On the battlefield, Dingir's artillery continued to rain down unceasingly, erupting in explosions accompanied by the endless wailing and roars of demonic beasts.
Yet, where the black-armored cavalry rode, despite the pounding of hooves and howls of beasts, it felt strangely like a zone of silent vacuum. Over a hundred knights acted as silent reapers, swiftly and efficiently clearing away the beasts. Even as comrades fell to enemy strikes or overwhelming assaults, not a single knight made any unnecessary movements or sounds.
"Is it really fine to leave everything to Heracles?" Ritsuka murmured anxiously inside the carriage, tearing her eyes away from the brutal scene outside.
Having fought countless desperate battles alongside Servants, she had grown keenly sensitive to their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Heracles was undoubtedly powerful—she'd personally suffered through being completely overwhelmed by him before, needing clever tricks just to defeat him.
Yet from Kingu, Ritsuka sensed unfathomable depths of strength.
She couldn't even begin to estimate how powerful Kingu truly was!
"Yes, even a hero like him won't be able to defeat Kingu," Merlin shook his head calmly.
If Heracles were fully sane and his true self, things might've been different. But in his current state—even enhanced by Ophis—he was no match for Kingu.
"It really is strange… Judging by the magical energy readings, it seems Heracles, just like the head priestess earlier, received some kind of enhancement from King Ophis. His magical output greatly surpasses Kingu's, yet somehow I still feel he won't win this fight," Dr. Romani's voice came through the communicator.
"Kingu's vessel, Enkidu, naturally draws magical energy directly from the earth. Having large amounts of mana inside the body probably doesn't matter much for Kingu," Merlin replied thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
From what he'd observed, Kingu had never been troubled by mana shortages, similar to Ophis—they were both absurd mana-rich monsters.
Of course, Kingu might have other secrets, but that was merely Merlin's speculation. Regardless, it hardly mattered in this situation.
Ritsuka frowned deeply.
So, Heracles's chances of surviving weren't looking good?
"This isn't the time to worry about others, you know~," Merlin reminded gently, waving his hand to conjure another visual feed.
"This is…" Ritsuka paled instantly.
Countless flying beasts had begun gathering above the cavalry unit, circling ominously. A group of several dozen wyverns separated from the flock, diving downward as if testing their defenses.
"This is bad!" Ritsuka gasped sharply.
Wyvern dive attacks could easily knock knights from their mounts using momentum alone. Even without considering that, the situation was already dire due to their severe disadvantage in ground-to-air combat.
From her observations, these knights didn't seem to have any ranged attack methods…
"What should we do…?" Ritsuka clenched her teeth, mind racing.
Would Mash's Noble Phantasm be enough to shield at least a small group?
Facing the imminent aerial assault, the knights remained completely calm, silently raising their weapons to intercept.
Ritsuka understood clearly that a mere few dozen wyverns posed little threat—but if the entire swarm above decided to attack simultaneously, casualties would quickly exceed eighty percent!
Yet just as disaster loomed, a streak of blue light shot across the screen, instantly obliterating over half of one wyvern's body. The remnants were immediately consumed by blue flames spreading from the wound.
"Arjuna-san!" Ritsuka's eyes lit up brightly.
Exactly as hoped, countless arrows of light followed, striking each wyvern precisely from afar.
"Oh my... Arjuna is quite reliable, as expected," Merlin smiled knowingly at the scene.
The sudden and unknown attack appeared to trigger instinctive fear among the airborne beasts; none dared continue their assault.
"GRAAAAH—!"
Hearing that roar, Ritsuka's face darkened again.
She hadn't heard that sound often, but she could never forget it…
"GRAAAAH—!"
"GRAAAAH—!"
"GRAAAAH—!"
"GRAAAAH—!"
Even worse, four identical roars immediately answered from multiple directions.
A four-legged dragon, vastly larger than any wyvern, suddenly burst through the flying beast swarm above, plunging downward, jaws wide open—Ritsuka could even see flames building in its throat through Merlin's feed.
These dragons were evolved forms of wyverns—far from true dragonkind, but still strong enough to rival mid-tier Servants.
But this first one wasn't her primary concern.
Multiple arrows of intense blue light streaked from the northern wall, accurately striking the dragon, with the largest arrow penetrating straight into its open maw.
These dragons might give average mid-tier Servants trouble—but Arjuna, a hero at the core of India's legend, stood unquestionably at the pinnacle among Heroic Spirits!
"ROOOOAR!"
Burned from head to toe by blue flames, even the dragon, thick-skinned as it was, bellowed in pain… but anger dominated that cry!
Even Arjuna couldn't easily one-shot a dragon at this extreme range without preparation.
The real problem, however, was that there wasn't just one dragon!
Four more dragons emerged from the demonic horde. One landed directly in front of Jeanne, another circled swiftly to confront Lily, and the remaining two appeared on either side, effectively flanking Ritsuka's carriage.
Far away, Kingu—currently occupied battling Heracles—smirked slightly.
Did they seriously think he'd let Chaldea enter the cedar forest unscathed?
Simultaneously, the four newly arrived dragons opened their massive jaws wide, preparing to unleash torrents of flame!
"No way—!" Mash desperately raised her shield, a hint of despair flickering across her eyes. Two deadly assaults from opposite directions—she didn't know how to fully protect everyone!
At this distance, even Arjuna could barely hold off one dragon. Trying to handle two simultaneously meant failing to stop either attack.
SPLASH───
Just as Mash decided to at least protect the carriage, a flash of tri-colored light caught her eye.
The neck of one dragon suddenly split open, spraying a shower of blood as it crashed helplessly to the ground. At that same moment, a slender figure landed gracefully beside Mash.
"Miss Altera!" Mash cried joyfully.
Altera nodded quietly, transforming the Sword of Mars into its whip-like form and slashing outward again.
BOOM—!
In just an instant, every beast—including the dragon—in a fifty-meter radius ahead vanished completely, annihilated!
---
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl