A New Roar

A New Roar (新たな咆哮) is the first episode of Season 2 and the twenty-sixth of overall episode The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
Mysterious monsters appear as Naofumi is preparing for the next Wave. At the same time they show up, the Wave countdown stops. The Queen summons the Four Cardinal Heroes, and tells them that the Spirit Tortoise has revived.

Plot
In the aftermath of the wave at Cal Mira Archipelago, Naofumi and his party returned back to the Melromarc mainland. Naofumi was rewarded the Seaetto Territory which includes Raphtalia's home, Lurolona Village. Since the wave, they have gained new allies such as combat instructor Eclair Seaetto and Hengen Muso user Elrasla Grilaroc while making good progress rebuilding the village. Rishia and Keel have been training to get stronger to fight in the wave which is scheduled to happen in a week. As Naofumi meets them, he notices that Rishia's stats are much lower than they should be and that she needs to get stronger. However, in her defence, Elrasla notes that Rishia is an expert in manipulating her key, which is rare. Keel is also not strong enough to fight in the next wave.

As they are talking, a scream echos across the village as a hoard of bat-like creatures attack the village. Fortunately, Raphtalia and Filo are able to defeat the creatures before harming anyone. Absorbing the remains of the creatures, Naofumi discovers that these bats are "familiars" to something else. At that moment, he notices that the countdown towards the next wave has stopped and is now replaced with a blue "7". At that moment, everyone feels a terrible scream as if something ancient has awoken.

Soon after, the four wielders of the Legendary Weapons - Ren the Sword Hero, Itsuki the Bow Hero, Motoyasu the Spear Hero, and Naofumi the Shield Hero convene with Queen Mirellia to discuss these new creatures. After noting that these creatures are not coming from the waves, Queen Mirellia proposes that these creatures are coming from the reawoken Spirit Tortoise. This creature is apparently a force of nature which wrecks havoc every few centuries. As soon as they hear this, the three attack heroes (Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu) each make their excuses as they leave the conference. As they leave, Malty becomes upset at Motoyasu since he didn't restore her title as princess. Itsuki also asks his ex-companion Rishia how she is doing. Rishia asks to re-join his party, but he says she will never be strong enough. Back in the conference room, Naofumi accepts the job and Queen Mirellia recommends going to the Spirit Tortoise Kingdom. Naofumi also updates Queen Mirellia about Melty, saying that she has been a great help in the village and has matured since when they first met.

After leaving, Naofumi and his party stop by Erhard's shop. Rishia reveals that she sees herself as a failure since she was unable to be useful to Itsuki. Suddenly, Raphtalia has an idea to help Rishia and brings her to the slave trader. Raphtalia reveals to Rishia that one of the powers of the Legendary Shield is to make slaves registered to its user stronger. Rishia is hesitant to accept and Naofumi would not force her however, in the end, she agrees.

Naofumi and his party start making their way on the long journey east towards the Spirit Tortoise Kingdom. As they do, they pass by lines of refugees evacuating the area devastating. One night, Fitoria contacts Naofumi through her connection with Filo. After Naofumi confirms that he is investigating the Spirit Tortoise, Fitoria reminds him of the choice he will have to make between the world or the people.

As Naofumi and his party continue towards the Spirit Tortoise, they hear rumours that the other three heroes - Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu - have died fighting the Spirit Tortoise. Rishia becomes upset but Naofumi confirms with Fitoria that the rumours are currently false. Just then, the party and the surround refugees are attacked by a swarm of familiars - stronger and more numerous than last time. They do their best to defend the people while Naofumi draws them all away with Hate Reaction. Naofumi is almost overwhelmed and is forced to use his curse series weapon to defeat the hoard in a massive wide-scale attack. In the aftermath, Naofumi apologizes to Raphtalia for using the cursed weapon. However, as the party unite, they are met by a mysterious woman. She begs for Naofumi to kill her.

Light Novel & Manga Differences

 * The timeline in the anime is different from the light novel and manga. Naofumi doesn't start rebuilding Lurolona Village and acting as a noble in earnest until after the Spirit Tortoise incident. However, the anime also skipped combat advisor training and the discovery of Hengen Muso.
 * Naofumi fights the Spirit Tortoise's familiars for the first time in Lurolona Village in the anime. In the light novel and manga, he instead fights them for the first time in Lerno Village after being requested to investigate by Queen Mirellia. There they fight both the bat and yeti type familiars.
 * In the Light Novel and Manga, the Spirit Tortoise was a creature only known about in a few surviving ancient documents and was not common knowledge. Rishia had to research to find out what the source of the familiars could be. In the anime, Queen Mirellia told the heroes what the threat was.
 * In the anime, Raphtalia is the one to suggest to Rishia that she should become a slave to Naofumi. However, in the light novel and manga, Naofumi asks both Rishia and Keel to become his slaves at the same time.
 * Naofumi met Ost for the first time in Melromarc instead of near the Spirit Tortoise in the light novel/manga.
 * Naofumi and Itsuki were generally portrayed more compassionate in the anime adaption.

Trivia

 * TBA