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IBHJ Chapter 584
🕑 Added 2023-11-21 01:02:35 +0000 UTCSince the Chthonians' appearance concerned Shirou greatly, he decided to trace back their path of emergence to the source. However, Cthulhu entities tended to be dangerous. Not wanting Mordred endangered, he instructed her to remain on Trifas' outskirts awaiting his return.
Unsurprisingly, she was very dissatisfied. "I'm not your subordinate. Why should I listen to you..."
Before she finished, Mash suddenly raised her shield again. Overcome by fear, Mordred smiled at him. "You're the founder of our kingdom. The peace we descendants enjoy is due to your hard work and great deeds. I'll be good and stay put here, not wandering or moving about. You can rest assured of my obedience."
Shirou nodded and Mash lowered her shield.
But inwardly, Mordred seethed and railed at the injustice of fate. Bad enough parallel versions of her mother and father showed up - but even Galahad too?!
How she loathed this fate!
Still, Mordred forced a smile as she bade Shirou and Mash farewell. Once alone, her strained expression melted into teeth-grinding vexation.
Seeing this, Sisigou scratched his head in puzzlement. "Why so afraid of the girl? She seems harmless enough." After witnessing Mordred's fearlessness against horrors like Shirou and the Chthonians, her dread towards Mash seemed baffling.
"It's not the girl I fear, but the Saint Graph fused with her!" she replied bitterly.
"That bastard Galahad...if you deviated but a little from his rules, he'd smack your head with his blasted shield! All while spouting, 'You were in the wrong. As your knight, allow me to teach you a lesson.' Then he'd bash me with the damn shield! Is that how a knight should treat his sworn lord? That son of a b**ch! He'd always say it was wrong for me to bully Gareth. But it's fine for him to bully me? Hmph...! If you got whacked by him as much as me, you'd fear him too, Master!"
"But based on how you addressed them, aren't they your vassal now?" Sisigou pointed out keenly.
"Yeah! But he still act all high and mighty, lecturing me as if I'm his little sister!" she fumed, stamping her feet. "That bastard Galahad always treated me that way just because he was bigger than me. Acting like he had the right to 'educate' me as he pleased! I hate him the most!"
"I see..." Sisigou mused as understanding dawned. No wonder she had blurted out Galahad as her fake name - this explained her deep-seated dread.
The knight proceeded to bitterly disparage Galahad in every way, all while having a minor tantrum - stomping about and hugging herself with puffed, sullen cheeks.
Perhaps without realizing it herself, only while criticizing Galahad did she behave like a wronged child rather than the hidden king she was.
...
Using black mud, Shirou tracked the Chthonians' underground movements, seeking their point of origin. All the while, he kept glancing curiously at Mash beside him.
Noticing his attention, Mash touched her face self-consciously. "What is it, Mr. Fujimaru? Do I have something on my face?"
"No, it's nothing," Shirou murmured, shaking his head. He was quite intrigued by what Galahad could've done to instill such dread in Mordred. But questioning Mash would be pointless. He needed to focus on investigating the creatures first.
Expecting to uncover some lair or summoning site, he instead found a dilapidated camp at the end of the odd slime trail while circling Trifas' outskirts. Without hesitation, he entered the deserted site with Mash.
There were clear signs of recent human activity within.
Shirou and Mash exchanged wary glances and advanced cautiously.
At the camp's center was a campfire circled by huddled people warming themselves.
As they slowly approached, ambushers suddenly emerged from tents to their left and right, weapons drawn and aimed at them.
Clearly, the people by the fire were decoys while the real ambushers hid in Shirou and Mash's blind spots, having long detected them.
Mash reflexively moved to raise her shield but Shirou held her back.
Moreover, the ambushers also looked surprised upon seeing them and lowered their weapons.
"It's Mr. Assassin!"
"Miss Mash who knows so much!"
They were homunculi led by Adam, not hostiles.
Sitting by the fire, Adam was first to sense Shirou and Mash and set up the ambush. Hearing the homunculi, he quickly turned and walked up to Shirou, greeting him in surprise before commenting: "Didn't expect to meet you here, Mr. Assassin."
Shirou smiled, "Nor did I expect to meet all of you."
After exchanging pleasantries, he glanced around with a frown. "Where's Spartacus? I don't see him."
At that, Adam's delight diminished into a wry smile. "To let us escape, Spartacus fell into the masters' hands."
Adam recounted their experiences after separating from Shirou.
Guided by Spartacus, Adam began rebellious activities only to be found out and surrounded by Vlad, forcing Spartacus to hold Vlad off so they could flee Trifas and take refuge here.
"Has Spartacus...died then?" he frowned.
Adam shook his head. "No. Our brethren working under the masters said Spartacus wasn't killed but imprisoned."
"I see..." he nodded.
Clearly Adam had spies among the Yggdmillennia.
Or rather, it'd be strange for the Yggdmillennia enslaving the homunculi to not have turncoats among them.
"Do you need my help, Adam?" he asked.
"No, Mr. Assassin. You have your own important matters. Besides..." Adam shook his head before declaring firmly, "This is our fate to grasp! We will claim it with our own strength, telling the masters we aren't slaves! No, even if we were once slaves, we will stand up!"
"Is that so?" he smiled.
Adam didn't host Shirou for long, quickly returning to his comrades to discuss rescuing Spartacus and liberating their oppressed brethren - and most importantly - dealing with Vlad.
Seeing their passionate discussion, Shirou wore a complicated expression, murmuring, "If Vlad saw this...would he be delighted or furious, or perhaps..."
"What is it, Mr. Assassin?" Adam turned to him.
"Oh, it's nothing," he shook his head with a smile. "Carry on with your discussion."
Adam nodded and rejoined his comrades.
Having checked underground thrice more with black mud and finding no Chthonian slime trail, he concluded the trail disappeared here - meaning their origin was likely this place.
Yet he discovered no nest or den.
It was absurd to think Adam's group summoned the Chthonian. As Cthulhu Mythos creatures, only Servants connected to the Mythos could summon and control them.
Simple homunculi created by the Yggdmillennia using Einzbern puppetry couldn't summon such beings.
Shirou frowned in vexation. He had hit a dead end.
Uncovering the Chthonian controller wasn't critical, but servants or foreigners from the Cthulhu Mythos posed great unknown danger that he had to identify early.
After discussing a few plans, Adam's group took a break. Shirou seized the chance to ask Adam about the Chthonians.
"Weird creatures? No, none like that here, Mr. Assassin," Adam replied.
Shirou frowned again. Another dead end then.
Could these be some sort of posthumous scheme by Caster of Red? Suddenly recalling Caster's parting words, his mood soured.
Just then, Adam frowned, "A presence like Mr. Spartacus is approaching."
A presence like Spartacus? Meaning a Servant?
Shirou used his black mud to sense around but detected nothing. Naturally - its true effect was absorbing negative emotions as magical energy, not seeking targets.
Indeed, detection was always his shortcoming.
Shirou always struggled to cover that shortcoming and considered Jeanne's Revelation an excellent tracking ability he wished he could replicate.
Now Adam claimed to sense a Servant.
"How did you notice?" Shirou asked.
"Uh...I just had this feeling, a voice telling me so," Adam scratched his head awkwardly.
In truth, ever since his birth, he heard a voice. It led to his initial awakening, finding and escaping his confinement by Vlad. It let him lead the maddened Spartacus and like-minded homunculi brethren through Yggdmillennia's hidden passages to escape.
After naming himself Adam, he heard the voice more clearly. It warned him of Shirou and Mash's arrival earlier.
Unable to comprehend the reason, Adam couldn't explain it well. But Shirou trusted him and offered support, bestowing every homunculus with [Mana Burst], [Battle Continuation], and the [Kalaripayattu]. The three skills made them very powerful, astonishing and pleasing Adam.
Armed, they left the dilapidated camp, peering warily into the pitch-black forest.
Suddenly—
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Several streaking arrows shot out, flashing brightly as they assaulted the group.
Mash leapt forward instinctively, raising her shield to block the supersonic barrage.
Clang clang clatter!
Her shield withstood the arrows.
Shirou picked one up with a frown, recognizing the Greek style familiar to him from Red Archer's earlier attack.
"Atalanta...?"
Exerting slight force, the arrow snapped with a crack, fading like melting snow.
Just then, a panicked nun burst from the dark forest. A white veil lay upon her head and plain nun robes outlined alluring curves as she fled in terror from pursuing arrows intent on ending her life.
Tripping on an unseen stone, the seemingly frail nun fell prone right in their lethal path.
With the arrows about to claim her, Shirou raised his eyebrows and reflexively materialized shields to block them.
Clang!
The arrows dropped harmlessly.
In one leap, Shirou landed by the nun's side, gazing into the black forest. "Atalanta, show yourself!"
His call prompted two more meteoric arrows which he nullified.
Shirou cast [Clairvoyance C] and peered into the forest. Atop a tree sat the silver-haired huntress, staring frostily like a predator on the hunt.
Despite the vast distance, her frigid gaze came through clearly. Shirou frowned - Atalanta's state seemed very off.
Her verdant tresses were now argent white. Her pale green hunting garb changed to black battle raiment marked by a giant boar's head on the right shoulder. Most importantly, rationality had abandoned her, replaced by a frenzied aura reminiscent of a Berserker rather than Archer.
With an icy look at Shirou and the nun, Atalanta stomped and melted into the night.
The nun exhaled in relief and smiled at him. "Much thanks."
"Don't mention it. Are you alright?" As Shirou replied, he turned to the nun and froze.
She also stared, stunned.
Comments
JeanMartin Freites
This will be interesting.
