IBHJ Chapter 924

The adventurers' morale was high.

"Good!"

Shirou looked away. He couldn't fathom why Ishtar, who had already obtained freedom, had returned to become the final boss. But thanks to Gilgamesh's quick thinking and provocation, there was no need to worry about her now.

With the final boss gone, all that remained was to clear out the remaining enemies and retrieve the fragment.

Just hang in there a little longer, Altera! he thought.

...

"Damn you, you golden rat! Go to hell!" Ishtar snarled at Gilgamesh as he sped away. With a furious wave of her hand, she unleashed a barrage of powerful light bullets from the flying boat Maanna.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh——!!" The streaks of light, crackling with magical energy, shot out like a meteor shower.

With the wind whistling in his ears, Gilgamesh turned around, only to be engulfed by the rain of light bullets.

"Success!" Ishtar cried out, waving triumphantly.

"Success? Hmph, a clown is just a clown, good for nothing but laughs." Gilgamesh's cold, mocking voice cut through the dust.

Ishtar's eyes widened as the smoke cleared, revealing an unscathed Gilgamesh.

"How is this possible?" she sputtered. "In this place, as the BOSS, the rules should have made me way stronger. My attacks shouldn't be something a player like you could just brush off!"

She was in disbelief. Even if her true power didn't match Gilgamesh's, this was a game world! How could a mere player deflect her attack without a scratch?

"How could a loser like you, who can't even maintain the pride of being a goddess, possibly harm this king?" Gilgamesh taunted, secretly slipping a golden hourglass into his inventory.

"You despicable creature!" Ishtar spat, pointing at Gilgamesh. "Mocking me for being embarrassing, yet you've turned into a woman yourself? It's disgusting! It makes my skin crawl!"

"Hmph, you protozoan with an IQ of 2.5, what do you know?" Gilgamesh retorted. "This king is different from you. I'm using a game account, not entering as myself."

"Hehe... Aren't you just a pervert? A crossdressing pervert! Oh, I get it now!" Ishtar's face lit up with mock understanding. "Could it be that the renowned King of Heroes, beneath that mask of cruelty, brutality, and selfishness, actually houses the heart of a maiden? Because you weren't born female, you created a female character to satisfy your fragile girlish heart?"

Gilgamesh didn't get angry. Instead, he sighed.

"Why are you sighing? Did I hit a nerve?" Ishtar was startled. Could she have actually guessed right?

"No, this king just feels ashamed. I'm still too young. Calling the great goddess 'a protozoan with an IQ of 2.5' is truly an insult to protozoans. You must be a prokaryote, right? That would explain such a severe cognitive impairment. To think I once harbored ill will towards you, I apologize, Ishtar. This was indeed this king's mistake." Gilgamesh looked at Ishtar with pity. That pitying gaze, compared to Gilgamesh's usual contempt, made Ishtar even more furious.

Damn it! Ishtar gritted her teeth and glared at him. Was there anything in the world more infuriating than this guy's mouth?

As if a thought struck her, Ishtar took a deep breath and looked at Gilgamesh mockingly, sneering, "You're trying to provoke me, aren't you, Goldie? Lure me away from your main force, so they can take advantage of Venus's absence in this area to defeat it, right?"

"Oh?" Gilgamesh looked at her in surprise. "You actually figured it out? A mere prokaryote that was captured by Humbaba, recognizing a plan that even a child could see through, it's truly unbelievable. Perhaps the sun does rise from the west sometimes." Gilgamesh's face was full of mock astonishment.

Ishtar's mouth twitched violently, but she held back her anger and stared at Gilgamesh, mocking coldly, "I saw through this low-level strategy from the start. Do you know why I still followed you here despite seeing through it? That's because my duty is just to be an elite monster. The guardian of this dungeon is someone else, and they're much stronger than me! Hahaha! How about that, Gilgamesh? You didn't expect that, did you? Your Enkidu and those followers will all perish here!"

Towards the end, she couldn't help but laugh out loud. Gilgamesh surely hadn't anticipated this, and the strategy of luring her away was nothing but a joke! Surely Gilgamesh, with all his wisdom, would understand this now and be anxious inside, wanting to quickly return to his main force? At this moment, she would block him, and the anxious look on his face would surely be extremely amusing!

However, Gilgamesh just nodded and calmly replied, "Oh."

Now it was Ishtar's turn to be surprised: "You- you're not worried about Enkidu? Don't you want to hurry back?"

"Why should I be worried? Why should I hurry back?" Gilgamesh scoffed. "They have my friend, Enkidu."

At the mention of Enkidu, his face lit up with pride. It was obvious Enkidu held an irreplaceable position in his heart.

"Moreover—," Gilgamesh lowered his head slightly and looked down at her, "Just like using the toilet, I can only deal with one piece of shit at a time."

"You—!!"

Ishtar's last thread of sanity snapped. Treasures, freedom... everything faded away. All that remained was a burning desire to tear Gilgamesh's mouth apart.

"This kind of crazy look really suits a woman like you. Hahaha."

Gilgamesh's laughter echoed through the dungeon. He wasn't worried about Ishtar's words at all. That was Enkidu she was talking about. Besides, Ishtar's vicious nature and lack of any godly virtue made her words untrustworthy.

...

Crack crack crack.

Tightly bound by Venus's vines, the White Titan's body creaked ominously like glass on the verge of shattering. Crimson blood seeped out from the cracks, dripping down the vines onto the ground.

Drip, drip.

The Giant God's blood stained a patch of dense forest red.

"So, my blood is also red," Altera thought weakly, gazing at the crimson patch on the ground.

Let me go! The Heaven's Corpse demanded.

"No," Altera replied.

Then die! I'll make sure to savor your delicious taste. The Heaven's Corpse sent malicious thoughts, tightening the vines around Altera's body until she felt she might shatter at any moment.

"Crack, crack, crack." Altera's body fragmented further, but she refused to release her hold on the Heaven's Corpse. Instead, her hands, embedded in the floating island, reached deeper into its body.

Let me go, aaaaaah!

"No," she insisted.

Aaaaaah! The Heaven's Corpse thrashed even more violently. Being trapped in such a humiliating way was a first since its birth. Countless vines soared into the sky, their power akin to world-ending destruction, but Altera remained unafraid.

Heaven's Corpse gave up trying to reason with Altera and resorted to brute force. It would tear her to pieces and devour her as the main course for its awakening.

And since Altera was to be the main course, a feast naturally needed side dishes. The Heaven's Corpse commanded the angels to stop attacking Altera and instead turn their attention towards the residents of Zaun City and the low-level adventurers.

Altera's consciousness was hazy from the damage done to her body, but seeing this jolted her back to alertness. "What are you doing?"

I'm going to eat you all!

"I won't allow you to destroy beautiful life," she gritted her teeth.

What right do you have to say that, you White Death who tramples on earth and its civilization!

Her breath hitched, eyes widening as Venus' accusation caused her resolve to waver.

To Gaia, to these lives, you are a greater threat than I am, because I hunt with restraint, while you are pure destruction.

"This..." she desperately wanted to explain, to prove something, but the Heaven's Corpse seized this moment of vulnerability. The vines tightened around her, squeezing her until she could no longer exert her power.

With Altera subdued, the Heaven's Corpse accelerated its attack, directing the angels towards Zaun City.

The angels of destruction descended from the sky, blotting out the sun.

"Is this the end of Zaun?" someone murmured.

"Why did I ever come to Zaun..." an adventurer sighed.

Despair, anger, curses, and indifference filled the streets as people reacted to the overwhelming force.

"The Grail, the Grail...!" Mordred frantically retrieved her Grail. In this situation, all she could do was use it to protect herself and the weakened Illya. She was powerless to do anything else.