Warm-Up Battle

"These things were disgusting." Li Zihan casually tossed out a White Phosphorus Grenade, reducing a Sea Monster, along with the surrounding ground and trees, to ashes.

White Phosphorus Grenades had once been considered one of the stupidest inventions. The substance produced by burning white phosphorus was a powerful dehydrating agent and easily formed smoke in the air. That smoke was toxic and highly corrosive. White phosphorus bombs had great killing power and a wide blast radius; White Phosphorus Grenades made from them had an effective range of thirty-five meters, while the average person could only throw a grenade thirty meters. This meant that improper use could get the thrower burned as well. In addition, white phosphorus did not burn especially quickly, so its effect at close range was not particularly obvious.

However, none of that was a problem for magi determined to modify these inferior weapons. The reinforcement magecraft everyone at the Clock Tower knew could let even someone as weak as Waver throw a grenade more than a hundred meters. Accelerating the combustion of white phosphorus only required learning the most basic Rune Glyphs, then carving them onto the grenade's casing.

"You still liked using such lowly tricks." Kaineth watched Li Zihan pull grenades from Imaginary Space and send both the targets and everything around them to the afterlife. His expression was somewhat complicated.

Kaineth had to admit that this method of combining magecraft and technology was incredibly powerful. If he wanted to achieve the same effect with magecraft, he would need to chant for quite some time. Those less skilled in magecraft would need to use rather precious magical materials.

But such methods had absolutely no chance of reaching the Root. Li Zihan had completely strayed from the orthodox path. Kaineth looked at his former disciple, his tone turning cold. "The power is decent, but it has no research value whatsoever. Spending effort on this kind of thing is simply a waste of time."

Li Zihan shrugged without explaining. In truth, he had little interest in magecraft. Its practical combat ability was mediocre enough already, and its difficulty was on par with advanced mathematics. Most students who had taken advanced math probably did not enjoy math problems, even if they could solve them. Using studying as an analogy, Li Zihan was the kind of top student who was good at it but did not like it, while Kirei Kotomine was the kind of genius who both liked it and excelled at it. That was the difference between them.

"Um, Li-kun, could you give me a gas mask?" Waver stiffened as he watched white smoke drift from the blast site. His magecraft was not enough to handle the secondary damage caused by white phosphorus bombs. It turned out that Waver was the kind of poor student who liked studying but had terrible grades. (Suddenly, dying from overwork seemed so miserable. His theory was clearly first-rate, but his magecraft was practically the floor tiles of Case Files. Just how bad was his talent?)

"Here." Li Zihan pulled a gas mask from Imaginary Space and tossed it to Waver. Waver hurriedly caught it and put it on. He was nowhere near as carefree as his teacher and classmates. Li Zihan dared to casually throw white phosphorus bombs because he had a corresponding spell to filter poisonous gas. Kaineth's Moon Marrow Spirit Fluid had been improved dozens of times after fighting Li Zihan; a little poison gas was nothing to it.

Lancer and Rider had already gone to the front line. Berserker, who had yet to show himself until now, had gone with them as well—a giant so tall and so overwhelmingly powerful that he was suffocating to behold.

"Hey, do you feel like something's wrong?" After clearing out the Sea Monsters blocking the way one by one, Li Zihan tossed the Grimoire back into Imaginary Space and clapped his hands, drawing the other two's attention. "Don't you think this whole journey has been strange? There are three of us here. If anyone attacked us and succeeded, they could directly eliminate Lancer, Rider, and Berserker. Yet all we've encountered along the way have been small fry. Not even a single Phantasmal Beast. Don't you think it's been way too peaceful?"

Looking at the chunks of flesh that were still wriggling despite being dead, as well as the flames giving off poisonous fumes, Waver surveyed the surroundings. All he could see was ruin and devastation, as though the Mythical Beast Huodou had settled here once again. He felt that Li Zihan had some serious misunderstanding of the word "peaceful."

"Indeed. It seems your plan to lure the enemy in has failed." There was also a trace of confusion in Kaineth's deep blue eyes. There were still six Masters in the Holy Grail War. They now had an opportunity to wipe out three of them in one stroke, yet Caster had not acted, and Saber and Archer had not appeared either.

This was the plan Li Zihan had proposed. He suggested sending out all the Servants, then luring others into attacking them. Once someone attacked, one of the three would summon back their Heroic Spirit, and then all three would buff the recalled Heroic Spirit together and take down whichever idiot had come to profit from the chaos.

As compensation for using up a Command Spell, whoever recalled their Heroic Spirit would have the right to seize all of the attacking Master's Command Spells. As for how many Command Spells they could snatch, that would depend on luck. After all, no one knew how many Command Spells the attacking Master possessed.

Yet the plan appeared to have failed. Let alone the other Masters, even Caster had not shown up.

"Looks like something unusual has happened." Li Zihan smiled, then said to Kaineth and Waver, "Since no foolish rabbits are running into the tree stump, let's go deal with Caster. It'll be troublesome if there are more witnesses."

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PS: My head was foggy yesterday, and while writing, I accidentally deleted a 4,000-word chapter. ?_?

What the hell is this!!!

Chapter 14: Warm-Up Battle

The monstrous shadow towering in the darkness was hideous and carried an immense sense of oppression.

Even the rulers of the deep sea, whales and giant squids, did not possess such enormous bodies. This nightmare-like figure, reigning over every sea in the world, was truly worthy of the name "Sea Monster."

"Hey, Lancer, is that our enemy this time?" The burly red-haired man sat in a chariot pulled by a Divine Bull, speaking with equal parts surprise and teasing. "It looks like an opponent no less formidable than Darius. Caster has summoned something incredible."

It truly was a formidable opponent. If ordinary soldiers were sent to surround and suppress it, even hundreds of thousands would not be enough. For a king who had led soldiers into bloody battle throughout his life, it was truly a terrible enemy.

"No, this is not a summoning, Rider." The crow perched on Lancer's shoulder suddenly opened its beak, and Kaineth's voice came out. "A summoning spell is when someone or something is forcibly moved and called from one plane or location to one's side through some ritual or method, then made to serve the summoner. But something like this, which is merely barely confined to a certain area and does not obey the summoner's commands..."

"No matter how powerful a Servant is, there is a limit to the 'rank' of the familiar they can summon and command—but if we do not consider 'commanding' it, that limit does not exist." A white owl spoke human words, finishing what the crow had left unsaid. "Without a doubt, this is a familiar carrying another magus's will."

"Caster has caused a huge disaster." Lancer's face was exceptionally grim.

He angrily clenched the Twin Pistols in his hands. If Caster appeared before him, he would very likely die a second time within five minutes.

Casually summoning monsters from another world without restraining them—someone like that was simply deserving of death.