Protecting One's Own Familiar

"Thump… thump, thump…"

The sound of falling gravel and rubble echoed incessantly in the collapsing cavern.

Olga Marie watched the scene blankly, her face paling as she saw Mashu fall into the abyss and the collapsing hole get buried.

"Mashu!"

It wasn't until much later that Olga Marie finally reacted, running out of the building like a madwoman and heading towards the collapsed pit.

"Fou! Fou!"

Fufu also ran to the edge of the still-collapsing pit, calling out incessantly, seemingly calling its master's name.

"Mashu! Mashu!"

Standing in front of the dust-filled pit, Olga Marie called out repeatedly.

Naturally, no one responded to Olga Marie's calls.

"Mashu…"

Olga Marie slumped to the ground, her expression somewhat dazed.

Her heart was completely enveloped in a sense of despair.

"What to do… what to do…"

Olga Marie murmured blankly.

"Rorerei… Mashu…"

These two hard-won companions had now both fallen into situations where their fates were unknown, leaving Olga Marie back in her solitary state.

"Fou!"

Fufu, seemingly unwilling to give up, turned and ran in another direction after seeing the pit filled and unable to retrieve Mashu.

That direction was where Luo Zhen had been sent flying.

However, Olga Marie did not follow Fufu's example and go to find Luo Zhen.

Because Olga Marie knew that Luo Zhen, with his constitution worse than the average person, could not possibly have survived a direct hit from Berserker.

"What to do… what to do…"

Faced with this situation, Chaldea's Director completely lost her composure, revealing the fragile side of her heart.

At this moment, Olga Marie was just an ordinary girl.

But just then…

"Yo, are you looking for this little girl?"

With a somewhat unrestrained laugh, Olga Marie jumped up like a startled rabbit.

But, the next second, Olga Marie let out a cry of surprise.

"Mashu!"

Mashu, who should have fallen into the ground with Berserker, was being held in the hands of a sage-like Magus, descending from mid-air.

"That was a close call. If I hadn't arrived in time, you would have been done for, little girl."

Saying these words, the sage let out a hearty laugh.

"Who… who are you!?"

Olga Marie immediately questioned him.

The other party did not hide anything.

"Caster's Servant. Well, I'm not your enemy, so don't be too wary of me."

Saying this, Caster put down Mashu, who he was holding.

However, Mashu's condition was not good. Not only was she covered in dirt, looking very disheveled, but tears were streaming down her face, making her look pitiful.

As soon as Mashu landed on the ground, she immediately ignored everything else and ran forward.

"Senpai! Senpai!"

Mashu headed in the direction that Fufu had just run.

"Wait! Mashu!"

Olga Marie first called out to Mashu, then glared at Caster, cautiously approaching Mashu's direction while wary of this sudden Servant.

"Looks like I'm disliked."

Caster shrugged, not at all bothered by the situation, but instead followed the crowd with a relaxed expression.

Before long, the group arrived at the ruins where Luo Zhen was.

"Fou! Fou woo!"

Fufu was calling out to the ruins.

That scene was strikingly similar to when the Chaldea control room exploded and Luo Zhen found Mashu.

Only, back then, Fufu was crying out to Mashu, who was pinned under chunks of concrete, while now it was crying out to Luo Zhen, who was buried in the ruins.

But unlike the near-death state of Mashu back then, when the group arrived and saw the state of the ruins, they were all stunned.

For good reason.

Buried in the ruins wasn't a mangled human body as they had imagined, but a giant seashell.

"Crack... crack, crack, crack..."

The shell had a very obvious, jagged mark on it, causing the entire shell to slowly crack, breaking apart piece by piece.

And inside the cracking shell, Luo Zhen lay with a pale face.

"Senpai!"

Mashu was immediately surprised and delighted.

"You... you're not dead?"

Olga Marie was also overjoyed.

"Ho ho..."

Even Caster clicked its tongue in admiration.

"I see, so you summoned a protective Familiar beforehand, just in case?"

Indeed.

Just in case, before the battle began, Luo Zhen had already summoned this Familiar to protect himself.

—〈Giant Shell Summon〉.

This was the last type of Magecraft Luo Zhen had learned that could summon a mid-tier Familiar.

It could summon a seashell with extremely high defense, and when the summoner was attacked, it would swallow the summoner into the shell for protection.

Before the battle began, Luo Zhen had summoned it and hidden it underground, just in case.

This action ultimately saved Luo Zhen's life.

When Berserker delivered a fatal blow, the giant seashell waiting beneath his feet burst out of the ground and swallowed Luo Zhen, protecting him.

In other words, Berserker's attack hit the hard shell, not Luo Zhen.

However, looking at the slowly crumbling shell, Luo Zhen was still shaken.

"Just one hit, and it shattered it... it really is a monster..."

The shell summoned by Luo Zhen, while perhaps not as strong as Mashu's shield, was still far beyond the reach of most high-level Familiars.

This Familiar, which had no combat ability or any other abilities, only the ability to protect its master, had a very high defense, which Luo Zhen was quite confident in.

He didn't expect that his confident measure would only withstand a single blow.

"Can that kind of monster really be defeated?"

Luo Zhen smiled wryly.

The one who answered the question was none other than Caster.

"Don't worry, you did defeat Berserker. That little girl's last hit shattered its Spirit Core."

Caster grinned as it said this.

"Of course, you only killed it once. If Saber hadn't defeated it earlier and exhausted its Noble Phantasm, you wouldn't have had any chance of winning."

This sentence made many people present understand the deeper meaning.

"Killed it once?"

Olga Marie was a little confused.

"Saber defeated it earlier?"

Mashu, who was helping Luo Zhen out of the shell, was also stunned.

"Exhausted its Noble Phantasm?"

Luo Zhen frowned even more.

Seeing this, Caster looked at everyone.

"This is not the place to talk, let's go somewhere else."

With these words, the group left the battlefield and slowly walked towards a hiding place where they could rest.