IBHJ Chapter 922

Altera took massive strides, smashing through Zaun City's crumbling walls and rushing outside. Her giant hands became falling meteors, pounding on the Heaven's Corpse or ripping out large swathes of forest from within it.

"Screech! Screech...!"

The Heaven's Corpse wailed in agony.

"Even though she's maintained her sense of self, her personality has become so aggressive..." Shirou mumbled, watching the violent display.

Under Altera's relentless assault, the Heaven's Corpse was completely overwhelmed. Though this wasn't Altera's true form, her destructive power was still immense. If the UO present were like the black giant that had appeared in the Andes Mountains, perhaps Altera would be outmatched. But against the non-offensive Heaven's Corpse, she was more than enough.

Suddenly, with a whoosh, the ground split open, and a massive vine shot up from behind Altera, wrapping around her neck.

"Ugh...!"

She immediately felt the discomfort of having her throat constricted. She withdrew her hands from the Heaven's Corpse and grabbed the vine, trying to tear it apart.

The vine creaked and groaned under her immense strength, but it wouldn't break.

Simultaneously, more vines burst from the ground, grabbing her arms and legs, then pulling her up into the air.

After immobilizing her, Venus began to float. Two giant trees on its island emitted a black light, firing at her.

"Boom! Boom!"

This terrifying black light was far more powerful than the light bullets of the Angels of Destruction; it was the Heaven's Corpse's main counterattack cannon.

Even in her White Titan form, Altera was covered in wounds after taking those two hits. While it wasn't an offensive-type UO, Venus was still a lifeform at the pinnacle of this galaxy, not an opponent to be taken lightly like the gods.

The Heaven's Corpse extended more vines, whipping them at Altera's body like punishing lashes.

Crack, crack. The sound rang out, as if chastising a criminal who had dared to harm it. The Heaven's Corpse didn't hold back, and soon Altera's body was covered in whip marks.

"Ex—!"

"Calibur—!"

A powerful, booming voice rang out, and two beams of light flashed through the air, transforming into gleaming light swords. They sliced through the vines restraining Altera's neck and right hand, then disappeared into the distance.

Artoria...

Suspended in the air, Altera struggled to turn her head, looking towards the source of the light. She saw Evil Flower standing on the broken city wall, slowly sheathing his two holy swords.

"Don't fight alone, Altera! You have friends you can rely on!" he shouted to her. "I believe in you, so try to believe in me too!"

"Friends I can rely on..."

She gritted her teeth, her eyes glowing with a red light. The patterns of Vanguard of the Umbral Star on her giant body pulsed with dazzling light, then converged on her newly freed right hand.

"Blame yourself for getting so close to me!"

With a primal scream, Altera gathered all her magical energy and strength into her right fist, channeling the full power of her body. She swung with all her might, aiming for the island before her.

"Boom—!"

A blinding light erupted from the base of the Heaven's Corpse, shooting into the sky. As the light faded, her fist could be seen buried deep within the Heaven's Corpse's body. Silver liquid flowed down her arm from the gaping wound.

—Pain. Pain. It hurts so much!

Even the Heaven's Corpse felt the agony of this blow and instinctively released Altera.

With a heavy thud, she crashed to the ground.

—Die. Die. Die!!

Countless roots burst from the earth, like a giant hand, seizing Altera tightly, trying to crush her.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The Heaven's Corpse exerted such immense force that the sound of bones breaking could be heard from Altera's body. Pain contorted her face, and large beads of cold sweat formed on her brow.

Gritting her teeth, she reached out with her other hand, forcing it into the base of the Heaven's Corpse, stopping its movement.

"I... I did it!" she gasped.

Introverted and insecure as she was, she wouldn't normally make bold statements, but she had indeed fulfilled his request.

"Well done, Altera."

He glanced at Altera, who had successfully immobilized the Heaven's Corpse, then turned to Gilgamesh. "Now it's our turn."

"Hmph. No need to state the obvious. Still, to see things spiral this far out of control is... unexpected. But it only confirms what I already knew. Wherever that man goes, trouble and chaos inevitably follow."

Gilgamesh turned to the group of adventurers, "Warriors, you have seen this dance of death firsthand. Inaction is a death sentence. If you wish to see another sunrise, then charge with me. Only by defying fate can we seize the future!"

Without waiting for a response, Gilgamesh jumped onto Altera's body and surged towards the heart of the Heaven's Corpse. Enkidu, and the other adventurers from Sanctuary who had accompanied Gilgamesh, leaped after him without hesitation.

The remaining adventurers exchanged hesitant glances.

"What should we do?"

"What choice do we have? I don't want to die here."

"C-could we wait here until One King defeats that monster? T-that would be safer, wouldn't it?"

"Hmph. Then stay here and cower. I refuse to leave my fate in someone else's hands. My life is mine to control!"

"I-I don't want to die..."

"Low-levels stay, high-levels charge. I'm leading the way, don't make me regret it."

"Adventurers, adventurers, adventurers... If we don't seize this chance, when will we ever?"

A wave of high-level adventurers surged forward, hot on Gilgamesh's heels. Who would willingly entrust their life to another?

"Mordred, Illya, you two stay here," Shirou said, then turned to Morgan. "Sis, let's move!"

Morrigan hesitated for a split second. "You should stay too, Artoria. It's too dangerous inside. Death in there is permanent. I can't let you risk your life."

"How can I just stand by and watch my friends get hurt?"

He looked at Altera struggling under the weight of the Heaven's Corpse, his jaw clenching. "Let's go, Sister Morgan!"

He jumped onto Altera's back, charging into the depths of the Heaven's Corpse. They had to conquer the inner dungeon before it crushed Altera!

"That's why I say you're not cute at all," Morrigan sighed. "But perhaps that's part of your charm. You're becoming more and more like Shirou every day."

A faint smile touched her lips, and then Morrigan charged after him.

[System: You have entered the hidden map, please note $#$#@%...]

As they climbed along Altera's body, Shirou and Morrigan entered Venus again. The system message appeared, but it was garbled and unreadable.

"The system prompt is glitching out, just like those hidden maps in Sanctuary," she muttered.

"Sis, how were those hidden dungeons in Sanctuary cleared?" he asked, turning to her. The hidden dungeons she mentioned were likely similar to Venus.

"In those types of dungeons, there are guardians. You clear out the small mobs, then defeat the guardian, and claim the treasure chest they're guarding. That's how you beat it," she explained, her expression growing serious. "But these hidden dungeons are incredibly difficult. Even our guild's fully equipped clearing team didn't have a 100% success rate. All the hidden dungeons we've cleared so far were done by using low-level characters as cannon fodder and exploiting respawn mechanics."

"But now, only Gil-kun, Enkidu, and I are top-tier characters. Gil-kun and I are support roles, while Enkidu is half control, half DPS. If we had Merlin's account, we would have pure DPS, but Shirou is using Merlin's account, and who knows where he's gone..."

"Most importantly, the respawn mechanic is sealed. If Gil-kun and I die, our accounts are just wasted, but for you all, death is real death. In other words, we can't brute force our way through with respawns."

Morrigan was a seasoned veteran player, and her words carried weight. However, what she didn't know was that the guardian of this dungeon was Rin Tohsaka, and Rin had recently run away from her post. In other words, there was no final boss in this dungeon. They just needed to clear out the mobs along the way.

Gil-kun probably already knew about this information from Enkidu, which explained his calm behavior and fearless charge inside Venus without plenty of meatshields. Shirou filled Morrigan in on Tohsaka's situation.

"What? The boss ran off?" She was dumbfounded. What kind of crazy twist was this?

"What's wrong? Haven't bosses run away in other dungeons before?" he asked.

"Hardly. They were always tough fights. And generally, aren't bosses supposed to wait for players to come and defeat them? You really... what kind of crazy stuff have you been getting into? Why haven't I experienced any of it?" she sighed.

They both had to admit, Artoria was quite lucky. A boss abandoning their post and fleeing wasn't a common occurrence, it was a Rin Tohsaka special.

"Hey! Morrigan!" Gil-kun, who was leading the charge, turned to her and called out, "Get over here and support Enkidu!"

"I'm afraid I have to decline," she shook her head.

"No matter how much you buff a low-level character, it won't change anything. Come on, you know my account specializes in increasing damage, I don't have dedicated tank or healing skills," Gil-kun insisted.

"Even so..." she hesitated, glancing at Evil Flower.