Filo notices a "weird" area of the floor and kicks it. It turns out that the mimic familiars have been pretending to be parts of the tunnel and closing off paths to the heart. Going down the newly opened tunnel, they find a blue dragon hourglass and the heart. The heart is able to use gravity magic, heat beams, and forcefields. They try to kill the heart and the head at the same time but they both regenerate at the same time. Ost thinks that a sealing spell is needed to defeat the heart. They all return to base camp.

Chapter Twelve - The Spirit Tortoise's Heart
Naofumi brings the army to the Spirit Tortoise's heart. They make a plan to protect the troops while they prepare the sealing spell to stop the regenerating. The heart puts up a hard defense by shooting its heat beams and releasing hordes of familiars. Just before the magicians are able to cast the ceremonial sealing magic, the heart releases white blobs which drained the magic of everyone they touched. Using the extra power, the heart's attacks start to overcome Naofumi. However, Filo and the Old Lady used their Hengen Muso to redirect the flow of energy from the draining attack to empower herself instead of the heart. The magicians are able to seal the heart intact which causes the Spirit Tortoise to stop.

However, the seal broke and the Spirit Tortoise started moving again. Ost finally recommends destroying the head and heart together and then sealing the heart away. Exhausted, everyone fights the heart again and is able to destroy it at the same time Fitoria destroys the head. Then, they cast the sealing spell. Finally, the Spirit Tortoise is defeated. Ost opens up the path to the core and Naofumi with his party travel to see who has been controlling the Spirit Tortoise.

Chapter Thirteen - Who Pulls the Strings
Naofumi and his party descend the long stairs to the core of the Spirit Tortoise. At the bottom, they found the Guardian Beast's core and the three captured heroes. The reason the Spirit Tortoise had transformed into a powered-up form is because it was being fed the power of the three heroes. The villain, Kyo Ethnina, introduces himself as the mastermind of the Spirit Tortoise's rampage. Naofumi's party attacks, however, he is incredibly powerful and is able to use the Spirit Tortoise's power to fight. Just when it looked like Naofumi was going to be captured, L'Arc and his party join and save him.

Chapter Fourteen - Liberation
L'Arc and his party join the fight against Kyo to Naofumi's surprise. Even though they tried to kill the Legendary Heroes, controlling a Guardian Beast and causing a massacre is too far for them. Plus, they want to release the Vassal Book that Kyo is currently controlling. However, this time L'Arc and Glass are weaker than they were on Cal Mira since the waves - the link to their world - is not active.

Using L'Arc's defense-rating attacks, they were able to destroy Kyo's defensive barrier and damage him. However, he used powerful restoration magic to heal himself. He then used gravity magic to incapacitate everyone. Ost powered up Naofumi and combined, they were able to use the powerful Liberation-class magic Liberation Aura. With that buff, everyone was able to resist the gravity magic. Kyo then stole the power from the Spirit Tortoise's core.

Chapter Fifteen - The Spirit Tortoise's Soul
With the power of the souls collected by the Spirit Tortoise, Kyo's powers were magnified. However, Rishia confronted Kyo. Strangely, she was able to dodge or destroy his attacks. When none of the other heroes stood a chance against Kyo, Rishia, the weakest of the group, was able to fight him one-on-one. She then destroyed the cage that Kyo used to steal the other heroes' power. Ost unlocked Naofumi's Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield which had an energy blast attack. Using her active Hengen Muso powers, Rishia broke Kyo's barrier surrounding the Spirit Tortoise's core. Naofumi then destroyed it.

Kyo, frustrated that his plans have been ruined, gathered the remaining Spirit Tortoise energy and used it to create a portal to Glass' World. Naofumi tried to follow after him but was stopped by his Shield with the message "Holy Heroes are not allowed to invade another world." He then went to Ost, dying with the destruction of the core.

Epilogue - Ost Horai
Ost started fading away. She thanks Naofumi and his party for their help. Regretting that Kyo got away, she asks Naofumi to chase after him and reclaim the Spirit Tortoise's energy. She then warns them of the next Guardian Beast that will be released - the Phoenix. Finally, she gave Naofumi's shield an exemption which allowed him to travel to other worlds and then dissolved.

Still grieving from her death, Naofumi and his group decide to fulfill her request and go to Glass' world to defeat Kyo. Naofumi, along with Raphtalia, Filo, Rishia, and L'Arc's group run into the portal to chase after Kyo.

Extra Chapter - Searching for the Soul-Healing Water
This chapter is written from Glass' perspective right when the Spirit Tortoise started to send familiars to Lerno Village. L'Arc had just shown Glass the incredible power-boosting effects that soul-healing water has on Spirits. She is concerned that Naofumi has grown so powerful and wonders how powerful the other heroes, the ones who can actually attack, may be. Discussing the effects of soul-healing water, it adds so much power that it exceeds Glass' capacity to store the otherwise limited energy resource.

L'Arc and Glass then check up on Therese who is still obsessed about the jeweled bangles that Naofumi had crafted for her. L'Arc is jealous of her love for the bangles. She explains that even if she tried, the bangles cannot attack Naofumi since he created them. To not attract attention, they don different armor and hairstyles. Therese then uses illusion magic to conceal their identities.

Walking through a town, they come across Kyo. Glass and L'Arc's Vassal Weapons screech at his abuse of the Vassal Book and his manipulation of the Guardian Beast. He then teleports away and Glass' group decides to head to the Spirit Tortoise to stop him.