Odin!

"Those... isn't something wrong with the Death Servants' condition?!"

Emiya roared at Jiu De Mayi beside him. She and the others were wildly pouring fire from their MP7 submachine guns, and the deafening gunfire at such close range forced him to shout.

"Officer Jiu De, I have a feeling—their target isn't us. They're trying to escape outside!"

"Good point, Officer Emiya! I can see that too, but can you make sure the Death Servants don't casually slaughter us when they charge over? Or let us run first, and have them slow down and follow behind? In any case, can they stop getting itchy fingers and attacking us?"

Jiu De Mayi was shouting at the top of her lungs as well.

"How is that possible?! Who could understand the language and thoughts of these monsters?"

"That's why they say, when rivals meet on a narrow road, the brave prevail!" Jiu De Mayi abruptly shouted, her train of thought taking a sudden leap.

"..." Emiya thought, Wasn't there supposed to be another line after that? When the brave meet, what was it again?

Their erratic exchange lasted only a moment. There were not many Death Servants fleeing toward them, and the passage was narrow, leaving them no room to dodge. They practically took the bullets head-on, and were soon utterly overwhelmed by the group's concentrated fire.

By the time a pile of shell casings had scattered around Jiu De Mayi's feet with a jingling rattle, the Death Servants had become disgusting heaps of mangled flesh and gore on the ground, along with a few half-crippled creatures that twitched now and then.

The group nearly had to frown, cover their noses, and hold their breath before they could step through this slaughterhouse of death. At the same time, they reported the Death Servants' apparent abnormal flight to Wa Lord.

Wa Lord immediately replied: They could continue exploring for a while, but if they encountered an unknown and dangerous enemy, they were to return at once. As for her side, she would provide support from outside.

Footsteps echoed alternately through the long passage. The exploration ahead became completely quiet, and no more desperately fleeing Death Servants came darting out.

The corridors they passed through were still streaked with foul-smelling black blood, slime of unknown composition, fresh flecks of meat, and scattered bones. A nauseating stench lingered in the air.

It seemed that even while apparently fleeing, the Death Servants could not suppress the bloodthirsty instincts in their bodies. They would even slaughter one another and devour each other's flesh.

Eliminating the Death Servants had undoubtedly been the right choice.

They moved silently through the passage, gradually nearing its end. A faint light shone ahead.

Upon noticing the clear view ahead, Emiya immediately enhanced his eyesight and looked into the distance—

A vast, brightly lit underground space lay ahead, but its interior looked as though an invisible storm had swept through and plowed across the entire place.

Coffin lids lay scattered everywhere, some thrown open and others shattered. Rotten corpses had fallen out from within; some had shriveled into little black lumps, while others had been reduced to nothing but black ash, as if their entire bodies had been tossed into a crematorium.

But Emiya's attention was instantly seized by the figure at the center: a terrifying dark silhouette like a tower, mounted on horseback. The mighty steed moved on eight powerful legs, while the rider wore heavy dark-gold armor.

He held a curved spear. His tall, powerful frame was draped in a dark-blue cloak, and an iron mask covered his face. Only a single eye was exposed, a bright golden, intimidating searchlight shining from the depths of darkness.

That attire made his identity obvious—the chief god of the Aesir in Norse Mythology, Odin!

Emiya stopped the others from advancing, looking as if he had seen a ghost... This was the modern age. How could a chief god-level deity suddenly appear? Shouldn't gods be staying safely on the other side of the world... Or had someone summoned him?

The wind was picking up—time to run.

Emiya moved his lips soundlessly, using gestures and mouthed words to signal the still-confused group to retreat quietly and get out of there.

The only modern examples he knew of gods being summoned, aside from the FGO timeline where gods were everywhere, involved a Holy Grail War in North America. There, Ishtar—the Mesopotamian Mythology goddess of war and beauty, the "Lady of Heaven"—had been summoned.

(Ishtar appeared in Fate/strange Fake, not the Ishtar possessing Rin Tohsaka. Her personality was closer to that of the original deity.)

Ishtar's most savage and terrifying deed in myth was destroying Mount Ebih—a sacred peak feared even by the king of the gods—simply because she "didn't like the look of it." The mountain covered roughly half the area of Iraq. Her Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna, could drain the entire 2,045-kilometer-long Tigris River dry.

When this Bull of Heaven was summoned in the modern era, it took the form of a thunderstorm cloud hundreds of kilometers wide. It could unleash super typhoons across several North American states and create tens of thousands of lightning strikes, capable of destroying a city with almost a single stomp.

Even so, Ishtar clearly could not be compared to Odin. As a chief god and the apex of an entire pantheon, Odin should be measured against Ishtar's father, Anu, the god of the heavens.

In other words, a chief god's destructive power was on an entirely higher level.

Emiya, who understood this kind of terror all too well, led the group straight back the way they had come. They could not even afford to glance at him again...

He did not dare guess whether this Odin was the deity's true body or some other form. Nor was he Yan Shuangying, coolly gambling that the other man's gun had no bullets.

Tap, tap, tap.

Not long after, as Emiya and the others returned along the passage, the sound of hooves suddenly came from behind them, drawing closer and closer.

He was instantly startled. Odin had noticed them. He was coming!

"Move!!"

Emiya roared. Seeing his anxious expression and grave demeanor, Jiu De Mayi and the others did not act like deadweight teammates by asking endless questions. Instead, they decisively trusted his judgment, quickened their pace, and fled at full speed.

At that moment, Emiya casually took a spare sword bag from the back of a Zhou Family member and strapped it to his own back. Then he drew another weapon from the sword bag he carried—the Tai'a Sword.

Tai'a, also known as Tai'a.

Legend had it that the Jin State besieged the capital of Chu for three years, seeking to seize the Tai'a Sword, its national treasure. King of Chu refused from beginning to end, and eventually climbed the city wall himself. Facing the Jin army spread out like a vast ocean, King of Chu drew the Tai'a Sword. A burst of Sword Qi shot forth at once, and outside the city, flying sand and rolling stones filled the air. Moments later, banners lay flat upon the ground, and the entire enemy army had been annihilated.

Emiya raised the sword and infused it with magical energy, awakening the Alchemy Domain of this legendary famous blade. The sword hummed first, then began calling upon the elements of heaven and earth.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Violent wind elements became a high-pressure gale that swept up countless sharp fragments from within the passage. With thunderous echoes and deafening roars, it surged down the narrow path toward Odin, who was approaching on horseback.

The rolling sand and stones that obscured all sight instantly swallowed Odin's figure. Countless fragments whirled in the storm like fatal hidden weapons attacking from every direction, impossible to evade, producing a dense barrage of crackling impacts.

Thanks to @Ghost Valley Mystery and @bookfriend20240629144921213 for the monthly votes!