The Epic Story of the Heroic Spirit of Emiya Giant Warrior

"He's dead."

"I originally planned to freeze him and take him back to the surface for interrogation."

She continued, with a hint of regret in her voice, "But his life signs suddenly disappeared... After thawing him, we found that the magic stone in his chest had shattered."

"Mm."

Aishe nodded: "It's possible he crushed the magic stone himself to avoid capture. He chose to end his life rather than be caught and interrogated by us."

"A complete defeat, huh?"

Thanatos's enchanting and ethereal voice echoed in the dimly lit room. He stroked his slightly curly long hair with one hand, a mocking smile playing on his lips: "Valletta-chan is dead too... Maybe I shouldn't have prayed for her?"

This sense of loss made him somewhat melancholic.

"Well, if she was killed by the【Hero】, Valletta-chan should be satisfied, right? After all, she was always chanting about Finn, wanting to kill him like crazy."

Giving up everything, with the only remaining obsession being to kill the other party—in the eyes of the god of death, this was simply love~

"Valletta-chan is dead, Oliva-kun is dead, Revis-chan and Ein-chan have also been defeated... Isn't there completely no hope now?"

Thanatos's voice echoed in the room, while another figure beside him remained silent.

"Urban Disruptor Ennio"—that's what he called himself.

Even Thanatos, as an ally, didn't know his true identity, only that he should also be a god.

But now, faced with such a result, Ennio was speechless.

Ein's "failure" was expected; her strength wasn't strong enough to single-handedly defeat the team led by Lv.7 Riveria.

Even after becoming a "monster," Olivas's limit was still only Lv.5, which was vastly different from Ein, who could reach Lv.7 as long as she devoured enough magic stones.

【Slaughter Emperor】Valletta's carefully prepared "suicide attack" group was completely annihilated by 【Ashes Eater】, and she herself almost died a violent death. Afterwards, she tried to take Finn with her, but failed.

"Our trump cards haven't been used up yet, but I don't think now is the right time."

"Let's pull back our forces."

Ennio said, "If we detonate the artificial labyrinth, can we keep all the Loki Familia members here?"

Thanatos chuckled: "Even Bacchus-otouto can only collapse a few passages at most."

"If you want Bacchus to do something like that, you'll have to convince him yourself. Bacchus-otouto regards this labyrinth as his treasure and isn't willing to let it be damaged so easily."

289

Chapter 289: An Incomplete Victory.

Riveria and her group returned along the original route and reunited with Finn and the others.

Although these injuries were not fatal to first-class adventurers, it was worrying that the wounds were cursed with 【Incurable】, causing blood to flow continuously.

Riveria stepped forward, raised her staff, and began to chant a healing spell.

A warm light enveloped Gareth and the others, but even so, the blood from their wounds did not stop flowing. The curse remained stubbornly attached to them like a bone-deep maggot.

"All Flaws Must Be Repaired" is not an operation of time, but an automatic repair by calculating the original appearance.

Weimiya held the projected magic wand and gently stroked Gareth, Tiona, and Bete's wounds.

The faint light emitted by the magic wand seemed to have the power of purification. Upon contact with the cursed wounds, the shadows of the curse gradually dissipated like evil spirits driven away by light. The bleeding stopped, and the wounds quickly healed under the effect of the healing power.

"It's okay. Using the Berserk spell in a temporary 'level ascension' state consumes a lot of energy."

"Mm, 【Slaughter Emperor】Valletta at Lv.5, and a 【Weird Person】 at Lv.7."

Finn nodded.

"How were the battles?"

Riveria asked.

"Valletta was killed by me."

A pile of miserable flesh and blood, exuding a pungent smell of burning and blood, and some bone fragments remained on the ground.

Riveria shook her head as she looked at the "Valletta" all over the ground.

"Mm, the nightmare incident on the twenty-seventh floor was their fake death plan to escape. But now, she should be completely dead."

Riveria nodded: "What about the 【Weird Person】 you encountered?"

A hint of regret appeared on Finn's face.

He looked at the smooth-cut severed arm lying on the floor: "This arm can be taken back for Miss Amid to analyze. Maybe we can find some useful clues."

Finn analyzed calmly.

In other words, if the adventurers want to continue exploring this artificial labyrinth, they need to break through each orichalcum gate one by one, or tear apart the adamant walls.

Moreover, although Gareth and the others were healed, their physical strength had not recovered so easily after the previous battle and blood loss.

After pondering for a moment, Finn finally made a decision.

This time, the allied forces of the Loki and Hephaestus Familias had achieved an unquestionable victory.

Riveria and the others also brought back the remains of the 【White Hair Ghost】to the surface. This would be a "trophy" with considerable propaganda value, enough to prove to the Guild of Orario and all adventurers who the enemy really was.

These results were achieved without any deaths or adventurers suffering disabling injuries, which was quite commendable.

However, even so, this operation could only be considered an incomplete victory. Although they severely damaged the enemy, the enemy's main force—the Lv.7 monster Revis and the suspected Lv.6 Ein—were still alive and escaped successfully. The enemy had not been completely defeated.

If he could maintain some reason and cooperate with Ais, Gareth, and others, then they would have been 100% sure of taking down that red-haired beast tamer Revis.

But because of Finn's complete berserk state, Ais and the others did not dare to risk joining the battle, because they might be affected by Finn's out-of-control attacks.

Weimiya said, "You've already done your best in that situation."

"I have to admit, we did underestimate our opponents."

Even in the Dark Ages, apart from two special outside helpers, the strongest combat power in the Dark Faction was only a Lv.5 warrior.

Therefore, in Finn's prediction, even considering the worst-case scenario, the enemy's strongest force would only be Lv.6.

Riveria answered, her gaze sweeping over Shirou assisting Filvis, pausing slightly, but she didn't elaborate.

Once a magic stone shatters, death follows. This aspect of the 'abnormalities' seems to be the same as ordinary monsters.

"Magic stone, shattered..." Shirou mused.

"Because of the enemy's obstruction, we've lost a lot of time. Now, we should return and regroup with Finn and the others."

Riveria pondered for a moment, then said, "We actually encountered a Level 5 and a Level 6. The enemy's strength is much greater than anticipated."

There wasn't a trace of sadness in the Death God's voice; he simply sighed casually. As the Death God, Thanatos naturally wouldn't be saddened by a 'death' so beautiful.

Despite this, Thanatos still sighed softly, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes—the child who understood him best, the one he was most in tune with, was now gone, and they would never share those cruel pleasures together again.

Thanatos sighed, "Humans, such creatures, are sometimes so persistent, they resemble love itself."

However, his gaze quickly returned to calm, turning to the side.

Thanatos carelessly toyed with his deep purple hair, as if talking to himself in front of a mirror, "What should we do next, Enyo?"

Enyo was a tall man dressed in black robes, his face covered by a gloomy mask that concealed his features, revealing only his cold eyes.

In the past, when interacting with Thanatos, Valleta, and other allies of the Dark Faction, Enyo always maintained a composed, mysterious demeanor, as if everything was within his calculations.

Moreover, her mission was never to defeat the enemy in the first place.

As for the 'White-Haired Ghoul,' that useless fellow, his death was of no consequence.

Furthermore, Olivas did not heed Enyo's orders. In his view, this fellow was more of an unstable factor prone to causing trouble.

What surprised Enyo was the crushing defeat of Valleta and Revis.

Revis, in particular, was defeated by the Loki Familia once again.

"The interference of the Hephaestus Familia is too troublesome. If it were just the Loki Familia, the result would never have been like this," Enyo said.

Enyo's ultimate means, the Fallen Fairy, had not yet been fully cultivated.

Thanatos asked, "So, what do you intend to do?"

"Of course not, that's a labyrinth made of super-hard metal; it won't collapse so easily, at least not the level where the Loki Familia is now."

"In that case, let Barca try to seal off the area where the Loki Familia is located, isolating it from the rest, at least to delay their actions."

Thanatos stood up, muttering to himself:

"It seems that now I really have to think carefully about how to escape this city."

Their side was in good condition, with no one injured among the members. But Finn's side was not so optimistic; Gareth, Tiona, and Bete had all suffered varying degrees of injuries.

Especially Gareth, whose abdomen had been pierced, blood constantly gushing from the wound, his face now appearing somewhat pale.

【Argon Shield】

Seeing this situation, Shirou stepped forward. He closed his eyes and projected a Noble Phantasm—【Pain Breaker】.

A Noble Phantasm possessed by Medea, the princess of Colchis, opposite to 【Rule Breaker】 used by Medea as the "Witch of Betrayal". It can reset all curses and damage caused by magic to zero.

"I feel much better, thank you, Shirou," Gareth said, his complexion returning to a slightly ruddy hue.

"Finn, are you alright?" Riveria looked at Finn leaning against the wall, the pallum warrior appearing somewhat weary.

Finn rubbed his throbbing temples.

Riveria looked around, glancing at the injured Gareth and the others, as well as Finn, who had exhausted his trump cards, 【Hammersmith】 and Berserk magic, and said softly, "It seems you encountered a rather formidable enemy."

Finn sighed softly, pointing with his spare spear at a mass of "minced meat" that was difficult to describe.

These were once the remains of 【Slaughter Emperor】Valleta, now completely unrecognizable.

"【Slaughter Emperor】Valleta, she's actually still alive," Finn explained.

"Before her death, Valleta merged with a colored magic stone, but instead of becoming an 'abnormality,' she turned into a twisted monster."

"That red-haired beast tamer... she escaped. I only severed one of her arms; I couldn't kill her completely."

"Captain!" At this moment, Raul rushed over, "I just scouted around, and all the doors in every direction have been closed."

"It seems the enemy is starting to contract, intending to use the artificial labyrinth to delay our actions."

Although it could be done, if they were to break through all the adamantite doors step by step, the drill's durability would be exhausted quickly, and Riveria and Shirou's mental strength would face considerable depletion.

"Better safe than sorry, let's retreat for now."

The adventurers retreated, returning to the surface.

In terms of results, they successfully killed two Level 5 combatants from the enemy side, and both of these opponents were remnants of the Dark Faction, namely 【Slaughter Emperor】Valleta and 【White-Haired Ghoul】Olivas.

It was a pity that 【Slaughter Emperor】's remains were too fragmented to piece together.

In addition, they also confirmed that the enemy's secret base was actually an 【Artificial Labyrinth】 and learned the identities of their opponents—remnants of the Dark Faction and a coalition of 【abnormalities】.

In the conference room, the adventurers were conducting a post-battle review.

"This was my mistake. I didn't expect that using 'Berserk' again in the 【Hammersmith】 state would directly lead to loss of control," Finn said, sitting at the table, blaming himself.

Originally, with his extraordinary rationality and willpower, even if he went berserk, he could maintain some rationality. However, the blessing of 【Hammersmith】 temporarily elevated Finn's level, greatly increasing his abilities, but also causing him to completely lose control of his berserk state.

If Aiz and the others hadn't been defeated by the 【abnormality】, and had been knocked down by Finn with a casual spear strike, it would have been too embarrassing.

"There's no way around it, Finn. It can't be said that this was your mistake."

Finn leaned back in his chair, exhaling deeply, a look of exhaustion flashing across his face.

Finn continued, "I didn't expect that there would be combatants of Level 7 strength among the enemies."

The main reason why those people were difficult to deal with was that their mid-to-low-level forces were extremely powerful, and their methods were insidious, acting without any moral constraints.