IBHJ Chapter 846

Aside from Assassins who have [Presence Concealment], regular Servants can usually sense the presence of other Servants. There was no doubt that the mysterious man from earlier was a Servant!

"Yes, that fighting spirit reminded me a bit of Diarmuid. But there was never a Holy Grail War in Shinjuku, right?"

"This is a Connecting Point. Don't try to understand the Connecting Points using reality, or you'll definitely end up with some cognitive dissonance. Anyway, let's go check out Tokyo Tower first," he suggested.

"But..." she looked troubled. "My king, we can't ignore the possibility that person might be luring us into a trap, right? If it's a setup by the Council..."

"If that happens, I'll be counting on you to keep me safe."

Hearing this, she was stunned for a moment. Then she nodded earnestly. "Absolutely—!"

Shirou turned his head slightly, his gaze passing through the window, taking in the gray sky.

Artoria's concern made sense. But in this unclear situation, taking action seemed better than just sitting around waiting for death. Besides, he hadn't told Artoria about the reset. In fact, he had only shared that information with two people. One was Merlin, and the other was Gilgamesh.

Shirou and Gilgamesh weren't exactly best friends, but there was no denying that Gilgamesh was still a pretty reliable companion. Shirou had a feeling this Connecting Point was probably related to that weird recurring dream that had been haunting his previous life. That black vortex in the sky was proof enough, so Shirou felt like he had to explore it.

The Council, Sixth Seat—all of this had something to do with his past self. Shirou had a hunch that the way to defeat the Council must be hidden somewhere in his memories from those previous lives!

"Tokyo Tower...Archer..."

Through the window, Shirou stared at the hazy gray sky in the distance. On top of the iconic Tokyo Tower, he could almost see that Archer Servant holding the Black Grail!

【Hint: You've obtained new information from the mysterious NPC summoned through the summoning circle. The clues point to Tokyo Tower as the next destination...】

...

Gray felt she was being targeted by the universe. As if being hit with the Reverse Growth curse wasn't bad enough, now, while exploring the Connecting Point, she ran into Abigail, the Council's Seventh Seat, causing her parameters to get all numerized.

She didn't fully understand the rules of the tabletop RPG yet, but it seemed like rolling high numbers on the dice would be enough. But then, out of nowhere, a mudslide swept Abigail off to who knows where, switching the game rules from Story Mode to Free Exploration Mode. Of course, none of that was the real issue. The main problem was that she was now being hunted.

"Groarrr—"

The weird, twisted humanoid monsters behind her let out nasty roars.

Gray wasn't entirely sure what kind of monsters those humanoid creatures were. They weren't quite like Dead Apostles, but they kind of resembled corpse puppets controlled by necromancy.

Of course, these undead weren't really a big problem for her and Nero. The problematic thing was the mud figure wielding a spear standing in the middle of the undead.

"Groarr—!" The black mud figure raised its head and roared. Stomping its foot, it instantly thrust the spear in its hand at Gray's back as she ran. Its speed was so fast it was like a flash, appearing right behind Gray. The spear struck out like a speeding truck!

However, just as that spear was about to skewer Gray, a red sword blocked it at an even faster speed.

With a resounding clang, spear and sword collided, metal sang, and surging magical energy instantly shattered the earth.

Nero, Gray, and the mud figure were all blown away by this erupting magical force.

Gray steadied herself, her eyes locked on the mud figure as she gritted out: "Just as I thought, that's a Servant!"

"Is it an Alter, Gray?" Nero asked.

"It doesn't seem like it. Alters are still basically Heroic Spirits. But I don't sense any Saint Graph or Heroic Spirit's aura from that Servant. It's like...it's no different from those undead," Gray figured out the true nature of that spear-wielding Servant.

"So, kind of like the Red Priest corrupted by Cthulhu at the Romania Connecting Point? With the Saint Graph and Core completely tainted, transformed into some other type of monstrous thing?" Nero asked.

Gray nodded, feeling a bit down. That spear-wielding mud Servant didn't seem all that strong. Using Rhongomyniad, she could definitely one-shot it.

However -

【Hint: Your dice roll result is 1. Noble Phantasm summoning failed.】

Gray felt gloomy. If only Artoria were here. But she was probably off being all lovey-dovey with Shirou somewhere right now, right? Mmm... She really had been having some bad luck lately. If she could go back, she should ask Hinako to teach her more about almanacs.

"Umu! I understand. Then let's make a glorious retreat, Master!"

Nero grabbed her hand and dashed off into the distance. That mud Lancer didn't seem like an easy opponent. If they got caught up in a fight and attracted more undead to surround them, would she have to use her Noble Phantasm for a suicidal defense of Gray again?

If she used Aestus Domus Aurea like that, the artist's soul inside her would cry!

To avoid getting surrounded by the undead, Gray and Nero hurriedly fled.

However, this didn't shake off the mud Servant leading the undead. Instead, it attracted other undead hidden in the city.

What's more, besides the spear-wielding mud Servant, there were two more mud Servants. One was a mud Servant holding a nodachi, while the other floated high in the sky, filling the sky with magic circles.

Surrounded by three mud Servants!

Gray and Nero stood back-to-back, keeping a close eye on the three mud Servants slowly encircling them, as well as the undead horde behind.

"This isn't looking good, Nero."

"Umu. Definitely not good. Gray, use a Command Spell. Summon the King of Knights and the Eternal King here," Nero said.

"No can do. I already tried earlier. The Command Spell roll failed," Gray said helplessly. She had been pretty unlucky lately. Even her Command Spell dice roll ended up being a critical failure. Naturally, she couldn't use a Command Spell according to Abigail's game rules.

"Eh? Gray, you failed too?" Nero was a bit startled.

"Why did you say 'too'?" Gray was a little confused, then it clicked. "Don't tell me your Noble Phantasm activation also failed?"

"Yes. I was going to protect us with Aestus Domus Aurea, putting us inside a Reality Marble to block them. But... Umu, it failed."

"Ah! If both of us failed, how can you still be so calm!?" Gray was kind of freaking out.

"Because no matter what happens, I'll swing my sword for Gray's sake. Umu, you are my Master, after all."

Hearing this, Gray felt touched. However, the current situation couldn't be solved just by being touched.

In the sky, there was a mud Caster filling the sky with magic circles. On the ground, Servants wielding a spear and a nodachi were steadily closing in, along with an undead horde surging like a flood.

Nero was no top-tier Heroic Spirit who could dominate a Holy Grail War like Eternal King. Taking on two opponents would be pushing it, but facing three enemies and an undead army with Noble Phantasms sealed by Abigail's game rules? Winning was simply impossible.

What should they do?

"Groarr—!"

The undead and mud Servants roared ferociously.

Suddenly, a nearby building burst into a dazzling display of prismatic light. A beam, like a rainbow bridge, shot out, hurtling towards the mud Caster in the sky. It moved so fast, it seemed like a mere flash, appearing before the Caster in an instant, giving it almost no time to react as the magical cannon engulfed it.

This shocking development drew everyone's gaze to the building.

"That's—" Nero turned to look as well.

"Now's our chance, Nero! Attack!" Gray quickly yelled.

"I know, Master," Nero replied, stomping her foot and slashing her sword straight at the nodachi-wielding Servant.