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This tactical reality was precisely why Max had initially formulated a battle plan focused on eliminating the enemy Master rather than attempting to brute-force kill the Servant directly—their team's concentrated firepower output was simply too lacking for a proper DPS check.
As Max finished mentally reviewing the situation, he noticed the massive gout of dragon breath spewing directly toward Maverick and the aerial team.
In an instant, Max appeared directly in front of them via super-acceleration, positioning himself as a living shield.
Raising his fist wreathed in roiling black flames, he met the dragon's breath head-on with a devastating punch.
Immediately, pitch-black fire and azure-blue dragon breath intertwined violently, erupting into absolutely dazzling pyrotechnic brilliance that lit up the night sky.
Shuten-douji, who had been growing increasingly restless watching from the sidelines, finally sheathed her blade at this moment. She frowned slightly and asked Chen Ge with barely concealed irritation:
"What's going on? Haven't you located the enemy Master's position yet? The Holy Church coordinates should have transmitted that information to you, correct?"
"That's absolutely right, but the problem is..." Chen Ge's voice carried obvious frustration. "Their two red marker dots are overlapping on the tactical map. We've searched literally everywhere around this entire area, but there's absolutely no trace of the enemy Master anywhere!"
One could only say that facing Shuten-douji's pointed questioning, both Chen Ge and Maverick felt genuinely helpless about the situation.
The Holy Church's tactical map displayed the data exactly as Chen Ge described.
According to the coordinates, the enemy Master's location was positioned directly adjacent to Vritra—practically on top of the dragon.
But they'd already looked absolutely everywhere they physically could.
Astolfo had circled around Vritra's massive form countless times at various altitudes and angles.
However, besides the destroyed dam structure and the obliterated residential buildings scattered across the landscape, there was absolutely no sign of any other human presence in the vicinity.
Not only was Shuten-douji growing anxious—Maverick and Chen Ge were becoming even more stressed about the failure.
This was genuinely ridiculous. The tactical plan itself was actually quite solid and well-thought-out, but if critical problems arose on their end during the implementation phase, it would be absolutely embarrassing.
After all, they were hunting what should theoretically be a completely "helpless" and vulnerable Master with zero combat capability.
[Bugged]: Is the Holy Church map actually bugged? We literally can't find anyone anywhere!
[CriticalMoment]: Oh no—Maverick, Chen Ge, don't mess this up at the critical moment! Pull it together!
[TimeLimit]: Yeah, I just came over from Max's stream tab. Max said he only has 5 minutes remaining on his transformation timer!
[Underground]: Do you think it's possible they're hiding underground?
[Genius]: To the person above, you're not exactly a genius, are you?
[HowFind]: But if they ARE underground, how do we even find them? Vritra is such a massive fat dragon blocking the way. You can't just politely ask her to move aside, can you?
[Vore]: Is there a possibility that Vritra literally swallowed her Master whole, and Kenneth is actually sitting inside her stomach right now?
[CircularLogic]: Talking in circles here—doesn't it still ultimately come down to needing to eliminate Vritra first? But we CAN'T kill Vritra efficiently, which is why we need to kill her Master instead!
[OGArtoria]: If the original adult Artoria were here with Excalibur, this would be easy.
[TooLate]: "Oh, NOW you remember me? NOW you want my help? I'm sorry, but it's far too late!" —Artoria, probably
[Hypocrite]: Person above, you're being a bit hypocritical. Who was it praising Lily as the cutest thing ever just earlier?
[Cuteness]: Being cute doesn't help kill dragons though.
The streaming chat buzzed with increasingly frantic speculation, but it actually did provide two genuinely new tactical ideas for the stressed Maverick and Chen Ge to consider.
However, these two suggestions were perhaps better left unmentioned—because upon closer analytical inspection, they only led to even deeper despair about the situation.
And just as Maverick and Chen Ge were absolutely racking their brains trying to figure out a solution—
Shuten-douji, having received their frustrated response, directly leaped down from the hippogriff without further discussion.
"Still haven't figured it out?" Shuten-douji's tone carried an edge.
"Correct. We've narrowed it down to two most likely locations, but both seem extremely far-fetched," Chen Ge admitted.
"That's right—one theory is inside Vritra's stomach, and the other is underground somewhere. Other than those two possibilities, it's genuinely hard to explain why the coordinate markers overlap perfectly but we can't visually locate anyone," Maverick added.
"Eh, in that case, Master, why don't I just use my Noble Phantasm?" Astolfo suggested brightly. "My Noble Phantasm can make her fall over and expose her underside, you know!"
"Astolfo, stop messing around. This is serious," Chen Ge said firmly.
"Is that so? I understand the situation now." Shuten-douji's expression became focused. "Then this humble servant will go down and investigate personally. You all continue aerial reconnaissance from above."
As she finished speaking, she felt the magical connection with her distant Master lighten slightly as he gave tacit permission.
Shuten-douji's figure touched down on the ground gracefully.
Looking at Max, who was frantically dodging Vritra's continuous roaring dragon breath attacks while leaving dozens of afterimages, Shuten-douji spoke through the special telepathic channel between Servant and Master:
"My Lord, could you grant this humble servant a Command Seal to boost my Noble Phantasm? My Lord?"
Shuten-douji's tactical idea was straightforward: deploy her Noble Phantasm across a wide area, corroding and poisoning all the surrounding land indiscriminately.
This approach would accomplish two things: regardless of whether Kenneth was actually hiding underground, it would eliminate that possibility from consideration. And it would also inflict significant environmental damage and poison status on Vritra herself.
However, facing Shuten-douji's rare direct request for support—
Lester gave absolutely no response whatsoever.
The request fell into what felt like a bottomless communication void.
If it weren't for the steady flow of magical energy still connecting them through their contract, Shuten-douji would have genuinely thought her Master had been eliminated from the match entirely.
And the reason for his current stubborn silence was actually pathetically simple: he simply didn't want to "waste" one of his precious Command Seals.
Thinking about this selfish calculation, Shuten-douji's gaze shifted toward the direction where Lester had originally positioned himself for safety.
A distinct hint of contempt and dissatisfaction appeared in her crimson eyes.
After all, she thought with cold clarity, small-minded, petty men are never liked or respected anywhere—not in battle, not in life.
But there was absolutely no time to dwell on her useless Master's character flaws, because Vritra's massive spiked tail was already sweeping toward her position at frightening speed.
Thus, feeling the violent tremor transmitted through the ground from the incoming impact, Shuten-douji summoned her Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (Pseudo)—the legendary grass-cutting sword—and forcefully blocked the devastating sweep with a single-handed guard.
And this dramatic posture of holding back a dragon's full-force tail strike with just one hand naturally made the entire streaming audience cry out in absolute awe.
[Holy]: HOLY SHIT!
[Impossible]: That attack was MASSIVE! Like a tsunami demolishing everything!
[OneHand]: And she just BLOCKED IT with ONE HAND?!
[Tiny]: She's so TINY but she stopped a DRAGON CHARGE!
[Strong]: Shuten-douji is CRACKED!
After all, Vritra's devastating attack had been so immense in scope—like a natural tsunami of pure destructive force—that it had swept away and demolished all the surrounding houses in a single motion.
But when that apocalyptic strike reached Shuten-douji—this tiny, elegant woman—she had actually managed to completely halt the dragon's charge with her greatsword through pure technique and strength.
The physics simply didn't make sense, and that's what made it so incredible.
"My apologies, My Lord," Shuten-douji said coolly through their mental link, her tone carrying obvious sarcasm. "This humble servant might not be able to contribute much to the overall strategy, but if you require it, I can at least hold back this fat snake for you!"
"It's an Evil Dragon! You're incredibly rude! And you even carry the spiritual aura of a snake yourself!" Vritra roared indignantly.
"Shut UP! Don't you DARE confuse me with that disgusting creature!" Shuten-douji's voice turned genuinely venomous.
"Hahaha! Is someone sensitive about their mythological origins? Then eat THIS, you Eastern serpent!" Vritra taunted.
Although Shuten-douji's voice hadn't been particularly loud, Vritra possessed supernatural senses that wouldn't let any insult or slander pass unnoticed or unpunished.
While laughing mockingly in response, the dragon also unleashed a concentrated torrent of dragon breath directly at Shuten-douji's position.
Simultaneously, Vritra's massive hind dragon claw kicked out toward Shuten-douji with lightning-fast speed, attempting to crush her.
But it was abundantly clear that being massive had certain advantages—and being small also possessed its own tactical benefits.
Facing this coordinated two-pronged assault, Shuten-douji merely performed a graceful, nimble backstep evasion, dodging both attacks with minimal wasted movement.
Her elegant and beautiful form moved like a spiritual butterfly dancing effortlessly through the air, untouchable and ethereal.
And Max—who had been listening to Maverick and Chen Ge's tactical analysis through the team communication channel—seized the opportunity created by Vritra's distraction.
He pulled out a wickedly curved dagger from behind his waist. The blade seemed to bend at impossible angles, defying normal physics.
Then, exploiting the brief moment when Vritra's attention was focused entirely on Shuten-douji, Max super-accelerated to appear directly in front of the dragon's exposed chest.
Raising the mysterious dagger high, he used his maximum flame output to blast open a section of Vritra's protective armor plating.
Then he drove the blade deep into the exposed flesh beneath.
"Hahahaha! Human, are you trying to tickle me? How could such a pathetically small dagger possibly— Oh?" Vritra's mocking tone shifted to surprise. "Ah, so it's designed to sever my magical energy supply lines? Clever! But it reconnected instantly. This level of disruption has absolutely no lasting effect on me, you know. My body is naturally pure and regenerates flawlessly!"
[WhatWasThat]: What kind of dagger was that?!
[Regen]: She just regenerated the cut instantly!
[Broken]: This boss fight is BROKEN!
[Impossible]: How do you even KILL this thing?!
The situation was becoming increasingly desperate.
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