Chapter 104: Efficient? Night attack on Matou!
The sea breeze, carrying the scent of salt and fish, swept through the port, making the damaged iron sheets that hadn't been cleaned yet rattle noisily.
Arthur's gaze was cold as he looked at Artoria, who had raised an objection, showing no intention of engaging with her words.
Iskandar, well aware of the clashing auras between the two, quickly clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back to himself, attempting to lighten the atmosphere.
"Our goal is the same: to defeat the Berserker group as quickly as possible. Does the King of Knights' Master have any new plans?"
Artoria's usually lively cowlick was now drooping listlessly, and her entire being exuded an indescribable despondency.
Facing the varied gazes of the three people present, her lower lip was almost bitten through before she spoke with difficulty.
"The number of living corpses in Fuyuki City has surged, and Berserker's whereabouts are becoming increasingly difficult to track."
"The Master proposed… actively opening the hospital blood bank, supplemented by magical means, to lure the living corpses into a trap, and then…"
Artoria was filled with shame, quickly glancing at Diarmuid, who remained silent, and said in a heavy voice:
"Then, lift the curse of the demonic spear, and I will unleash my Noble Phantasm to eradicate all living corpses in one fell swoop, forcing Berserker to cause a new disturbance."
As Artoria revealed this bizarre battle plan, the port immediately fell into a dead silence, the air oppressively suffocating.
Iskandar frowned, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
Diarmuid's left hand, gripping the Gae Dearg, trembled slightly, but upon receiving a telepathic message from his Master, his face darkened, and he lowered his head, choosing silence.
Arthur's eyebrow arched slightly, a half-smile playing on his lips, his tone carrying a hint of 'praise'.
"To find Berserker as quickly as possible, you'd even use a hospital as bait. What a grand gesture!"
"Artoria, did your Master mention how they plan to handle the innocent civilians in the hospital?"
Artoria's face changed drastically, her voice betraying a forced conviction that even she could barely believe.
"Create a fire alarm in advance to evacuate medical staff and patients."
"Then, ask the Holy Church for assistance to clear ordinary civilians from the surrounding area, waiting for the living corpses to gather."
It sounded watertight, didn't it?
However, the plan's location was a hospital, not a hotel where people could simply leave.
A sudden fire alarm might make some people leave, but how could critically ill patients with limited mobility be easily transferred?
The Holy Church was not omnipotent either; otherwise, why would they suspend the Holy Grail War and turn to Servants like them for help?
Perhaps in Artoria's Master's mind, compared to the tens of thousands of lives in Fuyuki City, the few injured patients who couldn't be evacuated in time from the hospital were merely necessary sacrifices.
At this thought, Arthur shook his head indifferently.
"I will track Berserker in my own way. If you all believe Artoria's Master's plan is feasible, then proceed. I'm leaving."
He could not condone such a plan that weighed lives, and he was too lazy to continue playing games, so he turned and left decisively.
Artoria gazed at Arthur's resolute back, a bitter taste on her lips.
She vaguely felt that something vitally important was, along with that retreating figure, drifting further and further away from her.
…
Night fell, and a crescent moon hung obliquely.
In the velvety black night sky, a cold light spilled down, but it couldn't disperse the heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
Arthur casually dismissed Ohkawa, who again wanted to pull him into an all-night gaming session, and strolled into the courtyard, stretching his limbs while transmitting a command spell.
'How are things?'
"Lia's Master has already convinced the Iskandar group and the Diarmuid group. The Holy Church is currently deploying near Fuyuki Hospital."
'He actually pulled it off? That man named Kiritsugu Emiya certainly has some tricks up his sleeve.'
A hint of surprise flashed in Arthur's eyes. He truly couldn't understand why the other two groups would agree to Kiritsugu Emiya's plan.
Gathering a large number of living corpses and then annihilating them could indeed temporarily quell the unrest in Fuyuki City.
Afterward, as long as new living corpses appeared and caused trouble, Berserker's activity range could be roughly pinpointed.
However, this approach was ultimately too passive.
Not only would it require a great deal of effort to deal with the living corpses, but afterward, they would also have to patiently wait for Berserker to create more living corpses and cause disturbances again.
He didn't have that kind of free time to sit and wait.
Arthur looked up at the dim crescent moon, a rare flicker of annoyance crossing his brow.
'Berserker's Master is still nowhere to be found?'
Merlin's telepathic message paused slightly, as if carefully sensing the fluctuations of the underground ley lines.
"Yes, perhaps his Master is currently with Berserker, and thus, their presence is also shielded by Berserker's special ability."
Arthur understood, his gaze shifting to his rear-left, murmuring to himself.
"It seems I'll have to trouble the Matou Family. But, would they really be so foolish as to keep cowering in their old lair?"
Indeed, Berserker possessed a special ability to shield detection, and at this moment, he had also suppressed his magical energy fluctuations, hiding without a trace.
But Arthur had listed Berserker as a key target since the first night of the Holy Grail War, and he had already pinpointed the location of his lair through Merlin.
Although he didn't believe this trip would easily capture Berserker and his Master, with no more effective clues available, it was worth a try.
…Fast-moving dividing line…
The streets were empty and deserted, and the Matou Family's old mansion exuded an unsettling aura of death from inside out.
The surroundings were eerily silent, the air stagnant, not even a breath of wind bothering to pass by.
The faint, rotten stench, like maggots clinging to bone, drilled into Arthur's nostrils, giving him an extremely poor first impression of this so-called prestigious family.
Although he had never set foot in the main residence of the Tohsaka Family, he imagined that it, also being a ley line node in Fuyuki City, would certainly not be as eerie and strange as this.
Just the deliberately created gloomy atmosphere around the Matou Family's mansion already screamed "villain."
Creak—!
The heavy wooden door slowly opened under Arthur's hand, letting out a long, arduous groan, like an old man on his deathbed sighing.
The night wind howled through the open doorway, making the oddly shaped landscape trees on both sides of the courtyard cast flickering shadows, as if countless dark figures were stirring among their branches and leaves.
Squeak, squeak!
Subtle but dense strange noises came from all directions of the mansion, and countless obscure magical energy presences instantly locked onto him, poised to strike.
Arthur acted as if he hadn't noticed, calmly walking along the front garden path to the main entrance of the Matou Family residence, then bending his finger and gently knocking twice.
Silence from within, only hollow echoes.
His expression unchanged, he reached out and pulled open the door.
What met his eyes was a dried male corpse, only its upper body remaining.
Its skin was tightly stretched over the bones, as if it had been weathered for decades.
However, Arthur knew at a glance that the person had not died naturally, but rather suffered a horrific fate after their magical energy was completely drained.
Arthur noticed some twisted Crest Worms remaining at the wound on the male corpse's abdomen—the infamous Crest Worms of the Matou Family.
The records mentioned that the Matou Family's magical lineage had long since declined, forcing them to rely on this unorthodox method of Crest Worms to forcibly cultivate a Master, hoping to gain a share in the Holy Grail War.
"Strange, if this deceased person is Berserker's Master, then—"
Arthur calmly shifted his gaze from the male corpse, looking towards the shoe cabinet deeper in the entrance hall.
There, a small girl in a pure white dress stood quietly.
She had rare short purple hair, a delicate but expressionless face, and empty, lifeless eyes.
"Who are you?"
Bang—!
A dense black and red magical mist exploded, instantly engulfing Arthur's vision!
Accompanied by a deafening roar, the black-armored berserker, carrying unparalleled ferocity, lunged with the most primitive and savage posture!
At the same time, amidst a chilling "shasha" sound, countless bizarre insects surged out from all directions like a tide!