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IBHJ Chapter 736
🕑 Added 2024-03-04 05:50:15 +0000 UTC"So what should we do now, General?" the assistant asked.
"Didn't history and the king already tell us? There is strength in unity. A single bone can be easily snapped, but hundreds bound together cannot break. We'll wage war according to headquarters' strategy. Once all legions are inside the walls, we'll swiftly strike Asgard like lightning. The only fate left for that little lamb will be slaughter."
He laughed and stretched his massive palm to press on Skadi's walls. His body towered like a mountain range before the border. He turned his head slightly, gazing towards the world inside. Suddenly he frowned.
"General, over there..." The assistant trailed off, stunned speechless as he pointed to the forest. A youth clad in jet-black armor was walking slowly towards them.
His eyebrows furrowed as he gazed at the figure.
The dozens upon dozens of heavily armed and armor-clad fire giants, standing in perfectly straight lines as if they were formed from stone themselves, turned their greedy olive-colored eyes in unison towards the youth, resembling a troop of parched desert travelers who have been wandering for days without water suddenly catching sight of a crystal blue oasis.
Although they stood as motionless as statues, their eyes glinted with thirst and their throats bobbed as many of the giants visibly swallowed back mouthfuls of saliva at the sight of the youth, like starving men eyeing a grand feast laid out before them. But despite their towering greed, the disciplined troops stood ramrod straight, not moving an inch though they coveted the youth.
“General, a human walked straight to our door. He must be blind! Let me capture and cook him for you,” offered the assistant.
But before he even finished speaking, the General shouted, “Defend!”
At their General's order, the ranks of armed giant troops sprang into action. With the speed and precision of a well-oiled machine, they quickly tightened their grip on their weapons and obsidian shields before forming up shoulder-to-shoulder in a fearsome wall, stretching across the entire snowy land. Gripping their swords with hands that could crush boulders, their blazing eyes flashed with violence as they entered battle mode.
“W-why are we defending against a single helpless human?” The assistant stammered in confusion, his earlier enthusiasm extinguished.
The general pointed at the young man who had stopped walking in the distance and said, "Look there. He stopped. He's not blind. He must be the servant who killed our men. I can tell from his aura that he's from Chaldea - a Heroic Spirit from Pan-Human History! He stopped because he noticed our wariness and is deciding whether to attack or retreat. So, young one, what will he do?"
"He'll definitely retreat, General!" the assistant declared without hesitation.
"Wrong," he bellowed. "Archers! Take your positions and open fire on my command!"
The assistant froze in place, his jaw dropping as he glanced left and right. Marching up in perfect synchronized steps in front of the breached walls were four entire battalions of fire giant archers, over four thousand strong, each wielding enormous longbows carved from petrified wood with bowstrings made of twisted steel.
At their general's command, the archer legions abruptly halted their advance as one. Moving with flawless precision honed from centuries of drilling, they quickly crouched down on one knee, the ground quaking beneath their armored bulk.
Four thousand massive bows were drawn back in unison with an awful metallic twanging, the steel bowstrings creaking with unimaginable tension. Nocking obsidian-tipped arrows the size of ballista bolts, the archer army took deadly aim at the lone approaching youth.
"Loose!" roared the General. Four thousand devastating arrows were unleashed at once with the roar of an inferno, filling the air and blocking out the sun. The whistling storm of death and destruction descended towards the audacious human.
This is madness! Why waste so many arrows on a single puny human? the assistant thought in dismay as the deafening volley of four thousand arrows blotted out the sun itself. But in the next moment, his shocked thoughts ground to a halt and his eyes widened until they seemed fit to burst from their sockets. For just as the deadly arrow barrage reached its apex and began raining down towards the lone foolish human, an entire battalion of heavily armored human soldiers suddenly shimmered into view around the youth with flawless coordination, as if they had been laying in wait anticipating this very attack.
The whistling obsidian missiles descended like a storm of death upon the newly materialized human forces. Then with earth-shattering detonations that sent shockwaves through the land itself, the giant's arrows found their marks. The thundering explosions boomed as loud as the footsteps of gods, the blasts sending debris and trees flying in all directions.
The general turned calmly to the assistant. "Young one, this is a lesson to learn. Study well - your generation will be the main attack force against Pan-Human History."
The assistant stood dumbfounded, his mouth agape and mind reeling. But before the General could say more, a barrage of piercing metallic sounds suddenly rang out, echoing off the snowy land. From within the swirling smoke left by their arrow volley, a relentless hail of enormous obsidian arrows came whistling back towards their defensive lines.
Bang! Bang!! Bang!!!
The arrows crashed against the giants' towering obsidian shield walls with an endless cacophony of deafening clangs and clashes, the sound like the banging of a thousand blacksmiths' hammers at once.
As the bone-chilling winter wind mercifully blew the lingering smoke away from the human army, the astonishing scene was revealed, causing the assistant's eyes to go wide with disbelief.
Somehow, a colossal castle made of seamless white stone now stood where open field had been mere moments before. Emitting an aura of sacred light, its dazzling walls towered as high as small mountains, effortlessly deflecting the barrage of returning arrows. Not only did this unfathomable structure shield the human army perfectly, but to the giants' horror, some of their own obsidian arrows were now being reflected by the shimmering walls, bouncing directly back towards them with fearful speed!
"How did a castle appear from nothing?" murmured the bewildered assistant.
The general's eyebrows furrowed. "This must be that Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm - defense and reflection. These enemies will be difficult to face." His expression grew solemn.
...
"My king, what is happening?" asked the shocked legion commander.
Shirou's expression turned grave. Their enemies had struck right away at the first sight of him without hesitation. If he had been a second slower in activating Lord Camelot, things could have become extremely dangerous.
Observing their well-organized formations and good situational judgment, he realized the one leading this giant's army was likely the same type as him!
Shirou's frown deepened as he stared at the orderly giants lining the massive walls—clearly not the disorganized giants from before, but a disciplined army. This was going to be a pain to deal with.
These giants were considered as Phantasmal Species and way more dangerous than most Magical Beasts, almost on par with Dragon Kinds as top-ranked threats. And giants with the quality and discipline of a human army? That'd be extremely terrifying to face.
In fact, if over 1500 years ago, Vortigern's magical beasts had possessed the same quality and discipline as a human army, Shirou was pretty sure he would've been the one dead back then.
After all, the only reason Shirou had been able to defeat Vortigern was because he'd relied on training his own army into one with the qualities of a modern military. And now, unbelievably, these giants had that kind of mental discipline.
But while the sight of this unbelievable giant army shattering everyone's common sense was intimidating, it was nothing to fear. He wasn't manifesting in this world in a human body, but as the Heroic Spirit Eternal King. He also had his own army and powerful Noble Phantasms... He was already vastly different than before.
Comments
Melegant
Fool beasts, nothing can possibly stand before the king's army for the eternal king alone is the only one throughout heaven and earth who's might is unparalleled
Azelios Rosemile
Whether it was Giants, Fairies, Dragons, Humans or Gods, Nothing stand before the One who wait Eternally in Avalon The 'True' King Arthur
JeanMartin Freites
Nice to see Shirou has a plan on how to deal with the threat.
