Chapter 12. On What is Efficient
"Heh, I was just joking earlier."
Having finally been persuaded to put away the EA, Gilgamesh spoke with a look of intense displeasure.
It didn't look like a joke at all. Tine felt that his attitude when he had just pulled out the EA was as serious as it could possibly be. Seeing that Tine didn't quite believe him, Gilgamesh, conversely, looked unhappy:
"Using that Noble Phantasm would have been a wasted effort; there is no point in doing things that waste time. Are you prepared for the consequences of doubting my judgment?"
"...Absolutely not. I am deeply sorry for letting others disturb your mood. It was my workshop that was too useless to stop the intruder. I will reinforce the workshop immediately."
The feeling of being invaded was like a ghost that didn't belong to the real world. It existed, yet it didn't; it sent a chill up Tine's spine. Unexpectedly, Gilgamesh got up listlessly and excused her in a volume that could almost be called mocking:
"No matter. It would only be strange if you could have discovered it. After all, the petty thief was peeping from the 'inside.' ...To think it was a double-layered structure, inside and out—and to dare let it spread to my courtyard and only let me notice it just now, ever since it disturbed my reunion with an old friend, it really has some nerve."
Tine was even more confused: "You mean... the inside of what?"
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes. He stepped to the side of the floor-to-ceiling window, ignoring the bustling crowd below, and said:
"Do not overthink it. It is nothing more than a hotbed for a curse of death. In the end, it is just a type of Bounded Field, merely one that covers the entire city of Snowfield. Rather, don't you find it interesting...? As long as it wills it, it really can make all these mongrels 'end' in an instant, you know?"
His words had no temperature, and the pupils between his lowered bangs flashed with a crimson light.
"It is nothing more than an efficient killing machine. If I were to acquire a physical body, I might even want one.——However, in the current situation, it can only be considered a broken device. I have no intention of intervening; leave it for the Masters and Heroic Spirits who wish to subjugate it to handle."
For less than a few seconds, a palpitation attacked Tine's heart. Gilgamesh sat back down in his seat with indifference.
However, Tine ultimately dared not bring it up and subconsciously changed the subject:
"But if that is the case, hasn't even your courtyard been trampled upon? The other party not only unknowingly invaded this workshop but also presumptuously seized it as their own territory. Although it is strange for me, a subject who just dared to risk death to advise you to abandon using the EA to say this, surely just by demonstrating its might in an uninhabited place, you would be able to crush the other party's covetousness. ...Do you really feel that it is fine to leave it as it is for now?"
Gilgamesh had Tine pour a glass of wine before he picked it up. However, his expression was even more displeased than before. Not knowing if it was because his attention wasn't really allocated to the matter of the Bounded Field, he didn't even bother to maintain the King's dignity first and carelessly and bluntly stated the real reason for letting it be:
"That is not something that can be solved just by using the EA."
The wine entered his throat, and Gilgamesh sipped the liquid in his glass slowly.
"Using the Sword of Rupture can cause that Bounded Field to collapse, and so what?"
Gilgamesh ridiculed Tine with his gaze, 'You don't think it would be over just with that, do you?'
"The main body of the curse of death is not nearby. It can just redeploy the Bounded Field over and over again until it decides not to. And having me use the EA on a place like this would be an unbearable waste.
Listen well, Tine. If you are acting out of loyalty and wish to subjugate it, go find its main body first and prepare to kill that main body. That is the job for subjects like you; do not shirk it onto me."
Clack. The golden goblet landed heavily on the table.
"After all——I am not in the mood to slowly search for its main body right now."
Gilgamesh smiled a bored smile once again. However, since last night, within the pupils that stared at a certain spot... there was no pure pleasure.
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——Ding!
The resonance of a sharp object colliding with metal alloy clashed violently, turning into a discordant note.
The brawny man raising his shield roared, the angle of his shield changed abruptly and slammed into the chest of the black figure standing at the center of the notes. A large amount of mist particles erupted from the chest of the figure being struck, and the entire humanoid fell backward.
"John, go!"
He roared in a thick voice. At the same time, another figure had already flown over.
The human, pressing his hands against his sword, appeared on the left side of the black shadow at an exquisite timing. The muscles in his shoulders pulled violently, and a long, cold light emerged in the air. The head composed of black mist rotated as it flew into the sky, dissipating abruptly in mid-air; even its torso collapsed from its aggregated state.
The enormous power that easily severed the target made John silently confirm once again that Mr. Shirou's sword was definitely a Noble Phantasm. John and the brawny man did not lower their guard; instead, they covered each other while facing other enemies.
In front of them, there were still five or six identical humanoids.
Did the two of them have any trouble handling these six black shadows? At the moment, it didn't seem to be a big problem; it was just that because they were in a counter-attacking situation while being besieged, it would take more time.
John shook his longsword, about to act.
However, before his inertia forced him to charge, some kind of magic that was approaching at high speed flowed across every inch of his skin first. John instinctively stopped in his tracks.
A gorgeous blue light streaked past a few meters to John's left, and a meteor-like tail quietly bloomed amidst the black shadows.
Afterward, a massive explosion swallowed all the black shadows. In the center of the swirling, eerie blue flames, only the black mist that had turned back into fog was rapidly dissipating.
"It's his support..."
"Go help the others."
Perhaps that person had freed up a little time; the battle situation in his area had been ended. John and the brawny man, who had already become a bit accustomed to this, looked at each other helplessly, took the correct course of action, and ran toward the direction of the other officers who were still fighting.
In fact, the technique of the arrow just now was so superb that even if John had acted according to his original trajectory, he wouldn't have been hurt by the resulting explosion, but John still couldn't get rid of his fear of the arrow's range.
Although the arrow flew from further to the left, the person drawing the bow was not there. His arrows changed their trajectories.
That person was actually directly behind them, in the midst of a crowd of officers, shooting arrows in a barrage toward the side-left. The officers using blades, guns, swords, and spears had almost immediately adopted the strategy of vanguards protecting the rearguards,
wrapping Shirou in a circle formed by the crowd, letting him focus on drawing his bow and shooting, while Sigma stayed by his side, using magecraft for defense at any moment.
Everyone reached a consensus to protect him in the deepest part, as if not letting the most important "heavy hitter" risk injury.
There was no other reason.
Emiya Shirou's arrows were too convenient.
It was almost like some kind of missile or bomber, dancing a dazzling melody in the sky. Every time an arrow landed, a monster would inevitably vanish within the extending lines.
The ground-level bombings created by these lights, which flew as if they had consciousness, were like a scene from a hellish painting. As long as they ensured he could focus on shooting, the number of cannon fodder would decrease at the speed of light, eventually even further reducing the pressure John and the others had to face.
Among Clan Calatin, there were also archers, and they were currently acting separately in another detachment. But John could still clearly feel the difference between the two.
The difference in accuracy of super-fast consecutive shots. The difference in the flexibility of the trajectories. The difference in efficiency and intervals. And—the gap in composure.
Even while shooting at the main group of monsters, that person still had the energy to pay attention to the overall battle situation, so he alone could ensure that the entire battle was exceptionally stable, because whenever there was an instability, he would send the most timely support.
He even went a little too far.
For instance, the number of monsters on the field had finally been reduced to one. The last beast happened to be right in front of John.
It looked at how the surroundings had become empty with an expression of misunderstanding, and John looked at it in return.
Beast:............
John:...
"Don't think about escaping!"
"Kuh!?"
John let out a loud cry and stabbed over with his sword. At almost the same time, an arrowhead spun 360 degrees in a spiral at an exquisite angle, bypassing John, and pierced into the center of the brows of the beast that was about to fight John to the death—and kindly, it did not explode.
The last monster of this wave of attacks dissipated into the air.
Leaving only John's longsword, which was stabbing empty air.
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