Chapter 213: A Trap, or…?
Ethan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
He didn't know why, but a vague sense of unease loomed over him.
"Senpai, is something wrong?"
Mash was quick to notice the change in Ethan's expression.
"No, it's nothing…"
Maybe it was because they had been in this Labyrinth for too long, but Ethan felt increasingly uncomfortable all over.
Humans couldn't stay Spiritronized inside MoonCell indefinitely. Staying too long would eventually cause them to dissolve into the Digital Ocean.
Although Lip had said she would catch up later, how exactly she intended to do that was still unknown.
Suddenly, the elevator began to slow, and then came to a full stop.
It seemed they had reached the fourth floor.
But just as the elevator doors were about to open, the sound of heavy thudding footsteps rang out from outside.
The moment the doors barely cracked open, a massive figure swung something huge straight down at the elevator!
"Watch out!!!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Mash summoned her shield into the air and deployed her Noble Phantasm!
"Lord Chaldeas!!!"
The very next second, as the silver glowing shield was raised—
"BOANG——————————!!"
A deafening crash resounded as a tremendous force slammed into Mash's shield, nearly knocking Ethan and the others off their feet.
A massive battle axe struck Mash's shield directly.
Fortunately, Mash had reacted in time—if not, everyone aside from Ethan and Tohsaka Rin might've been sent straight to the Throne of Heroes.
The elevator itself was completely crushed, its doors warped beyond recognition.
Without hesitation, Draco transformed her arm into a dragon limb and tore open the side of the elevator, creating an escape route.
"Everyone out, now!!!"
Ethan didn't hesitate for a second, immediately ordering the team to evacuate.
But as soon as they escaped, the sight before Ethan left him frozen in place.
More than a dozen towering giants were staring at them hungrily. Their bodies were covered in circuit-like patterns, and on their oversized heads was a single empty circle in the center, as if it were their sole eye.
They wielded gigantic weapons. Though the material clearly had a digital aesthetic, their forms looked shockingly primitive.
These colossal digital beings began attacking Ethan's group without warning!
"Could this be the work of that Alterego?! Did she lead us here on purpose?!"
Tohsaka Rin instantly suspected Lip.
"I don't think it's her…"
After all, if Lip had done nothing, they would've been stuck and likely dead on the third floor already. She didn't need to go through the trouble of bringing them up to the fourth.
"There's no point arguing now! Get ready for battle!!!"
"What the hell?! There are even crazed fans here?! Even for a top-tier superstar like me, this is unforgivable!"
Elizabeth immediately drew her spear and slammed it into the ground, taking a deep breath.
"Laaaaa————————!!"
The piercing scream echoed so sharply that Ethan had to clutch his head in pain—but at the same time, the sound directly knocked down a giant in front!
"BOOM——————!!"
The mountain-sized body of the giant crashed down with a thunderous rumble, even smashing through two coral pillar walls behind it.
"Hmph, now that's a little more peaceful. Next time, if you want to attend my live concert, make sure to buy tickets in advan—GYAAAH!!!"
Before she could finish her gloating, a massive club hurtled toward Elizabeth!
"WHOOSH————————!!"
A red beam shot out and pierced the club with overwhelming force, blasting through it in an instant. The giant holding it staggered, losing balance and stumbling backward.
Right at that moment, another giant behind him with a long spear was preparing to strike.
The two giants collided, staggering and crashing to the ground together, unleashing a massive shockwave.
Just as Ethan was about to breathe a sigh of relief, his vision caught dozens more giants emerging—every one of them fixing their gaze on him and the others, advancing step by step.
After the recent battle, Ethan had roughly grasped the combat strength of these giants.
It seemed they weren't a match for the upgraded Servants.
Could it be… this was actually a farming opportunity?!
Besides, with such massive bodies, once they were converted into mana and data, the amount of information harvested would likely increase proportionally, right?
If what they'd been fighting before were just regular mobs, then these things were at least elite monsters!
Wasn't this the kind of EXP boost that skyrockets your level?!
With that thought in mind, Ethan immediately began setting up a strategy.
"Mash, you focus on defense."
"Roger that!!!"
After blocking the giants' first strike, Mash resumed her duty of keeping the team safe.
"Jack—both Jacks—work on restricting the giants' movements and coordinate with the others to take them down."
"Hehe, leave it to me."
"Mama, we'll do our best!!!"
After their previous teamwork during the monster hunt, Little Jack and Berserker Jack now coordinated exceptionally well, perfectly able to control enemy movements.
"Elizabeth! When you're firing from a distance, make sure you don't hit our own team!!!"
"Hey, why are you giving orders to my Lancer?!"
Tohsaka Rin grumbled in annoyance.
"Alright, alright! Just as long as I don't hit anyone on our side, right…"
Ethan glanced briefly toward the frontline—Draco had long since charged in, unable to restrain herself, directly engaging the giants in melee.
With her strength, there shouldn't be any issues…
There was just one more piece to put in place.
Ethan turned to look at Tamamo no Mae.
"Don't tell me… you want me to again…"
Tamamo no Mae immediately hugged herself and took a step back.
"Even for a support role, this is too much already! I don't want to dance that routine ever again!!!"
Tamamo no Mae screamed, half-crying.
Just thinking about how she had to dance endlessly to activate her Noble Phantasm made her whole body ache.
"I've done enough, haven't I?! I danced for so long, you know!!!"
"Is that so… what a pity…"
Ethan let out a sigh, then raised his hand—revealing his Command Spell.
"What are you doing? Don't tell me you're going to use a Command Spell on me?!"
Tamamo took another step back, but her expression was still firm.
"Even if… even if you do that… I'll resist to the end!!! Go ahead, Master—use your Command Spell to twist my will, force my body to surrender to your desires~!!!"
"I'm not going to use a Command Spell to force you."
Ethan answered calmly.
After all, the Command Spells issued by Chaldea were just simple ones, not as powerful as the real thing.
"I was just thinking of trying to summon some previously defeated Servants in MoonCell… to see if I could get someone with Territory Creation."
"Mikon!!!"
At Ethan's words, Tamamo no Mae's fluffy ears twitched sharply.
"You… you're trying to scare me with that trick, aren't you? Hmph… Summoning a Caster in MoonCell isn't exactly easy, you know."
Though Tamamo smiled, it was clearly a bit forced.
"But… it's not impossible either, right?"
"..."
Faced with Ethan's smile, Tamamo no Mae finally buckled under the pressure.
"I… I never said I wouldn't use my Noble Phantasm, okay? Ahh… suddenly I feel like using my mirror… it's just a coincidence, completely a coincidence~~~"
Seeing Tamamo finally give in, Ethan lowered his hand.
Managing Servants really did require its own set of skills.
"…Are you a demon?"
The scene just now had even left Tohsaka Rin flustered.
"If you don't mind, I'd prefer you call me an exceptional Master."
"…Seems I've underestimated you until now. Maybe you really are from that place called 'Chaldea'. Maybe you really are humanity's final Master."
"No… that part's actually true."
Just as Ethan was about to further explain to Tohsaka Rin, the ground suddenly began to quake?!
"RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE——————!!!"
The tremors grew more and more intense.
Ethan looked toward the source of the shockwaves—only to see several giants in the distance slamming their massive weapons repeatedly into the ground?!
This strange, inexplicable behavior instantly put Ethan on high alert.
As the rhythm of the pounding against the ground intensified, from the surrounding walls began to spew out a large number of thin, tentacle-like objects.
They looked like creatures from the virtual digital space, their entire bodies continuously writhing, resembling pitch-black worms.
These tentacles, like crawling worms, were completely unaffected by the tremors as they quickly charged toward Ethan like a swarm!
"Haaaa——————!!!"
Sensing Ethan was in danger, Mash immediately raised her shield and smashed one of them away. But the remaining black worms were incredibly agile, easily dodging her attack.
Relying on their soft and nimble bodies, they kept charging forward, slithering along the trembling ground!
Just as one black worm was about to reach Ethan—!
"Secret technique: Tamamo Love Bullet!!!"
From the mirror beside Tamamo no Mae, a heart flew out and struck the black worm.
"Master, as long as I'm by your side, please… ah ah ah, it's too slippery! Something's crawling on me!!!"
Tamamo no Mae had barely shown off for three seconds before immediately falling apart, screaming in panic.
"Lancer! Think of something!!"
Seeing those black worms, Tohsaka Rin kept retreating, clutching tightly onto Ethan.
As the entire scene was about to be overtaken by these black virus worms that had appeared out of nowhere, Elizabeth was not about to be outdone.
"Love rhythm like dragon scales~♪"
She planted her magical spear into the ground, then began to sing loudly.
"Entry tickets~ surely~ have all been sold out, right~?"
The suddenly erupting singing, indiscriminately hitting friend or foe alike, reverberated throughout the entire space!
The sound was so beautiful it nearly rivaled the Christmas songs of Emperor Nero!
The black virus worms, struck by this wide-area sonic attack, reacted violently — they twisted and rolled on the ground in pain.
"Let you all enjoy the hottest single in the Servant world!!!"
From the ground suddenly rose a city-like prison — the Prison Castle Čachtice — which immediately locked both Ethan and Tohsaka Rin inside?!
"Hey, Lancer! We're still in here!!!"
"Sorry Master, now find a good place to hide, because I'm about to lose control and start singing again!!!"
"What?! You disaster of a woman!!!"
Tohsaka Rin tried to protest, but Elizabeth had clearly gone berserk, about to unleash her voice without restraint.
"Senpai, please hide behind me!!"
Fortunately, Mash hadn't moved a step from Ethan's side. She immediately deployed her shield to protect both Ethan and Tohsaka Rin.
"Let's get pumped up! Cry like pathetic little kittens!"
"Báthory Erzsébet!"
Elizabeth flapped her wings and soared into the sky, proudly opening her mouth to shout.
"poiiiiiii————————!!!"
The shrill scream, amplified through Čachtice, echoed in all directions!
The virus black worms, under the intense sonic assault, began twisting in agony. Quite a few of them disintegrated into tiny black particles and vanished into the Digital Ocean after taking the hit.
"Shwosh——————!!!"
Even with Mash's shield blocking, Ethan and Tohsaka Rin's ears were still overwhelmed by the dreadful sound.
About a minute later, Elizabeth's singing finally began to fade.
"Senpai, are you alright?"
"I'm fine…"
Ethan's ears were still buzzing, but thankfully his hearing was slowly recovering.
Listening to the Dragon Girl's singing without resistance really was a death wish…
Looking again, there were no signs of the black worms anywhere around.
"As expected of my Lancer, we've succeeded…"
Tohsaka Rin barely had time to smile before her expression instantly froze.
Because within her line of sight, the walls once again began crawling with countless black worms.
"…Could these 'malicious programs' be capable of infinite regeneration?!"
The black worms were preparing to attack again!
The Servants still fighting the giants in the distance also noticed the abnormal situation, but the giants' relentless ground pounding prevented them from returning to help Ethan.
"No way! Even if I die at BB's hands, I absolutely don't want to be eaten alive by those disgusting things!!!"
Tohsaka Rin began to panic completely.
"This group… if I sing one more time… cough cough!!"
Having just used her NP, Elizabeth's throat could no longer hold up, but she still tried her best to protect Tohsaka Rin.
"Everyone, please close your eyes!"
From afar, an unexpectedly gallant voice rang out.
Immediately after, Ethan and Tohsaka Rin sensed an incredibly strong magical energy gathering.
"Morning light, please protect what is righteous!!"
Suddenly, in the sky of the Digital Ocean, a brilliant light appeared?!
A gallant silver knight appeared within everyone's sight, leaping high into the air, both hands gripping his sword, stepping on the head of a giant and slashing downward!!!
"BOOOOOM————————!!!"
The giant's body collapsed with a thunderous crash. The silver knight stepped across its body without hesitation and raised his sword high.
"This light banishes the darkness. The light that shines upon the earth is the unchanging belief—"
"Excalibur Galatine!!!"