40. Found Somewhere Else

40. Found Somewhere Else

----'Evil Spirit Summoning'.

One of the three types of magecraft Luo Zhen had learned for summoning Mid-Level Familiars.

As its name implied, this magecraft could summon an evil spirit.

This evil spirit was an owl.

In ancient times, owls, which only appeared at night, were often regarded as ill-omened birds that symbolized bad omens.

People generally believed that owls were incarnations of grim reapers who could travel back and forth between the underworld and the living world, responsible for bringing spirits wandering the living world back to the underworld.

And the owl summoned by 'Evil Spirit Summoning' was precisely this evil spirit symbolizing bad omens.

The evil spirit's abilities were exactly as recorded in legend. It could bring spirits in the living world back to the underworld.

In other words, it could counter spirits by devouring them, stripping them from the living world and dispersing the power that allowed them to exist there.

Back then, after learning this, Luo Zhen had designated it as one of the magecrafts he absolutely had to learn with almost no hesitation. In the end, after spending roughly half a year, he had finally mastered it completely, summoned the owl evil spirit symbolizing bad omens, engraved it into the 'Throne' of his soul, and brought it completely under his control.

With this evil spirit, Luo Zhen had a means of dealing with Servants.

After all, Servants were essentially spirits.

If he could use the evil spirit to strip a Servant from the living world and devour it, then Luo Zhen would have the power to fight when facing a Servant.

Unfortunately, this idea was not realistic.

The evil spirit that had been summoned was, at most, only a Mid-Level Familiar, while Servants were almost all High-Level Familiars. The particularly outstanding ones were even enough to rank among Top-Level Familiars, and as spirits, their rank was second only to divine spirits. A mere Mid-Level Familiar could never devour them.

With Luo Zhen's intellect, he naturally understood this. He would not naively believe that a single Mid-Level Familiar could defeat every Servant.

Even so, Luo Zhen still regarded 'Evil Spirit Summoning' as his trump card.

"Even if it can't strip away and devour a Servant, it should at least be able to affect one to some extent, right?"

No matter what, an evil spirit was an existence specifically suited to countering spirits. Even if it could not devour a Servant, it should still be able to affect one somehow.

At this moment, this conjecture was proven true.

"Crack!"

Inside Berserker's body, the owl that only Luo Zhen could see was pecking like a woodpecker. Its sharp little beak stabbed forcefully into Berserker's Spirit Core, making the core tremble as if it were cracking.

"Roar!"

A hint of pain seemed to mingle with Berserker's roar.

Although the evil spirit's advantage over spirits could not strip a terrifying Servant like Berserker from the living world, it had still dealt him a slight blow.

Every time the owl inside him forcefully drove its beak into his Spirit Core, Berserker felt a soul-deep pain, causing the movements of this top-tier Servant to occasionally falter.

The pauses were extremely brief. Even a Servant at the level of a High-Level Familiar might not have been able to seize such a fleeting opening.

Mashu included.

But although Mashu could not seize the opening, Luo Zhen could.

Luo Zhen was the one controlling the evil spirit's attacks, so he could naturally calculate when the openings would appear and issue Mashu instructions to attack.

"Hah!"

Under Luo Zhen's direction, Mashu swung up her enormous shield and smashed it viciously into Berserker.

"Boom----!"

Amid the heavy impact, Berserker's extremely sturdy body staggered backward again and again.

"Roar!"

Berserker was furious beyond measure.

To put it bluntly, this Servant was absolutely strong enough to rank as a Top-Level Familiar.

Mashu, on the other hand, had yet to fully master the power she had gained from becoming a Servant, and her combat experience was extremely limited. At most, her strength was at the level of a High-Level Familiar. Only her defense had reached the ranks of Top-Level Familiars, allowing her to stand against Berserker.

But that was only a standoff. Defeating Berserker remained harder than reaching the heavens.

Yet now, with Luo Zhen's three forms of support, Mashu had gained the upper hand.

How could Berserker not be enraged?

Even after losing his reason, this violent fury alone could not be extinguished.

The beastlike Servant roared and launched a desperate counterattack, ignoring the waves of agony coming from his Spirit Core.

"Clang----!"

As the axe-sword slammed heavily against the shield, sparks began to fly in all directions.

The force was even several times stronger than before.

"Ugh...!?"

Mashu felt a tremendous force travel through the shield, involuntarily driving her back several steps.

"Roar!"

Berserker immediately shot forward like a cannonball, closing in as the axe-sword in his hand transformed into a storm and rained blows upon Mashu.

Amid the clashing of metal, the massive man who had become a meat grinder and the girl desperately holding up her shield continued their fierce battle.

"As expected... it isn't that easy...?"

Behind them, Luo Zhen's body had become even more unsteady, as though he might collapse at any moment.

It was true that, with the aid of 'Evil Spirit Summoning', Luo Zhen could interfere with and affect a Servant that no human could fight head-on, but this did not come without a price.

The price of summoning a Familiar specifically meant to counter spirits was an extremely high consumption of magical energy.

On top of that, Luo Zhen was also supplying a large amount of magical energy to Mashu to strengthen her power. The two expenditures combined, causing the originally abundant magical energy within Luo Zhen's body to drain rapidly like flowing water.

As a result, the enhancement Mashu had received began to decline, while the evil spirit's influence on Berserker grew weaker and weaker.

"Originally, the odds of defeating Berserker were less than one in ten. Even after adding the evil spirit's support and raising the odds by one-tenth, then adding the Command Seal's boost and raising them by another one-tenth, the odds are still less than three in ten."

In other words, Luo Zhen knew very clearly that even if he gave it his all and combined his strength with Mashu's, their odds of victory were still less than half.

Precisely because of that...

"The remaining odds can only be found somewhere else."

If there were no odds of victory, then he only had to create them.

"Berserker is strong, but his weakness is also obvious."

He had no reason at all.

Since that was the case...

"A few little tricks might come in handy."

Luo Zhen desperately squeezed out the magical energy remaining in his body.

The battle instantly changed.

"Awooo!"

Just as Berserker reached a certain position and prepared to bring down a powerful blow on Mashu, a gray wolf lying nearby, lifeless and seemingly forgotten, suddenly opened its eyes and let out a furious howl. It leaped from the ground and pounced toward Berserker.

It was the wolf Familiar Luo Zhen had previously used as a shield, the one everyone had long since ignored.

Thus, before Berserker's axe-sword, raised to deliver a powerful strike at Mashu, could fall, the gray wolf pounced over and bit down on Berserker's thick arm.

Of course, the wolf was only a Low-Level Familiar. It could not possibly bite through Berserker's tough flesh.

But the Familiar controlled by Luo Zhen was not limited to the wolf alone.

"Rumble!"

The ground beneath Berserker suddenly collapsed.

Several demonic ants had somehow burrowed underground without anyone noticing. They broke through the earth, hollowed out the ground where Berserker stood, and firmly clung to his lower body with their sharp legs, which possessed terrifying monstrous strength.

Berserker was dragged into the earth by the demonic ants one after another, sinking together with the bedrock.