Chapter 30

In his Spirit Body form, Xia Zhi raced back with lightning speed, and the moment he materialized, the sight that met his eyes was the wretched state of the Liu Dong Si Temple Gate.

However, the attacking enemies had already quietly retreated; it appeared they had not truly shaken Liu Dong Si's defenses, and presumably caused no casualties either — a piece of good news.

This made him breathe a sigh of relief; after all, what he worried about most was exactly this kind of situation — he merely stepped out for a bit, and his own headquarters nearly got wiped out by the enemy... fortunately, it hadn't reached the worst-case scenario.

As a Caster-class Servant specializing in Territory Construction, Medea was still very reliable in a defensive battle.

"Hello..."

Greeting the ancient swordsman standing outside the temple gate, clad in a purple kimono with grass sandals, a long dark-blue ponytail casually tied behind his head, a tree branch held lightly in his mouth, arms crossed over his chest, Xia Zhi strode into Liu Dong Si.

Although he didn't really know this unfamiliar colleague, he also vaguely knew the other party's background.

After all, just when he was heading out, Medea had mentioned the matter of an irregular Summoning — within the rules of the Holy Grail War, only Magicians can Summon Servants, but the Caster class is, strictly speaking, a Magician.

Presumably, this ancient swordsman was the product of that Greek Witch's irregular Summoning.

And now was not the time to delve into this, so Xia Zhi didn't waste time exchanging pleasantries with the other party, heading straight into Liu Dong Si.

The temple courtyard maintained its original appearance as always, clearly untouched by outside intrusion — sufficient proof that the invading enemy had only rampaged at the outer temple gate. At this moment, a female Magician draped in a dark purple robe stood quietly in the courtyard.

"Is Master alright?"

Xia Zhi was concise and to the point; the first thing he asked about was Rin Tohsaka.

After all, the Master is the Servant's lifeline; once the Master is killed, no matter how strong the Servant, they cannot maintain their existence... especially in his situation, he really didn't want to speculate what the result of such an abnormal retreat would be.

"She's right over there; after repelling the enemy, she went back to her room... there won't be any problem, rest assured."

Medea glanced lightly, elegantly waving her slender fingertips to point in a certain direction nearby.

Following the direction indicated by her fingertips, Xia Zhi looked over and saw the lights on in that room, revealing the silhouette of a twin-tailed girl; he couldn't help but frown slightly, because when he had just entered, he had completely failed to see such light and shadow.

"This Liu Dong Si has already become my Workshop; as I gradually deepen Territory Construction, many things — even things approaching True Magic — will become possible within this courtyard." The Witch from Greece spoke slowly.

Although she had not yet reached that stage — after all, this Magecraft Circuit was only occupied at noon today, and there hadn't been time for comprehensive construction and deep consolidation — with her skill and ability, she could already achieve many extraordinary feats here.

For instance, right now, distorting the image and positioning of the Master's location was no difficulty for her, and counted as providing a kind of safety guarantee.

"... Badass."

Xia Zhi thought it over carefully and quickly accepted this explanation.

After all, strictly speaking, he had already experienced a similar lesson at the School before — that tall Heroic Spirit who used a Chain Dagger and wore an Eye Patch had given him a proper lesson; before she struck suddenly, even he hadn't perceived her location.

One can only say that within a space similar to a Bounded Field or domain, the side acting as the controller undoubtedly holds the Home Field Advantage — a point that aptly warned Xia Zhi, making him understand he cannot completely rely on his own Magic Power Sense.

"What's the enemy's background?"

"..."

"..."

"It's Heracles..." Medea's eyes narrowed slightly, her words revealing a trace of heaviness.

"That Great Hero actually answered the Summoning as a Berserker-class; I'm afraid he's the strongest Heroic Spirit in this Holy Grail War. If his Master weren't unwilling to force a charge, my territory couldn't have blocked him either."

She was far too familiar with that berserk figure; as a fellow figure from Greek Mythology, they had inevitably crossed paths because of that fellow Iason — to say she didn't know Heracles was obviously impossible.

Heracles? Berserker?

That berserker giant actually has this kind of background?

Xia Zhi quickly reacted, realizing who the enemy group that just attacked Liu Dong Si was, and was instantly somewhat astonished — he really hadn't thought that crazy muscle monster would actually be the renowned Heracles.

A man's name casts a shadow like a tree — this name was already far more than just thunderous to the ears.

After all, it's universally known that in Greek Mythology there are only two kinds of heroes: one is Heracles, the other is everyone else.

Recalling that brief clash just now, Xia Zhi's complexion grew grave; he felt fortunate that Great Hero had undergone Mad Enhancement, his Combat Skills greatly discounted... Indeed, his own plan also had to be accelerated; dragging on any longer, he feared there wouldn't be enough time.

This was already the third day; if going by the contingency plan that the Holy Grail War would last at most a week, in a flash it was already the halfway point of the Holy Grail War's preset cycle...

Moreover, it wasn't certain it would even last a full week — who could guarantee the battle wouldn't come to an abrupt halt on the fourth day, fifth day, or even earlier?

These are all possibilities!

Just like he had just run into Heracles in the Residence Area on his front foot, and on his back foot the other party arrived at Liu Dong Si to launch an attack — he didn't want to delve into whether there was some coincidence in this, because it had no meaning.

Fuyuki City isn't huge if you say it's huge, isn't small if you say it's small; throwing multiple Servant-level combatants onto this Battlefield, the probability of them colliding is still too high.

Shaking his head, he thought rapidly for a moment, then deliberately narrowed his eyes to reveal a hint of killing intent: "If Liu Dong Si really can't block the other party either, can we leave a back-up move... regarding that tumor on the mountain body, is there any possibility of utilizing it?"

"Huh?"

A flash of surprise crossed Medea's eyes: "Truly unexpected; I thought you wouldn't consider using this kind of move."

After all, she subconsciously felt this person should be the type of rather upright Servant.

Mainly also because the two sides had little contact, and the other party acted well.

"Anyway, it won't affect anyone else; the residents on Yuan Cang Shan have already been evacuated by us, and moreover, even if we don't utilize it, it'll collapse in the end anyway, right?" The youth spoke calmly.

"That's true..."

The Greek Witch pondered for a moment, then nodded; she also didn't like being tied hand and foot — since a crisis indeed existed right now, and her side happened to possess such an advantage, preparing one more trump card was naturally prudent.

"If we really do this, I can provide you some assistance... currently I'm stretched thin, I can only ensure safety on the Liu Dong Si side; if we want to cover other places, I'm afraid we'd need more time, but the enemy obviously won't give us this opportunity."

"Not impossible..."

Xia Zhi seemed to be thinking, then slowly nodded — after all, surface appearances still had to be maintained, lest at the final step Medea become suspicious.

Fortunately, the other party wasn't a Paradise Fairy like Vivian who comes with a built-in lie detector, and didn't perceive that the seemingly loyal colleague actually harbored ill intentions.

In just a few simple words, the matter was settled, and he took it over.

As long as he could successfully persuade Medea, obtaining the exact location of the "tumor" and her technical support would follow as a matter of course. And Medea's busyness was also within his expectations — after all, he had once learned of her tight, relentless schedule and Territory Construction plans.

For Medea, the most pressing task right now was to concentrate on building a Magic Power Circuit at Liu Dong Si; for this she had devoted nearly all her strength, clearly having no intention of leaving this holy ground a single step.

It could be said that all this development unfolded as naturally as the script he had pre-envisioned. Furthermore, because he had straightforwardly stated his purpose was destruction, making moves here from now on would also appear reasonable and logical, requiring no pretense.

And just at this moment, a voice carried from afar —

"How is it, Assassin? That guy Emiya didn't come over, did he?"

Rin Tohsaka slid open the room door and walked out, looking somewhat listless; she had just counted her gems again, and in the end despondently confirmed she must have misremembered, but was still discouraged.

Watching the Assassin in the courtyard talking with Caster, and looking like they had returned empty-handed, even though she already knew the result, the girl still couldn't help but ask one more question.

"No, the opposite side is very vigilant……"

Xia Zhi looked at the Master Lady's expression, slightly guessing in his heart, but pretended to be completely unaware.

"Gems and such, he really doesn't understand and shouldn't understand……"

"Still not working? Troublesome fellow……" Rin Tohsaka forced herself to cheer up, looking worried, "Does that fellow understand the situation? Does he really know what fighting alone means?"

Although there actually wasn't much contact, they were ultimately classmates in the same school, so she naturally knew Shirou Emiya.

Perhaps she didn't understand other aspects, but only in the matter of being a Magician could Rin Tohsaka be certain that that fellow was absolutely unprofessional, and might not even know about the Holy Grail War at all, just being dragged in to make up the numbers.

Originally she had thought that, for Sakura's sake, she could form an Alliance with the other party, first to strengthen their side's power, and second to indirectly protect this clueless fellow who knew nothing.

Just like now, understanding nothing, alone in this crisis-ridden Fuyuki City, he was probably a walking experience pack in the eyes of other Servants.

"Master, perhaps we can just kidnap him over?"

The Witch beside her slowly said, making a suggestion.

"Kidnap him over? No way!"

Rin Tohsaka subconsciously denied, "That would be directly hostile, and we might have to fight among ourselves first……"

Even if not both sides suffering heavy losses, her side would probably have to pay a not light Price, and under true slaughter there is no such thing as holding back; at that moment, if not careful, she was afraid Shirou Emiya would first stab her through.

"It won't happen, Master, as long as we can bring the person before me, I have a way to help you directly seize that person's Servant ownership, so it can also be considered completing the established Target, right?"

Medea chuckled softly, her low voice sounding like persuasion, yet also like temptation: "Perhaps it's also a good thing for that person; he doesn't have this Realization, and has absolutely no Necessity to participate in this war, what do you think?"

"Directly seize the Servant's ownership?"

Miss Tohsaka was obviously stunned for a moment; could such a thing actually be done? Magicians of the Age of Gods were so powerful, could modern Magic Contracts not bind her?

The youth beside her also had a strange look in his eyes; he seriously thought it over, feeling that perhaps he should re-examine this colleague's technical ability—her professional quality couldn't be said to be solid, but should be said to be very solid.

It seemed that no matter what he thought, the other party could provide technical support.

That's really nice!

"But…… but……" At this time, the Master Lady seemed to still have some misgivings and had not made up her Determination.

"……"

"……"

"By the way, Master, there is one more thing I need to tell you——"

Xia Zhi thought for a moment, then decisively told the girl a heavyweight piece of Intelligence: "The opposing Servant should be Saber."

He himself occupied the Assassin class, Medea was the Caster class, the previous black giant should be the Berserker class, so the remaining classes were not many; through elimination, one could roughly estimate them.

With such an excellent Parameter, it probably couldn't be Rider, and when fighting the giant and being forced into a desperate situation, it also didn't reveal any trump cards like mounts.

Among the remaining Three Knights, Archer as an archer should strictly speaking be a ranged profession, needing powerful shooting-type weapons or Special Abilities related to shooting weapons.

Lancer as a lancer, qualifying heroes were those whose main weapon was a long weapon, which also didn't seem to fit.

So only the Saber result remained; moreover…… even if the result wasn't, it didn't matter, anyway that was how he reasoned it, and it was reasonable and well-founded, the main point being to give the Master Lady a little Stimulation.

"Wh-what? His Servant is Saber?!"

A completely predictable reaction; Rin Tohsaka had an expression of shock and unwillingness to believe.

But it could be understood; her own failure was sad, but a classmate's success was even more heart-wrenching…… especially in this situation, Rin Tohsaka had saved up stones for so long just to draw Saber.

As a result, she endured huge financial pressure, risked the risk of bankruptcy, and in the end still couldn't fish out that SSR from the Gacha Pool……

A clueless zero-spending seal next door actually directly pulled a Miracle on a single draw?

Who can understand this pain?!

Although she hadn't become Completely Different from jealousy, this woman obviously started Gritting Teeth: "Kidnap! I must have that fellow kidnapped for this Miss!"

————

————

Although they decided to implement the kidnapping plan, they still had to do some Preparation work.

Taking advantage of the deepening night, Xia Zhi also carried the materials supported by the Witch lady and arrived at the Tumor position of that Yuan Cang Shan.

Gathering materials was a troublesome matter, but considering this was for a backup plan, Medea was still relatively generous in giving out part of the materials prepared for today, and carefully provided guidance opinions.

Anyway, Destroying was always easier than Construction, let alone accelerating the Progress of destruction on work others had already prepared.

In the Witch's view, this matter was very simple and could be easily achieved.

But Xia Zhi didn't think so; he was here to Destroy, yet not for the sake of simple Destruction alone……

He followed Medea's instructions and precisely found the direction of that "Tumor"; it was established at the intersection of several Dragon Veins, harmonizing with the Terrain and very hidden; if he had to explore it himself, it might take several months or even years.

Within the Magic Power Vision, the flow of Dragon Vein Spiritual Power in Yuan Cang Shan was almost completely visible, and even the Great Void below, overflowing with Original Magic Power, could be faintly Peeked at.

Subconsciously simulating it in his mind, Xia Zhi happily discovered he could use this Joint node as the Array center to lay out a Magic Array full of symbolic Meaning, turning the entire mountain into a huge "Alchemy Furnace" between Heaven and Earth——

The Great Holy Grail within was precisely the natural Golden Core!

(Chapter End)