The Worth of the Black Holy Grail Lord

The source of the voice that had just blasted the Great Commander full in the face with an impassioned tirade was dressed completely differently from the surrounding hunters.

A man in a long robe and hood, with half his face hidden in shadow. His most conspicuous feature was his deliberately exposed right arm—a limb that had suffered some kind of corrosion, already showing signs of mutation. It had begun to lose its proper human form and faintly displayed some traits of an "early-stage Hiei."

This was the Demonic Arm, Merlin's unique Demonic Arm.

"Merlin..."

Cheng Tian rolled that exceptionally distinctive name around in his mouth. Combined with the "Avalon" that had come from the Great Commander's mouth, the man's identity was all but obvious.

He had initially thought this world was simply Monster Hunter World merged with Soul Sacrifice's power system. He had not expected even key characters to have been incorporated—and, judging by the situation, in a setting where they stood on the same side as the hunters but likely had factional disagreements with the Great Commander.

All he could say was that Japanese game creators really loved using Arthurian legend as the skeleton for their stories. Fate did it, Knights of the Round Table did it, and Soul Sacrifice did it too.

This "Merlin," who shared a name with that great mage, was the most crucial figure in Soul Sacrifice's entire story.

What remained unknown was what role he held after being integrated into Monster Hunter World, and whether the rules had heavily altered him.

Faced with the Great Commander's undisguised hostility, Merlin remained entirely unmoved. His gaze continued to rest on Cheng Tian from beneath the shadows.

As the spokesperson for Star Stronghold's Fallen/Sacrifice Faction, he naturally knew that members of the Fifth Expedition had arrived from