All Chapters of Rise of the Shield Bearer: Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
30 chapters
Chapter one: The Four heroes summoning
The world trembled as light swallowed the old library.Kael Ardent, a twenty-one-year-old university student known for his quiet brilliance and his obsession with forgotten myths, felt the air around him twist. The book he had been studying—an ancient volume bound in cracked leather titled Chronicles of the Four Shields—vibrated in his hands. Its words glowed and reshaped themselves into a single command: “Answer the call.”Before he could blink, the world vanished.Kael landed hard on marble. His ears rang with the echo of voices, foreign yet oddly familiar. As his eyes adjusted, he saw three others standing nearby, each looking as stunned as he felt. The vast chamber surrounding them shimmered with blue sigils carved into the walls. Stained-glass windows depicted great beasts devouring cities while four figures stood in defiance, each holding a weapon of legend—a sword, a spear, a bow, and a shield.Before Kael could speak, a man in regal robes stepped forward. His silver crown glea
Chapter two: The Fall of the Shield Hero
Morning light spilled through the tall palace windows, painting the marble floors in gold. Kael stretched, half-expecting the world to feel lighter with a companion by his side. Myna greeted him with a soft smile and two plates of breakfast, her voice warm as she spoke about adventure plans, dungeons, and how she’d help him level up. They spent the day in the training yard. Kael tried to learn the rhythm of combat — how to block, how to defend, how to take hits without flinching. Each strike against his shield resonated with a low hum, and the system flickered before his eyes: [Defense +2] [New Skill Unlocked: Minor Guard Boost] He smiled faintly. Progress. By noon, Myna suggested they visit the armory to gather supplies. She handled most of the negotiations, quick and charming, while Kael fumbled with prices and merchant terms. Every time he hesitated, she’d laugh lightly and step in, coaxing a discount from the blacksmith or securing a better rate for potions. He felt lucky to
Chapter three: A Hero with No Home
Rain lashed against the rooftops of Erenthia, turning its cobblestone streets into rivers of mud. The city that had once cheered for heroes now recoiled from him as if he carried plague. Kael Ardent walked through the storm with his hood pulled low, his soaked cloak heavy against his shoulders. His shield glowed faintly under the gray sky — a reminder of the curse that bound him. Every merchant stall he passed closed its shutters; every innkeeper’s eyes went cold the moment they recognized him. He stopped before a small tavern tucked between an apothecary and a pawn shop. The wooden sign above the door read The Broken Fang. He pushed the door open. The smell of ale, sweat, and burning wood washed over him. Conversations faltered. “That’s him,” someone hissed. “The Shield Bastard.” Kael ignored them and walked to the counter. The bartender — a stout man with a scar down his cheek — eyed him warily. “No rooms,” he said flatly. “I just need information,” Kael replied, voice low. “
Chapter four: The Price of Survival
Dawn bled slowly over the edge of the forest, painting the mist gold and gray. Kael and Lyria walked in silence along a dirt path littered with frost. The night’s battle at Karth still clung to Kael’s mind — the screams, the smell of burning wood, the blue glow of his system panels hovering before his eyes long after the fires had died. Now he had company. Not a friend, not yet — but a companion. Lyria moved with the wary confidence of someone who’d survived too much. Her armor was scratched, her cloak torn, her boots caked with mud. But her sword was sharp, and her eyes sharper. “You don’t talk much,” she said finally, breaking the quiet. Kael adjusted the strap of his shield. “Not much to say.” “You saved that village. That’s something.” “I didn’t do it for gratitude.” “Then why?” she asked. Kael hesitated, then shrugged. “Because it was right.” Lyria smirked faintly. “Then you’re already better than most mercenaries I know.” The conversation faded, replaced by the hum of
Chapter five: Wolves of the Western Road
The Western Road stretched like a scar across the wild lands — a cracked vein of stone winding between hills draped in dying grass. Wind howled over the plain, carrying with it the scent of rain and blood. Kael and Lyria trudged along its edge, cloaked against the cold, the rising sun staining the horizon red. They had left the capital two nights ago. Their faces were now on bounty boards in every city square. The royal decree called them traitors — murderers of knights, thieves of sacred relics. Kael could still hear the king’s voice echoing through the court, sentencing him to exile as the other heroes watched in silence. Now the so-called Shield Hero walked nameless through a world that no longer wanted him. “System log: Alignment—Neutral. Bounty: 2,000 gold. Threat level: Low to Moderate.” Kael ignored the whisper in his mind, but Lyria frowned. “It’s still tracking you,” she said. “Even after everything, the system hasn’t erased your registry.” “Let it,” Kael muttered. “If i
Chapter six: The Price of the Hunt
The rain began to fall as the sun bled out over the horizon, streaking the ruins in molten gold and ash. Kael and Lyria made camp beside a half-collapsed wall, the firelight trembling against the stones. The corpses of the Ironfangs lay in a shallow pit nearby, covered in mud and leaves to keep scavengers away. Kael sat apart from the flames, his shield resting beside him. It pulsed faintly, almost like a heartbeat. He couldn’t look away from it. “System log,” he murmured. “Status report.” The familiar blue interface shimmered into being before his eyes. [Level: 12] [Skill unlocked: Adaptive Shielding (Tier I)] [Passive effect detected: Unregistered attribute acquired — Evolutionary Echo.] Kael frowned. “Unregistered?” Lyria glanced up from cleaning her arrows. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “I don’t know.” His voice was quiet, distant. “It wasn’t there before the wolves.” The shield’s surface shimmered. Beneath the polished steel, something alive seemed to stir — a faint
Chapter seven: The Merchant of Shadows
The road to Traven Hollow was empty except for the crows. Their cries followed Kael and Lyria down the misted path, black shapes circling above the dying pines. The rain had passed, but the forest felt drowned in silence — too still, too watchful. Kael adjusted his cloak and glanced at the shield strapped to his arm. It hadn’t stopped humming since the fight with the Ironfangs. Sometimes, when he wasn’t paying attention, he thought he could feel something breathing beneath its surface. Lyria walked beside him, hood drawn low. “We’ll need supplies soon. And somewhere to lay low. Every village from here to the capital’s got bounty notices with your face on them.” Kael gave a tired half-smile. “At least they got my good side.” She shot him a look. “I’m serious.” “So am I.” He lowered his voice. “But we can’t keep running forever. If the Waves are growing stronger, I need to grow faster. Stronger. Whatever it takes.” “Even if it kills you?” Kael didn’t answer. The silence stretche
Chapter eight: Awakening of the Aether Shield
The night came without stars. Kael and Lyria had made camp at the edge of the Whispering Vale, a stretch of land where even the wind refused to speak. The trees bent away from the clearing, their roots coiled as if afraid to touch the soil. A fire burned low between them, barely pushing back the dark. Lyria cleaned her blade in silence. Her eyes, reflecting the firelight, flicked toward Kael every few seconds — cautious, measuring. He sat opposite her, arm wrapped around the shield. The veins of light still pulsed faintly across its surface, tracing patterns that changed whenever he blinked. Every pulse seemed to sync with his heartbeat. Or maybe the other way around. “You haven’t said a word since we left the merchant,” she finally said. “If that thing’s doing something to you, I need to know.” Kael looked up. His face was drawn, pale from exhaustion. “It’s… not pain. More like noise. I can hear it — thousands of whispers, overlapping. It’s like the shield is remembering.” Lyri
Chapter nine: Echoes of the Fallen City
Dawn came shrouded in ash. Kael and Lyria stood before the shattered gates of Eryndor, once the beating heart of the western kingdoms — now a corpse of a city, swallowed by its own silence. The air shimmered faintly, thick with the residue of Aether corruption. Black vines crawled up marble spires, and broken statues of kings and scholars stared blindly at the ruins they had left behind. A faint tremor passed through Kael’s hand as he gripped the shield. Its surface flickered with spectral light — fragments of images flashing too quickly to understand: banners burning, a woman in silver armor crying out, a colossal figure of light devouring the skyline. The system’s interface appeared unbidden, its usual calm tone fractured by static. [Warning: Aether contamination detected — Class Red Zone.] [Recommendation: Avoid prolonged exposure. Host synchronization unstable.] “Too late for that,” Kael muttered. Lyria scanned the ruins ahead, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. “So
Chapter ten: The Last Stand of Eryndor
The great doors of the citadel closed with a low, resonant thud. Kael’s heart pounded in the suffocating dark. For a moment, neither he nor Lyria spoke. Then faint blue light rippled from the shield, illuminating the interior — a vast throne hall carved from marble and silver, now reduced to ruins. Broken banners hung like torn memories, each bearing the same crest as the one on Kael’s shield. “Whatever happened here,” Lyria whispered, “it wasn’t just war. It was annihilation.” Kael nodded, his eyes drawn to the murals along the cracked walls — scenes of battle, sacrifice, and triumph. But at the center of it all was a figure wielding the shield against a tide of monsters, her armor gleaming with celestial light. He reached out to touch the mural — and the world shifted. The citadel vanished. Kael blinked as heat slammed into him. The air was thick with smoke and screaming. He stood on the same hall’s balcony — but alive and burning with chaos. Flames roared outside as the sky c