IBHJ Chapter 877

He couldn't handle Altera's gaze anymore. It was like being stared at by a Siberian Husky.

"I'm sorry... but my heart feels so warm..." Altera wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes.

The Gatekeeper frowned, "That doesn't matter... But the person I just caught was actually you and Altera? However, that power that burned my hands back then, without a doubt, should be the one that destroyed that civilization 250 million years ago..."

Shirou looked up at the Gatekeeper and questioned, "Which seat of the Council are you?"

"The Council? What's that? Is it fun?" The Gatekeeper looked confused, then smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. According to the system, you've accepted the Hell-level newbie quest, right? Then, according to the game rules, you're mine now."

As soon as she finished speaking, a red light flashed in her eyes, and then a huge iron cage materialized out of thin air, trapping him inside.

"When did it appear...?"

Altera and Illya were both shocked. The iron cage seemed as if it had always been there, when moments ago, there was nothing.

Shirou glanced around, then nodded, "I see, this is a part of the game."

"Answer my question."

The Gatekeeper stood outside the iron cage, looking at him, holding up two fingers with a smile on her face, and asked, "What's one plus one?"

Here it comes!

Illya screamed internally.

"Mommy... don't answer rashly! That person will cheat!" Mordred quickly warned.

What's one plus one, this question is too hard!

So hard that no one had passed this answer so far.

So hard that the once cold Queen of the Land of Shadows, Scathach, had turned into an old woman obsessed with reaching perfection in the spear.

Even... so hard that Mordred had fallen here.

However,

"Pfft!"

Everyone, including the Gatekeeper, was stunned.

Because, faced with such a difficult question, Shirou actually laughed!

"What are you laughing at!?" The Gatekeeper was bewildered.

Until now, those facing her question were either very serious or full of contempt.

But no one had ever laughed like him.

It wasn't a disdainful laugh, nor a derisive one.

But...

It was simply a laugh as if he had heard something funny?

"Sorry, sorry... I really didn't expect that one day, someone would actually ask me this question," he chuckled, unable to stop himself.

What's so funny about this? The Gatekeeper was completely baffled.

Then, she shook her head and said to him, "Stop laughing, Artoria. Answer now, if you get it wrong, you'll turn into a loli like your daughter! Of course, if you don't answer, I'll consider it wrong and impose the punishment!"

"This question... is impossible to solve!" Illya gritted her teeth.

Normally, one plus one equals two, that's perfectly sound logic.

But this was a word game!

As a word game, one plus one could equal one, or eleven, or even ten if you used binary code... For example, when you add 1 + 1 in binary, the rightmost digits (both 1s) add up to 2, but since 2 doesn't exist in binary, you carry over the 1.

This was simply an unsolvable word game!

"Mommy, I can see that you haven't submitted the quest to the village chief and entered this round, right? So, you still have a chance to leave. You should go," Mordred looked at Shirou with tear-filled eyes and said, "I'm so happy Mommy came to save me, but if Mommy becomes like me, I'd rather Mommy not come..."

"Mordred..." he looked at the tearful child and gave her a gentle smile, "It's okay, Mordred. I already know the answer."

What!?

Illya stared at him, stunned.

He already... already had the answer?

Impossible!

This was a word game, there was no right answer.

No.

Even if there was an answer, it was impossible to figure it out so quickly!

Though it hurt to admit, if Mordred with her intelligence had been reduced to this state by this question, how could Artoria-neesan with her intelligence possibly have the answer?

And get it so fast?

It was simply impossible!

"You say you know the answer? I'm not so easily tricked," the gatekeeper said with a smirk, her narrow, cat-like eyes giving off a strange vibe.

"Didn't you already tell me the answer?" his bright eyes looked coldly at the gatekeeper.

"Huh, what do you mean?" she raised an eyebrow.

"What's one plus one, this is a word game, so any number isn't the correct answer, and you could even say that giving any answer is wrong. The only answer to this question is silence!"

"Silence?"

Illya was stunned, then quickly said, "No, Artoria-neesan! If you stay silent, that's automatically admitting defeat!"

The gatekeeper smiled, "Correct! As Illya said, if you're silent, you automatically lose!"

"Is that really the case?"

Shirou not only didn't panic, but he smiled instead.

That smile looked clear and bright to Altera and Mordred, but to the gatekeeper, it seemed mischievous.

Could it be that this...

The gatekeeper's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"You played two word games. 'Of course, if you don't answer, I'll consider it wrong,' you added this sentence to make players immediately rule out the correct option. My daughter wasn't wrong, you really are a cheating scoundrel. But—" He paused, looking at the gatekeeper and couldn't help but laugh, "Playing word games in front of me, you're really cute."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a "crack" sound, and the iron cage trapping him shattered.

Illya watched this and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "This- does this mean the system judged Artoria-neesan... to be correct?"

Shirou smiled. Wasn't it obvious? He was the one who came up with this question in the first place, turning Scathach from a proper cool queen-type onee-san into a gag character!

"I honestly didn't expect... this question to actually have an answer..." the gatekeeper muttered, then slightly lowered her head, her gaze falling on Shirou. A look of realization flashed in her eyes, "Right. This question was taken from the Eternal King, you're Eternal King's personal knight, so it's not surprising you know the answer..."

Shirou frowned, "Who are you? How do you know about us? And I've already solved this quest, release my daughter!"

"No, I won't let you have this loli...!"

The gatekeeper's eyes glowed red, then her body burst open, and strange, luminous spore trees sprouted from her.

A long health bar appeared above the gatekeeper's head.

The health bar lit up!

Illya and Altera were about to attack when they saw the gatekeeper's health bar and froze.

"You've got to be kidding me? A Lv.9 BOSS? Is this really a newbie quest?" Illya was too tired to even complain.

A word game was one thing, but after passing it, they still had to face a Lv.9 BOSS?

According to the rules of this game, a Lv.9 BOSS would require at least a five-person team of Lv.8 players to defeat!

Was this seriously a newbie quest?

[System: Sword of Promised Victory effect activated, destruction power increased by 10000%!]

[System: Sword of Promised Victory effect activated, destruction power increased by 10000%!]

"It really came to this..." he sighed.

"This is the respawn point, after you die, you'll respawn right here! All of you become cute little lolis for me!" The gatekeeper cackled.

He sighed again, then pulled out the mud bubble containing the slime and tossed it towards the BOSS!

"Go, Slime!"

The mud bubble popped, revealing the blue slime inside.

"Guda, guda!"

The slime hopped around.

The gatekeeper chuckled, looking down at it. "What can a slime even do?" She reached out to poke it, laughing. "It's kind of adorable."

"Guda, guda?"

The slime turned its head to look at the person who poked it, then suddenly charged towards her belly.

And then...

There was no then.

With a "boom," the invincible slime pierced through the gatekeeper's abdomen.

Her health bar instantly emptied, and she collapsed.

"No way... I knew the slime's attack was strong, but... but this was a Lv.9 BOSS!" Illya couldn't help but exclaim.

"Guda, guda~!"

The slime bounced gleefully on the gatekeeper's lifeless body.

Shirou ignored the slime and the corpse, turning his attention to Mordred instead.

Creak, creak!!

With the gatekeeper's death, the hanging iron cage trapping Mordred wobbled and then broke apart. Mordred fell toward him.

"Mommy...!"

He opened his arms and caught her.

In that moment, he couldn't help but silently praise Artoria's body. If it were his own, he probably would have been knocked over by Mordred, but Artoria's body easily caught her.

"Thank you, Mommy," she said, clinging tightly to his arm with tearful eyes.

"Don't mention it, you're my daughter after all," he said gently.

Mordred raised her head, looking into his eyes, finding them bright and dazzling.

She was finally touching her beloved mother again.

Embraced by those arms once more.

It felt so warm.

She nuzzled against his arm, looking as content as a purring cat.

But Shirou was taken aback.

Huh?

Did this kid actually have this side to her?