Siduri's Disappearance

"I'm really impressed with you. Alright, but I need to make some things clear. I can help with things like clearing out mobs, but I'm not your true form, just a regular Servant in Spirit Origin form. Most of my abilities are support-oriented. If it's a battle against a really strong enemy, I'm afraid I can't be of much help."

Merlin frowned, then spoke more seriously. Although he always presented himself as a carefree and frivolous person, he had actually been doing what he was best at—thinking—since arriving at this Singularity.

How can we help Gilgamesh make the best use of the summoned Servant, persuade him to give up the urge to go to the battlefield himself, help him work overtime, deal with the Three Goddess Alliance, protect our female bodies to prevent them from causing trouble, and strengthen Tiamat's own seal to buy time?

It can be said that Merlin has always been thinking things through in his own way, which is why he always manages to appear at the right time. However, no matter how much he thinks, in the end, it still proves the saying that plans can't keep up with changes. The current changes have exceeded any of the developments he had anticipated.

"Do you remember what you told me before about the Gorgon and what would happen next?"

Long ago, because Rovey didn't have the habit of being a riddle teller, he could be said to have revealed all the possibilities to everyone, and naturally he knew everything about the connection between Gorgon and Tiamat.

"That Gorgon can be considered Executor of Tiamat's will. His resentment towards humanity, coupled with inheriting Tiamat's negative emotions and hatred, is what drove him to such madness. After all, she is, after all, a goddess. No matter how she changes, she shouldn't have become the miserable figure she was not long ago. She was far removed from the image of a goddess. Quetzalcoatl Ereshkigal also described Gorgon, praising him as a rational Avenger, not a madman. Therefore, I think Gorgon's transformation was too abrupt."

Merlin analyzed the situation carefully, saying, "After seeing Gorgon, you should be able to deduce more from her condition, right? For example, Tiamat's situation. Although they are not the same person, Gorgon is still connected to Tiamat's evil side. The rational Avenger before symbolized that although Tiamat had anger, she still possessed reason, which is the side we saw suppressing it. But now Gorgon has become a complete madman, which means that there is almost no possibility of reconciliation with Tiamat's evil side. You must have realized that."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Rovey remained silent and did not reply.

However, as the vehicle moved forward, their path was blocked by the corpses of several enormous Demonic Beast. Due to the urgency of the situation, they were unable to dismount and move the debris.

"Get off on foot; your Demonic Beast is too conspicuous in this situation."

"Okay, I understand. Then come back first, Sand Sphinx."

After hearing Merlin's words, Rovey immediately recalled the Sand Sphinx, preparing to walk the rest of the way with Merlin, who continued to share his conjectures.

"Your intervention has changed too much— Tiamat, Kingu, even Goetia. You've completely shattered the original development. This isn't something that can be explained by the butterfly effect. You've essentially rewritten the script. Whether it's good or bad, we're all characters in this new script now, and we can only act alongside you until the end. Romani, you should be very clear about that, right?"

This wasn't just a monologue; Merlin tapped his live-streaming equipment as he spoke, inquiring about another crucial party involved. Meanwhile, on the Chaldea, Dr. Roman, overwhelmed with numerous troubles, also appeared on the screen.

"I understand everything clearly, and you could even say I've taken care of everything I wanted to do and everything I was supposed to do. Everything is in complete chaos now. I've gone from being a parent who should take responsibility for solving everything to a complete outsider."

Romani said helplessly, "Without the ring, without the Spirit Origin, and without wisdom, even if I were to jump out now to prove my identity, the end result would definitely be that I would be slapped back by Goetia and humiliated again, right? This kind of script is really like God's twisted sense of humor."

"While watching my children call someone else 'father' to my face is indeed a complex feeling, you've done better than me in every way. At least I couldn't have made Flauros and Barbatos forgive me so easily, nor could I have made Goetia repent. The Humanity Incineration has stopped, and I've detected that the distortion of spacetime has been repaired. Goetia did indeed stop because of you, which makes me very gratified. So even if you really do replace me, this irresponsible guy, as Solomon, it's a good choice. Although it might sound a bit naive to say this, I still hope you can treat those demons I've hurt kindly. They are all good children, even Goetia, he's not bad..."

Because Chaldea's communication equipment was broken, all the other staff were sent to repair Chaldea, leaving only Holmes, Da Vinci, and Roman, who knew the truth, in the control room, which is why they were able to express their true feelings so frankly.

However, before he could finish speaking, Holmes, who was sitting to the side organizing intelligence, suddenly spoke up loudly.

"Mr. Roman, although I really don't want to interrupt your heartfelt moment, I still have something I want to remind you of."

"Merlin! Mr. Rovey, I've detected more than a dozen unusual life force reactions over there. Be careful! They're right next to you!"

"Beside you--?!"

Upon hearing Holmes's sudden voice, Merlin's eyes widened. He turned around and looked around, searching for the target Holmes had mentioned. However, the next moment, the Demonic Beast's corpse suddenly burst open.

Bang--!!

--puff!!

A spray of dark red blood, carrying steaming entrails, splattered out and obscured their vision. As Merlin watched in astonishment, a dark, twisted monster crawled out of the Demonic Beast's corpse.

Clang!

Although his vision was momentarily obstructed, in the instant the crisis arrived, Rovey still managed to launch a counterattack. Ignoring the splattering blood, his crimson hand grabbed the suddenly appearing black monster, gripping it tightly in his palm. He then raised it high, igniting a flame that reduced it to ashes.

But on the other side, or rather all around, more and more sounds of chests being ripped open and blood spurting out rang out like firecrackers, and for a moment, a rain of blood began to fall from the sky.

"Ugh! What a disgusting entrance! Is this how the monster you predicted makes its debut?!"

Because of his slow reaction, Merlin, covered in blood, complained as he tapped his staff on the ground a few times. With the activation of flower True Magic, the filthy blood on his body instantly turned into petals and scattered. At that moment, he finally saw what the enemy that Rovey had mentioned, who had crawled out of the Demonic Beast's belly, actually looked like.

That can hardly be called a "living thing" at all!!

"@@/!!##--￥&&&!!"

The mouth emitted indistinct, chaotic noises; it was probably a mouth, since even Merlin couldn't biologically determine whether the organ was a mouth.

A series of strange, chaotic sounds seemed to be speech, but their meaning was unclear. Just hearing them made people feel physically uncomfortable and nauseous. The extremely twisted, pitch-black body writhed and twitched like a spider, while crawling rapidly towards the two people with extremely grotesque movements.

"Although I had expected it, seeing Lahmu in person still made me feel physically uncomfortable!"

Cleansing himself of the filth, feeling as if his eyes had been polluted, Merlin drew his longsword and swiftly parried the sneak attack coming from behind.

"￥￥!@@!--##!!"

The voice remained ambiguous. Rovey's crimson hand crushed another Lahmu, and Merlin swiftly drew his sword, splitting both Lahmu in two.

"This is disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! These things may have signs of life, but even I wouldn't admit they're living beings. They completely violate the fundamental definition of life!"

Merlin shouted as he continuously drew his sword, annihilating the Lahmu that emerged from the corpses of Demonic Beast in the wasteland.

"It is indeed extremely disgusting, but these guys are the familiars created by Tiamat's beast form, and are also the so-called new humans."

In response to Merlin's words, Rovey raised his hand to speed up the elimination of the monsters; the Lahmu had indeed emerged much faster than he had anticipated.

It seems that taking King Hassan to deal with Gorgon wasted too much time.

"These guys will replace humans? Ugh..."

The thought of the entire earth being filled with these disgusting creatures sent a shiver down Merlin's spine. He then looked at Roman on the screen, who was equally horrified by the scene, and asked...

"Romani, give me a definite number! How many of these monsters are there around here?!"

"... Um, I can't answer that question, but the number of life forms over there is still increasing—several thousand, no, tens of thousands! And there are even hundreds of millions of life forms reacting on the coastline!! Don't let yourselves be delayed there; you must leave quickly!"

"Hundreds of millions! That number could wipe out humanity in a very real sense, right?! This is like a nightmare."

Upon hearing Dr. Roman's report, Merlin was also taken aback by the answer, but seeing that Rovey did not panic, he immediately understood why he had gone to such great lengths to send Ur, Uruk, and the rest of humanity to the Underworld.

Even with the protection of so many Heroic Spirit, it would be futile against hundreds of millions of Lahmu. Ordinary humans would be nothing more than lambs to the slaughter in the face of such life forms that far surpass Demonic Beast.

Similarly, Rovey had no time to entangle with Lahmu. He led Merlin and continued to accelerate towards the location agreed upon with Gilgamesh, which was the spatial node where Tiamat was released. He clenched his fists and waved golden light to clear the way ahead, while Merlin defended from behind. The two of them advanced steadily.

As they continued to fight, Merlin felt increasingly disgusted by these monsters. They felt no pain, and their attacks were extremely tricky and unpredictable, making them difficult to defend against. They were far more troublesome than ordinary Demonic Beast. Even he was cut open by two spikes that suddenly appeared from the Lahmu.

"It hurts so much! Even though it's not the real body, it's much more painful than the illusion!"

"What's wrong, Merlin? Are you going to die?"

Noticing his injury, Rovey turned around and asked.

"No way! It's just a few tens of thousands of Lahmu. My peak feat in Britannia was being chased by seven beauties, so this number of Lahmu is no problem at all!"

"..."

Rovey suddenly felt like kicking him; this guy had wasted all his feelings on him.

"Forget it, this can't go on. I'll summon some help first."

The two continued their breakout attempt, but the number of Lahmu around them was increasing. Although they were only a few kilometers away from the agreed-upon coastline, continuing their breakout would inevitably lead to them being surrounded. Therefore, Rovey prepared to summon several Demon God Pillars for help.

But just as he raised his hand—

Boom!!

A jet-black storm tore the earth apart, and a dark red light suddenly burst forth before our eyes. Terrifying power descended from the sky, instantly annihilating hundreds of terrifying Lahmu in front of us.

"Such a disgusting creature should atone for his sins with his death."

Artoria's cool voice slowly rang out, accompanied by a black warhorse, crimson lightning, and her jet-black, beautiful body, appearing in a corner of the wasteland, crushing a large number of Lahmu directly.

As the Storm Goddess and the wild hunt, Black Lancer Artoria shares similarities with Odin, the great god of Northern Europe. For her, the more chaotic the battlefield, the more unimaginable her abilities and power become.

"Lily, you've come at just the right time! You've been a huge help this time!"

Upon seeing the black-clad Artoria appear, Merlin was overjoyed. Without thinking twice, he unleashed a set of buffs on her, gave Artoria mental support, and then sped off.

Artoria didn't pay attention to Merlin's actions. She simply sat on her warhorse, glanced back at Rovey who was still galloping forward, and their eyes met briefly. Then, the two nodded in tacit understanding.

Although no words were spoken, their feelings were conveyed through their eyes.

Encouraged by each other, the two did not speak, but instead ran in different directions, towards different battlefields, striving to reach their destinations.

"Gilgamesh is just ahead, Rovey, let's speed up."

Merlin continued to guide them, and Rovey quickened his pace with him, striving to reunite with Gilgamesh.

As they walked away, the Storm Goddess behind them revealed a gentle smile, like a breeze offering her sincerest blessings and protection. But this breeze came quickly and went just as fast.

"@@@!###!--&&&!!"

Hearing the chaotic, nauseating sounds around her, she turned around and looked at the surging black wave with undisguised disgust in her eyes.

Then Artoria gently raised the Holy Lance, and an even more terrifying dark red light gathered in her hand.

Facing the approaching Lahmu, she remained silent, only waving her hand lightly. In an instant, a dark red storm of destruction swept across the entire world once again.

※※※※※※

--

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Uma Musume - I'm Not Interested in Winning

As a trainer, Chishima Toru's goal was very pure.

He witnessed many moments of tears shed on the racetrack and dreams shattered, so he didn't want his role as an Uma Musume to fight for the championship.

Of course, it would be even better if you could receive a reward from the cheat code even if you lost the match.

[Mission Objective: Lose one official race while playing as Uma Musume]

[Reward: Increases initial affinity with the Uma Musume]

[Mission Objective: Lose 5 consecutive official races as Uma Musume]

[Bonus: Physical attributes comparable to those of Uma Musume (based on the average of all previous Arima Kinen winners)]

[Mission Objective: Lose 10 consecutive official races as Uma Musume]

[Reward: Wealth beyond measure]

[Mission Objective: Lose 999 consecutive official races as an Uma Musume]

[Reward: 990,000 units of magnetic field power]

Years later, as Chishima Toru gazed at the wall covered with championship trophies, he suddenly recalled that distant night when he made his contract with his first Uma Musume.

"The Equinox have passed, and now only you and I are left..."

"I suspect I'm the mole."

Chapter 284 The Disappearance of Siduri

"Damn it! Even if I had some expectations, this is way beyond what I anticipated!!"

"What should we do now, Mage Merry?"

At the edge of the city wall, Ushiwakamaru, responsible for drawing the Demonic Beast' fire, forcefully pushed two dark, twisted Lahmu in front of her forward, then cleaved them in two with a single strike. However, against the swarming mass of black monsters constantly crawling out of the Demonic Beast' bodies, her clearing speed was still too slow. Before she could even catch her breath, dozens more Lahmu, their bodies twisting, crawled towards her.

Witnessing this disgusting scene firsthand, especially seeing Lahmu, who was even more repulsive and terrifying than a demon from hell, Ushiwakamaru's usually cheerful face turned ugly.

Whether in life or death, she had experienced countless battles, large and small, against humans, ghosts, and demons—she had seen all kinds of enemies and had long since surpassed her psychological limits. Therefore, even when facing countless Demonic Beasts, she could adapt. However, when she saw this indescribable Lahmu, which was even more monstrous than any insect or demon, Ushiwakamaru truly found it difficult to maintain her usual calm and excitement. Just seeing these creatures was a kind of harm to her.

Of course, Merry felt the same way.

"Yeah, we got tricked..."

While watching the black monsters sprout from the corpses, Merry, who was in charge of commanding the front line, managed the situation and ordered the human soldiers to begin their retreat. It was precisely because of her outstanding command, and the cover provided by other Heroic Spirit, that the human soldiers sent by Uruk were not completely wiped out even when faced with such a monster attack.

However, compared to the soldiers who were so fierce when facing the Demonic Beast, the once orderly formation was completely disrupted by these strange Lahmu. If it weren't for Merry noticing the anomaly in the shortest time, the casualties would have been heavy.

"Ugh, how annoying! I knew Lahmu might appear, but I never imagined these Demonic Beasts were just vessels. Lahmu had been hiding inside them all along. The value of the weapons was merely secondary; their true purpose was to serve as Lahmu's containers!"

"I'm a little annoyed, "Merry said.

She wasn't upset about the situation, nor did she feel guilty about the many people who were injured. She was just annoyed that she hadn't managed things well, which had caused delays and prevented her from finding Rovey immediately. She had been so confident in taking charge, but the situation had turned out like this.

"Let's talk about the specifics later, because these guys crawled out of the bodies of dead Demonic Beast, and we've definitely been put on the defensive."

Compared to Merry, Scáthach, who could practically traverse the battlefield, was much calmer. Although Lahmu was disgusting, it wasn't enough to frighten her, given her thousands of years of experience in the Land of Shadows. At most, she just felt a little disgusted. There were many monsters in the Land of Shadows that were no simpler than these guys.

"That's right, let's talk about the specifics later. Lahmu's appearance was too sudden, which inevitably caused some mishaps in the planned situation."

Because of his weaker strength, Leonidas, who was injured, covered his wound and said.

"About 20% of the soldiers perished directly from the first wave of corpse explosions and the surprise attack. Without Queen Scáthach's heroic defense, the situation would have been even worse. However, something painful still happened—a large number of the priests and logistics personnel who had come to our rear to care for the wounded and help with the defense were abducted by the Lahmu who had brought in—at least four hundred people."

Leonidas, head bowed, forced himself to remain calm and began to speak, trying his best to explain the current situation to everyone present.

Although her tone remained calm and composed, anyone could hear the pain and anger mixed in with it, as evidenced by the bulging veins on the back of her clenched hand.