Chapter 141: Dangerous Temptation

"However, are you certain we can take them down?"

"Nonsense! A surface-to-air missile plus the aircraft's own explosion—even that Heroic Spirit would at best manage to protect himself. If he tries to save his Master, he's dead for sure. But even if he somehow manages it, what do you think could possibly survive a fall from the sky besides Superman?" The person who had just been letting out miserable shrieks replied with absolute calm.

"Still, why do I have this lingering feeling like something is blocking out the sun right above us?"

"Probably just cloud movement triggered by the explosion just now."

The two of them chatted casually, neither believing for a second that their target could survive such an ambush, and thus paid it no mind.

"Bang!"

Yet reality was here to prove to them that in the world of two dimensions, the impossible simply did not exist.

"Who dares to launch a sneak attack on my Master!" A roar like that of a monstrous beast erupted simultaneously with the heavy thud of a landing.

"Oh crap!" X2

The two stared in utter disbelief at the giant clutching the Golden Fleece.

"This defies all logic! How does a muscle-bound hunk fall from several thousand meters in the air and not die?" The cigarette dangling from the corner of a mouth dropped to the ground out of sheer shock.

"Are you the ones?"

The giant produced a massive bow of unnameable origin, though as the weapon of a Heroic Spirit, it was naturally far from ordinary.

"Nine Lives Shooting the Hundred Heads!" Without the slightest hesitation, he unleashed his proudest ultimate technique—the legendary archery skill that had once slain the Hydra of Lerna during his Twelve Labors.

Because this time he had been summoned not as a Berserker, but in the class that suited him best as an Archer, the power of Nine Lives Shooting the Hundred Heads was amplified to an infinite degree.

Yet that was not the most terrifying part. According to legend, ever since Heracles slew the Hydra, his arrows had become steeped in the venom of the serpent, making this the most perilous threat of all.

"It's Heracles! And summoned as an Archer! Are you kidding me?!" Since he wasn't summoned as a Berserker, he lacked those ridiculously exaggerated muscles and merely looked more robust than an ordinary man, but the moment the name "Nine Lives Shooting the Hundred Heads" was uttered, they snapped to their senses.

"Fall back! A rational demigod is not something we can handle!" The order to retreat was given decisively as one of them snatched a small canister from his belt and hurled it violently to the ground.

"Poof——"

"Damn it, the ancients never lie! All Archers are cheating freaks!" Even with the smoke screen deployed, they hadn't managed to evade entirely.

"Stop whining! The venom has already penetrated deep; if you're in a rush to die, by all means keep chattering!" The other rebuked harshly, immediately setting to work as an array of high-tech equipment flashed with bright indicators.

"..." Although unable to speak aloud, Anonymous Agent Number 2 silently complained in his mind, *I doubt there are many drops of blood left in my body that actually belong to me. Let's just hope they don't replace it with Type O, otherwise the next time someone gets hurt, I'll be the one donating blood again.*

"We shouldn't have chosen the technological path in the first place. If we had picked the mystic path like those guys, a single potion might have been enough to fix this by now." Seeing the readings on the adjacent machine gradually return to normal, he resumed his internal complaining.

"You think that bunch who spend their time dancing to appease the gods are interesting? I've no use for those bizarre things; I put my faith solely in the weapons in my own hands." Number 1, thoroughly accustomed to the partner who had teamed up with him countless times, picked up the thread and chimed in.

"Looks like the harvest today is quite promising!" The sole individual among the seven summoned who had no companion—dubbed the extra by circumstance—stood not far from the recent clash, jotting something down in a notebook.

"Heracles descending as an Archer, King Arthur descending as a Saber, the Conqueror descending as a Rider, alongside the identity-unknown Assassin, that Lancer back at the church, and if you count the Berserker in Du Tian's hands... that leaves only the Caster yet to make an entrance. Does that mean the Caster was summoned by Matou Sakura? Truly, things won't be so easily resolved this time." With a sigh, he tucked the notebook away into his coat and vanished from the battlefield once more.

"How is it, Archer?" Illya inquired of Heracles after the giant dismissed the great bow in his hands.

"It is nothing. Mere attacks devoid of mystic properties cannot pierce the armor and helmet I fashioned from the hide of the Nemean Lion of the Nemean forest." Patting his chest, he assured her he was completely unharmed.

"It's a good thing we summoned a hero like Heracles this time; otherwise, we might have been forced to bow out before even reaching the scene." Although she herself had frequently used such tactics against her own targets, she now felt a rising surge of anger—a fierce wrath directed at anyone who dared harm those she cherished.

"Whose Heroic Spirit could that ambush have come from, though? Could it be the Assassin?" Though Heracles had acquired a certain baseline of modern knowledge and data, his first instinct pointed toward the assassin class, but Kiritsugu, intimately familiar with such methods of engagement,'s mind drifted elsewhere...

"No! It wasn't an Assassin. My bet is on a Master or other mercenaries." It was a gut feeling—the instinct of a creature recognizing its own kind.

"Let's move toward the castle. This landing spot might actually get us there faster than if we'd rushed from the airport." Even though a decade had passed, the sight of this forest path carved out by the Conqueror still made the corner of his mouth twitch.

"Yeah, okay, Daddy."

Unlike the bantering Illya and Kiritsugu, the lady of the house simply walked quietly behind them, smiling softly as she watched the father and daughter.

"Let's go." Kiritsugu turned his head back with a faint smile.

"Yeah!"

The four members of the Einzbern faction silently resumed their journey. Everything was different from ten years ago—not only the relationships between Masters and Heroic Spirits, but the character of every single person.

Ahem, first let me clarify a point regarding Uncle B's attributes. In mythology, Uncle B's Nine Lives Shooting the Hundred Heads was used to slay the Hydra, thus absorbing its venom. Personally, I believe Mushroom only treated it as a regular skill because Uncle B was turned into a Berserker and didn't actually use a bow. I've re-tailored certain elements of mythology to fit these characters according to my own preferences—especially Uncle B's Twelve Labors. In the version I'm writing, apart from his bug-like vitality, Uncle B also gains different abilities corresponding to different trials, much like the Hydra and the Nemean Lion mentioned in this chapter.