Finding it Elsewhere

Chapter 40: Find it Elsewhere

—〈Evil Spirit Summoning〉.

One of the three types of magic Luo Zhen learned to summon intermediate Familiars.

As the name suggests, this magic can summon an Evil Spirit.

This Evil Spirit is an owl.

In ancient times, owls, which only appeared at night, were often regarded as unlucky birds, symbolizing ominous omens.

People generally believed that owls were incarnations of death gods who could travel between the underworld and the mortal world, responsible for bringing spirits wandering in the mortal world back to the underworld.

And the owl summoned by 〈Evil Spirit Summoning〉 is precisely this kind of Evil Spirit that symbolizes ominous omens.

The Evil Spirit's ability is as recorded in legends, able to bring spirits in the mortal world back to the underworld.

In other words, it can restrain spirits, stripping them from the mortal world by devouring them, dispelling their power to exist in the mortal world.

Back then, after learning this, Luo Zhen almost unhesitatingly designated it as one of the magic spells he had to learn. It eventually took him about half a year to completely master it, summoning the owl Evil Spirit that symbolizes ominous omens and engraving it within his soul's 〈Throne of Heroes〉, completely putting it to his own use.

With this kind of Evil Spirit, Luo Zhen had a means to deal with Servants.

After all, Servants are essentially a type of spirit.

If he could rely on the Evil Spirit to strip and devour Servants from the mortal world, then Luo Zhen would have a chance to fight against Servants.

Unfortunately, this idea is not realistic.

Because the summoned Evil Spirit is at most an intermediate Familiar, but Servants are almost all high-level Familiars, and some particularly outstanding ones are even ranked as top-level Familiars. Their spirit-level status is only below the gods. A mere intermediate Familiar simply cannot devour them.

With Luo Zhen's mind, he naturally understood this and would not naively think that a single intermediate Familiar could defeat all Servants.

However, even so, Luo Zhen still regarded 〈Evil Spirit Summoning〉 as a trump card.

"Even if it can't strip and devour Servants, it can at least cause a certain degree of impact, right?"

No matter what, Evil Spirits are existences that specifically restrain spirits. Even if they cannot devour Servants, they should still be able to affect them.

At this moment, this conjecture was confirmed.

"Pachi!"

Inside Berserker's body, the owl, only visible to Luo Zhen, was like a woodpecker, its sharp little beak forcefully stabbing Berserker's Spirit Core, causing the Spirit Core to tremble as if it was cracking.

"Roar!"

The roar Berserker emitted seemed to carry a hint of pain.

The Evil Spirit's restraint, although unable to strip Berserker, this terrifying Servant, from the mortal world, did cause some damage to it.

Whenever the owl inside him forcefully stabbed its beak into the Spirit Core, Berserker would feel a pain originating from his soul, causing this top-tier Servant's figure and movements to occasionally pause.

The pauses were very short. Even Servants of the high-level Familiar level might not be able to seize this extremely brief flaw.

Including Mashu.

However, while Mashu couldn't seize this flaw, Luo Zhen could.

Luo Zhen was the one controlling the Evil Spirit to attack, so he could naturally calculate the timing of the flaw's appearance and issue attack instructions to Mashu.

"Hah!"

Under Luo Zhen's instructions, Mashu swung her huge shield fiercely, slamming it hard on Berserker's body.

"Boom————!"

Amidst the heavy impact sound, Berserker's incredibly sturdy body retreated repeatedly.

"Roar!"

Berserker was enraged beyond measure.

Without exaggeration, this Servant could definitely be ranked as a top-level Familiar.

On the other hand, Mashu, having obtained the Servant's power, had not yet fully integrated it and had little combat experience. Her strength was at most at the high-level Familiar level. Only her defensive power reached the top-level Familiar level, allowing her to confront Berserker.

But it was only a confrontation. Defeating Berserker was still as difficult as ascending to heaven.

But now, with Luo Zhen's three major supports, Mashu had the upper hand.

How could this not enrage Berserker?

Even if he had lost his mind, this violent rage could not be extinguished.

The beast-like Servant roared and launched a desperate counterattack, ignoring the bursts of severe pain coming from the Spirit Core within his body.

"Clang————!"

Under the sound of the axe-sword heavily striking the shield, sparks began to scatter.

The force was even stronger than before.

"Ugh…!?"

Mashu only felt a huge force transmitted from the shield, causing her to involuntarily be knocked back several steps.

"Roar!"

Berserker immediately shot out like a cannonball, closing the distance and transforming the axe-sword in his hand into a storm, ceaselessly hammering down on Mashu.

Amidst the clang of metal on metal, the giant who had become a meat grinder and the girl desperately holding up her shield continued their fierce battle.

"As expected... it's not that easy...?"

Behind them, Luo Zhen's body became even more unsteady, as if he might collapse at any moment.

Admittedly, with the aid of <Evil Spirit Summoning>, Luo Zhen was able to exert some interference and influence on Servants, who were otherwise invincible to humans, but it wasn't without a price.

The cost of summoning a Familiar specifically designed to counter spiritual bodies was an enormous consumption of magical energy.

In addition, Luo Zhen was also providing a large amount of magical energy to Mashu, strengthening her power. These two factors combined caused the originally considerable magical power within Luo Zhen's body to be consumed rapidly, like flowing water.

This led to a decline in the strengthening Mashu received, and the influence of the summoned Evil Spirits on Berserker became smaller and smaller.

"The probability of being able to defeat Berserker was originally less than 10%. Even with the aid of the Evil Spirits, increasing the odds by 10%, and the added support of the Command Seals, increasing the odds by another 10%, that's still only less than 30%."

In other words, Luo Zhen was well aware that even if he went all out, combined with Mashu's power, the chances of winning were still less than half.

Precisely because of this...

"The remaining chances of winning can only be found elsewhere."

If there was no chance of winning, then he would just have to create one.

"Berserker is strong, but his weaknesses are also obvious."

That was his lack of reason.

In that case...

"Some small tricks might come in handy."

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

The situation instantly changed.

"Awoo!"

Just as Berserker reached a certain position, preparing to unleash a powerful blow on Mashu, a gray wolf lying listlessly to the side suddenly opened its eyes, howled, and leaped up from the ground, pouncing towards Berserker.

It was the wolf Familiar that Luo Zhen had previously used as a stepping stone and had long been ignored by everyone.

Thus, before Berserker could bring down the axe-sword in his hand to deliver a powerful blow to Mashu, the gray wolf pounced on him and bit Berserker's thick arm.

Of course, this wolf was only a low-level Familiar, and it was impossible for it to bite through Berserker's tough skin and flesh.

But the Familiars that Luo Zhen controlled were not just wolves.

"Rumble!"

The ground beneath Berserker's feet suddenly collapsed.

Several Magic Ants had somehow infiltrated the ground, drilled through the surface, and hollowed out the area where Berserker was standing, using their sharp legs with terrifying strength to firmly hug Berserker's lower body.

Berserker was dragged into the ground by the Magic Ants, sinking into it along with the bedrock.