IBHJ Chapter 918

[What do you need, enemy?]

[Enemy? I don't know what you're going through, but I need your help, Altera.]

Looking at this message, she pursed her lips.

Having thoroughly researched the game with Ayaka and Kiara before introducing Shirou to "Moon Gazing Beauty," Altera was well aware of the materials needed for vampire race advancement. She had even helped him gather them from a cave beforehand.

After handing over the materials, she had severed ties with him. It wasn't a true separation, but a precaution to protect her friend from her unpredictable instincts. She chose to cut off contact, refusing to interact with him further.

But now...

Despite their broken ties, he was asking for her help again. What should she do? Altera bit her lip, glancing up at the ominous floating island before gritting her teeth and replying to her friend.

[One last time. This really had to be the last time.]

[Thank you, Altera. Please come to the inn now.]

Closing the message box, Altera took one last look at the floating island and then dashed towards the inn.

She arrived to find the inn's lobby packed with adventurers, but the atmosphere was eerily silent.

Her friend, "Artoria Pendragon," stood facing the One King, while the beast-person Illya wore a look of complete despair.

Altera's entrance didn't go unnoticed.

"You came," Shirou greeted her with a smile.

"What do you need help with?" she asked bluntly, her voice firm. "We are not friends, we are enemies. And this is the last time I'll help you."

"I understand. But still, thank you for being willing to help me." he smiled, then turned his head and gestured towards the Heaven's Corpse looming outside the window. "You received the system notification too, didn't you, Altera?"

She nodded.

"Good, but the situation is worse than we thought. The system's resurrection immortality has been disabled, and this city is trapped. The only way to survive is to defeat it. That's why I need your help," he said earnestly.

"But if even your sword can't harm that thing, what difference can I make?" she asked, hesitant.

"You're right. If the Holy Sword can't handle it, neither can the Sword of Mars. But an enemy that Heroic Spirits can't defeat, a Titan can. Become a Titan, Altera."

"!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Altera's eyes dilated in shock.

...

"Become a Titan? What is Evil Flower talking about?"

"I don't know. I didn't understand when she said that beast-girl could handle that monster earlier. How could a low-level adventurer possibly defeat a Level 9 boss? And now, this random fairy?"

"Titan? Could she be the incarnation of some god?"

"A god? This isn't funny. The gods were destroyed long ago, weren't they? Isn't it common knowledge that Frieza rules this world?"

The adventurers whispered amongst themselves.

"Titan, Huh?" Gilgamesh's sharp eyes flicked to Altera, then settled on Shirou. He crossed his arms with a snort.

"Become a Titan..." Altera murmured, staring at Shirou in disbelief.

She hadn't expected that the help he was after wasn't from Altera but from Sefar.

"No. I can't do that," she shook her head, refusing instantly.

She had cut ties with him to protect him, to prevent him from being harmed by her instincts. Didn't he understand how dangerous the Titan was?

"I don't want to become a Titan, and I have no way of doing so," she shook her head again in denial.

"Is that so? Then let's forget it," he conceded easily.

Altera was surprised by how quickly he gave up. "You're not going to try convincing me?" she asked.

"No. My original plan was to have Illya transfer the Holy Grail's mana to you, allowing you to attempt a transformation into a Titan with unlimited magical energy. But it was just one idea. If you're so against it, we'll forget it. I don't want to see you get hurt. You're my friend, Altera, not the White Titan. That's the most important thing."

Altera: "..."

"It seems your friend isn't cooperating," Gilgamesh said, looking at him. "Your plan has failed, after you were so confident earlier. How ridiculously amusing."

Shirou glanced at Altera, then back at Gilgamesh. "Let it go. This kind of ridiculous scheming is both laughable and tiresome."

"Oh? So perceptive," Gilgamesh said, raising an eyebrow.

"Not as perceptive as you," he retorted.

"Hmph. You are indeed not an easy woman to deal with. No longer worth collecting. However, for that man's sake, if you hand over the 'God's Brain' to me, this king might take you away from here," Gilgamesh said, folding his arms.

"No need. And to say 'collecting'... you really deserve a beating," he glared at Gilgamesh. "But let's focus on the current problem first."

"Oh? Still thinking of dealing with that thing? Such stubbornness. I really don't know what that mongrel saw in you. Your face? Hmph. A mongrel is always a mongrel; they always have questionable taste. But to think this king once considered collecting you... it's true that anger clouds one's judgment."

"I'm not interested in arguing with you," he said dismissively.

The adventurers watched the exchange between Shirou and Gilgamesh with wide eyes.

"What, what's going on?"

"Isn't Evil Flower a new adventurer? Why... why does it seem like she knows One King so well? Weren't they fighting before?"

"They're still fighting, but, but why does it feel..."

"More like friends bickering?"

The adventurers were dumbfounded, their minds reeling, unable to comprehend the situation unfolding before them.

Shirou glanced at Altera, then looked at Gilgamesh, saying, "Listen, One King. All you need to do is find a way to take the God's Fragment. I'll do my best to hold that thing back."

"Oh?" Gilgamesh looked at him, intrigued.

Shirou's expression was calm. He had laid out the path to victory before them. Gilgamesh might not have seen it immediately, but in their later talks, he too had realized the key. Although the game's rules had been somewhat disrupted by the Heaven's Corpse, they hadn't been completely destroyed either. This meant there was a logical reason that allowed the Heaven's Corpse to do this, and also a way to defeat it. After all, a boss is meant to be defeated by players.

An unbeatable boss simply meant the strategy hadn't been found yet. And the strategy for the Heaven's Corpse, after piecing together the available information, was clear to both Shirou and Gilgamesh.

It was:

The God's Fragment.

The God's Fragment that the Heaven's Corpse was guarding!

The hidden map they had discovered earlier was linked to the main storyline quest, and its true identity was Venus UO, the Heaven's Corpse. This meant that the other hidden maps concealing God's Fragments were likely UOs or similar entities. Therefore, the identity of the Gatekeeper NPC guarding the God's Brain was obvious, and it could be assumed she was still alive somewhere, yet she hadn't pursued Shirou and the others after her defeat, nor had she made an appearance. This suggested an implicit rule that "once defeated, interference with the game is not allowed."

If that applied to the Gatekeeper NPC, then it should also apply to the Heaven's Corpse. So, what needed to be done was clear: not to confront the Heaven's Corpse directly, but to enter its body – the hidden map – and conquer its internal levels to obtain the God's Fragment.

This required two things: first, to suppress and hold back the Heaven's Corpse from the outside, and second, to defeat it from within. Both conditions were difficult to achieve.

Holding back the Heaven's Corpse meant withstanding its attacks - attacks from a UO, a feat that only something on the level of Ultraman could do. And conquering the hidden map, as Enkidu had mentioned, required a team of top players, but even then, success was not guaranteed.

Holding back and suppressing the Heaven's Corpse would undoubtedly provoke a powerful counterattack. Who else but Ultraman could withstand a cosmic warfare weapon-level UO?

For this, he could only think of Altera, the White Titan.