Chapter 256: Kingu's Frustration
Kingu felt completely powerless.
He could not stop Gorgon right now, so he could only use his wide eyes to scout around everywhere, guarding against that woman suddenly popping out from nowhere and mincing either himself or Gorgon with a single sword strike.
After all, for some unknown reason, he could not detect that woman's aura at all; back on the beach, he had unexpectedly ignored her existence entirely!
How terrifying!
Well, the latter possessed the Holy Grail, so she wouldn't die for the time being, but he himself would truly...
Down below, facing Gorgon's dual offensive of magic cannons and petrifying Mystic Eyes, the shields around Leonidas were shattering one by one.
Even if he was a legendary hero, the entity before him was a bona fide goddess.
Yet he merely planted his spear into the ground once more as magical energy erupted from his body, managing to hold all these attacks at bay by sheer force!
"How is this possible... to actually block my Mystic Eyes?" Gorgon's face was filled with utter disbelief. On what grounds could an unexceptional Servant block a goddess? "Just who are you!"
Hearing this, Kingu on the side almost died of fury. He had already completely figured out the backgrounds of these Servants of Uruk through these years of warfare and had thoroughly organized the intelligence; it turned out Gorgon hadn't read it at all, right?
Down below, Leonidas spoke aloud in a high voice: "My ancestor is the great hero Heracles! The son of the great god Zeus!"
"A descendant of Zeus?" Hearing this, Gorgon instantly grew alert. The tragedy she had suffered had a massive connection to Zeus.
"Precisely!" Leonidas spoke aloud in a high voice: "The kingdom that once received the protection of Ares, the God of War! I am the King of Sparta, Leonidas!"
At this point, his helmet shattered directly under the impact of the immense magical energy, revealing the resolute countenance beneath.
"Furthermore, I have already seen through your true identity! Avenger!"
Kingu in the sky looked as if he couldn't bear to watch. Was this something to be proud of? Given Gorgon's appearance, she was practically broadcasting her origins out loud!
That snake hair, those Mystic Eyes... anyone who had read mythology could guess it, alright! Tsk, what exactly did he spend so much effort trying to cover for her for...
"Quite a headache, isn't it?"
Suddenly, right beside Kingu, a voice rang out. "Exerting a ton of effort to do a bunch of work, laying out countless plans, only for a pig teammate to completely ignore you..."
Xia Yu patted his shoulder with a smile. "Friend, I can understand the pain in your heart. Who hasn't encountered a few throwers?"
"You!" Kingu's heart and lungs nearly stopped at this sight. He instinctively wanted to leap backward, but his shoulder was gripped tightly by the young girl's delicate (?) little hand, leaving him completely unable to move.
"Let's make a deal: I won't kill her, and you don't make a move either. Let's just stay here and enjoy the show," Xia Yu extended her other hand, forming a fist and shaking it toward him. "Or perhaps you'd like to settle a matter of life and death with me right here? I don't mind either way."
"Anyway, Gilgamesh isn't here; he won't be able to protect you a second time, you know."
Faced with her blatant threat, what else could Kingu do? He could only grit his teeth and agree to her terms.
After all, he truly couldn't defeat her.
"Why?" But he was still unreconciled, wanting to ask for a reason.
"Because she cannot die just yet," Xia Yu said nonchalantly. "I'm not fully prepared yet, so how can I face Tiamat like this?"
"You know everything?" Hearing this, Kingu's pupils contracted. Things had gone terribly wrong!
"Do you know why you instinctively ignored me?" Xia Yu glanced up at him. "Isn't it because the aura on my body is enveloped by another gentle aura—something you are so familiar with, soaked in every single day, to the point that you're blind to me when I carry the same?"
"This is... Mother's favor?!" Hearing this, Kingu suddenly snapped out of it. "You... just who are you? Are you also a child of Mother?"
"Well, how should I put it? From a bloodline perspective, no," Xia Yu said with some distress. "But in front of her, I don't want to deny it either, because doing so would break her heart too much."
"Why? Since you are also Mother's child, why are you helping these humans?" Kingu's face was filled with fury, feeling that he had been betrayed.
"Because I am also a human," Xia Yu shrugged. "I know what you're thinking, but can a so-called new world after a purging truly accommodate a human like me?"
"Or rather, can it accommodate you? A you that possesses a human appearance?"
"Of course! A new model like me is nothing like the old humans!" Kingu replied without a second thought.
"Is that so? Then let's make a bet," Xia Yu smiled slightly. "Let's see if those so-called 'new humans' can accommodate you, this child of Tiamat."
"As for the stakes... heh, the outcome itself is the best stake. Now, let's peacefully watch the battle, shall we?"
"I shall wait and see..." Kingu took a deep look at this woman.
Down below, Leonidas's eyes were fixed dead upon Gorgon.
"I have never heard of Tiamat utilizing Mystic Eyes!" he said syllable by syllable. "Furthermore, a snake god who knows of my deity, Zeus, and is capable of turning people into stone statues—there's simply no need to say any more!"
The shields around him shattered one by one until the very last one also completely dissipated!
"Mash!" Fujimaru Ritsuka seized the right moment and extended her right hand, commanding, "Use a Command Spell! Unleash your Noble Phantasm to go and help him!"
"Yes! Senpai!" Hearing this, Mash raised her own Great Shield and began chanting her Noble Phantasm once more.
Lord Camelot!
Just as those shields shattered to the absolute limit and Leonidas was about to face Tiamat's attack with his own body, Mash's Noble Phantasm timely blocked before him.
The white walls of Camelot locked firmly before Leonidas, yet they exposed the young girl wielding the Great Shield on the outside. Mash could only brace her shield tightly, gritting her teeth to withstand the god-class magic cannon assault.
Lord Camelot was the Noble Phantasm possessed by the Heroic Spirit Galahad, using the center of the chalk city of Camelot—the Round Table where the Knights of the Round Table sat in a circle—as the ultimate defensive shield.
Its strength corresponded with the user's mental fortitude; as long as the heart did not yield, the wall would absolutely never collapse. Based on Mash's vaporization in the Final Singularity, it indicated that the protection target of this Noble Phantasm did not include the user of the Noble Phantasm themselves.
There was no absolute defense in the world; otherwise, a Noble Phantasm that could absolutely never be breached as long as the heart did not yield would be far too unfair, and even Goetia would have to call it overturned.
To breach this Noble Phantasm, one either had to make the user yield completely—which meant attacking the heart—or crush the unprotected user themselves.
Clearly, with Mash's current strength, Gorgon had no way to destroy her physical body within a short amount of time.
On the other side, with all the shields symbolizing the three hundred soldiers of Thermopylae shattered, it signified that Leonidas's Noble Phantasm had finally reached its second phase.
This was also why Fujimaru Ritsuka had watched him endure Gorgon's attacks with her own eyes, waiting until the very last shield shattered before letting Mash make her move. During their previous time together as comrades, the Heroic Spirits had already disclosed the characteristics of their Noble Phantasms to her.
Among them, Leonidas's Noble Phantasm dictated that only after all the shields around him had shattered would the counterattack strength of his Noble Phantasm reach its maximum!
This had nothing to do with cold-bloodedness; it was merely the most logical tactical arrangement. As a king and an outstanding general, Leonidas could naturally accept such an arrangement, even if a slight delay in Mash and Fujimaru Ritsuka's reactions meant he would die right here.
At this very moment! Standing behind Mash, Leonidas's Noble Phantasm had reached its zenith!
He planted his right leg backward into the ground and bent his left leg, his entire being resembling a tightly drawn bow. The spear in his right hand was raised high, and then his entire body tensed as he threw the spear in his hand toward Gorgon with every ounce of his strength and mana!
In a mere instant, that spear, gathered with the power of his Noble Phantasm, sliced through the sky, splitting apart countless red-and-black magic cannons as it pierced toward Gorgon against an immense volume of magical energy.
That spear transformed into a piercing golden light, breaking through all of Gorgon's defenses before her wide eyes and directly skewering her abdomen.
Seeing this, Leonidas, maintaining his throwing posture, slowly uttered her name: "The goddess persecuted for being a monster—Gorgon!"
"My, the Greeks certainly possess quite a bit of self-awareness," Xia Yu curled her lips upon seeing this, while Kingu beside her stared at her with a look carrying deeper meaning.
"To think you actually know this name..." Gorgon bent over, speaking through gritted teeth.
"How could the citizens of our Greece ever forget this name?" Leonidas stood up, speaking aloud in a high voice.
"But what use is it?" Gorgon straightened her posture, the large hole punctured through her abdomen revealing the view behind her. "The history of humanity is about to reach its end!"
"And you all will be the final batch to witness..."
"Che," a voice interrupted her speech.
"Spouting nonsense about how the human world is about to end," at some unknown point, Ushiwakamaru had already quietly appeared beneath her, raising her long blade. "When all is said and done, you're just a god who can't even cross this wall!"
'Shana-oh's Wandering Journey—Fourth Scroll!'
Seven silhouettes appeared behind her!
'Dan-no-Ura Eight-Boat Leap!'
"What?" Gorgon looked down and saw that minuscule human had actually appeared beneath her, her entire being instinctively driving her snake hair to bite down.
However, Ushiwakamaru's agility under her Noble Phantasm state clearly exceeded common sense. A total of eight silhouettes surged upward along her serpentine form, and due to the factor of distance, Gorgon's snake hair actually proved inadequate to handle them!
She couldn't even release her magic cannons; at such close proximity, firing a shot would most likely miss Ushiwakamaru, but would absolutely blast directly into herself!
'I absolutely cannot waste the opportunity created for me by Leonidas and Mash!' Thinking this, Ushiwakamaru climbed amidst the countless snake hairs, Gorgon's offensive giving her countless opportunities instead!
One snake hair after another severed, yet they could not halt Ushiwakamaru's advance. Gorgon's entire body stiffened in place, instinctively looking toward the defensive line where Kingu was located, only to find him pinned by the shoulder by a white-haired woman, completely daring not to make a single move!
In this manner, under the circumstance of sacrificing at least six clones, Ushiwakamaru finally arrived above Gorgon's head.
The long blade in her hand burst into boundless flames, piercing toward that terrified goddess!
Within the golden light of the Noble Phantasm, Gorgon's upper body was entirely enveloped.
Meanwhile, Xia Yu on the side gripped Kingu's shoulder, a threatening look appearing in her eyes.
'Just try and step in.'
The latter could only grit his teeth and accept his luck!
Soon, the smoke and dust brought by the Noble Phantasm cleared away.
"What?" Ushiwakamaru landed on the ground, looking at that divine body she had pierced but was already rapidly healing, her face displaying dissatisfaction.
"This is way too unfair!"
"Clearly taking two Noble Phantasms head-on, how could..."
"Wait, look at that golden light!" Fujimaru Ritsuka stared dead at Gorgon's abdomen, inside that large hole pierced through by Leonidas. "That is the light of the Holy Grail!"
"Utilizing the power of the Holy Grail to attain an immortal body?" Mash's brow furrowed tightly. How were they supposed to fight this!
"Do not look down on me," Gorgon raised her head proudly. "I have not yet used the mana of the Holy Grail. As an Avenger, how could I borrow the strength of another to annihilate humanity!"
A snake hair smashed down toward Ushiwakamaru, leaving the latter with no choice but to retreat back to everyone's side.
"Allow me to personally invade Uruk and kill the king," Gorgon's face bore an unbridled smile. "Completely crushing that useless sliver of hope of yours!"
"Demonic beasts, there is no need to continue waiting. Go forth with hatred and ravage those surviving humans!"
Following her command, countless demonic beasts began to pour forth from the forest behind them. Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others stood ready in full formation, and the Dingir atop the wall were also locked and loaded. Just as the battle was on the verge of breaking out...
"Please wait a moment," Kingu finally spoke up.
"You are being far too impatient like this," he flew to Gorgon's side through gritted teeth. "Do you still remember what I said?"
"For us, breaching Uruk is merely the beginning; the subsequent war with the other goddesses is what we should truly face."
"No matter which goddess breaches Uruk, our alliance will instantly fracture," he counseled earnestly. "The second generation of demonic beasts was prepared precisely for the upcoming battle."
"But their numbers are still too few; now is not the right time!"
However, Gorgon clearly did not want to listen to him.
After all, for an Avenger, contesting for a new world wasn't the main point; the point was the extinction of humanity.
"Kingu, why didn't you come to help me just now?" Gorgon looked toward Kiana flying mid-air. "And who is she?"
'Why are you asking that?' Kingu only felt an ache in his teeth. 'Can we afford to provoke her?'
Meanwhile, Xia Yu, facing this question, merely extended her hand.
"Me? Don't mind me, I'm just a passerby out here practicing my swordplay," a longsword condensed from flames appeared in her hand, growing larger and larger!
"Yes, here to practice swordplay," the Taixuan Sword Ki was fully unleashed, that giant flaming sword becoming an increasingly massive threat in Gorgon's eyes!
"The spirit is the ultimate of transformation..."
Xia Yu aimed the greatsword in her hand directly at the Gorgon before her. Amidst a wave of heart-stopping terror, the latter fully unleashed her magical energy, a massive clash on the verge of breaking out.
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T/N: Sorry it took a while, finally got around to fixing mistranslated terms I could from all the way to chapter 1.
We're now barack, although not for long. Maybe.
The author hasn't updated yet since chapter 363. but I'll let them cook.
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Shilling time!
Members of my [email protected]/quickinquickout can read advanced chapters on quick-tl(dot)com—and even customize translated terms to match their preferred names and terminology!