Castorice stared solemnly at the Enkidu-imitation before her.
An ordinary divine spirit wouldn't have given her any trouble, but this one was different—a child of Tiamat, its power far surpassed that of a typical deity.
What's more, it possessed a Holy Grail inside its body, granting it near-limitless regenerative abilities. Unless she could finish it off in a single strike, she'd inevitably be worn down through a drawn-out fight.
Fortunately, she didn't need to fight to the death here.
Even so, Castorice was in a foul mood.
With the rampaging demonic beasts wreaking havoc across the land, she had led her group around the worst of the disaster north of Uruk, entering from a relatively weaker flank—only to be discovered anyway.
Her luck was just unbelievable.
The real problem was that her current strength was in an awkward state.
Without the Coreflame of the Titan, Castorice was not yet in her complete form.
Against a powerful divine-class opponent like the Enkidu-imitation, she could manage self-defense well enough, but defeating it would be extremely difficult.
That was exactly why she'd been so restrained earlier, while protecting the survivors and fighting it at the same time.
Now, even with her focus undivided, her foe was a Grail-empowered divine spirit—not an enemy to take lightly. And with it piloting the body of Enkidu, a divine construct, the thing was all the more troublesome.
But Castorice wasn't the only one in a bad mood—the Enkidu-imitation felt the same.
It knew of Chaldea's existence and had set out today to intercept and eliminate their Master. But after waiting all day with no sign of them, it had decided to inspect the front lines—only to run into this unexpected variable, Castorice.
Good news: the Master of Chaldea hadn't arrived, meaning one less threat to worry about.
Bad news: an even more troublesome individual had shown up instead.
This woman wasn't a Servant, yet she possessed such formidable power. The Enkidu-imitation was baffled—just where had she sprung from?
However, the thick aura of death surrounding Castorice gave it a clue.
Could she have been sent by Ereshkigal?
To slow down their assault on Uruk, perhaps?
After all, while the Three Goddess Alliance was nominally united, covert strife was common among them. Once the human threat was dealt with, the real battle would begin among the goddesses themselves.
And Castorice, from all appearances, seemed to be Ereshkigal's emissary—how else could the imitation explain such potent death energy radiating from her?
Death Authority strong enough to affect even a divine spirit like itself—no one in this world but the Goddess of the Underworld could wield something like that.
What the imitation could never have guessed was that Castorice was an outsider—her arrival in this world was a miracle among miracles, something far more wondrous even than Magecraft.
After all, not even the Wizard Marshall could freely traverse between worlds as Castorice did.
'It seems I'll need to find a way to deal with Ereshkigal later…'
The Enkidu-imitation silently resolved.
Poor Eresh had no idea—while she was just holed up at home in the underworld, she'd somehow earned the Enkidu-imitation's animosity.
Thankfully, she was virtually invincible within her own domain. And until matters on the surface were settled, the imitation wouldn't have the energy to spare for her.
With a wave of Castorice's hand, the waters of the River of Souls bloomed in the air. Several light projectiles streaked across the sky, ultimately canceling out against the river of death.
For the moment, neither Castorice nor the Enkidu-imitation could gain the upper hand.
Castorice feared the imitation's near-infinite mana, preventing her from trading blows recklessly.
The imitation, in turn, dreaded her death energy—to it, that power was pure poison. Even with the Grail's restoration, it didn't want too much of that energy clinging to it.
After all, who knew what tricks Castorice might have in reserve?
The battlefield lay in turmoil. The power of their clash had cleared a hundred-meter radius—not a single demonic beast remained. Yet, the survivors farther off were now in dire straits.
They were only ordinary people. Even mustering the courage to fight the beasts, they were hopelessly outmatched in both strength and numbers.
Casualties quickly mounted among the survivors. When you couldn't win, you couldn't win—killing them wouldn't change that. This wasn't one of those worlds where willpower and miracles could overcome sheer might—the fragility of human bodies was laid bare on the battlefield.
Claws pierced chests; blood sprayed through the air.
Ushiwakamaru's unit, too, was pinned down by a horde of beasts, unable to break free.
"Damn… if only Leonidas were here."
Ushiwakamaru gritted her teeth at the sight. In a large-scale fight like this, he would've been far more suited—but he was still holding the northern front, unable to disengage.
Just as she steeled herself to finish off the beasts before her, a golden light suddenly shimmered in the sky.
"Oh no…"
Thinking it was an attack, Ushiwakamaru instinctively raised her guard.
But the next moment, those golden glints fell like rain.
Boom! Boom! Boom—!
A relentless series of explosions followed, churning up dust and debris. When it cleared, Ushiwakamaru saw that more than half the surrounding beasts had been wiped out.
The giant lions and Mušhuššu nearby were riddled with gaping holes—clearly not going to recover.
In an instant, the pressure on this flank eased dramatically, and Ushiwakamaru managed to regroup with the survivors.
"Quick—forward, don't stop!"
She cut down the wounded beasts still menacing the survivors, then guided them toward the city.
With the beasts gone and Ushiwakamaru's escort, the several dozen survivors soon reached safety.
Watching it all, the Enkidu-imitation let out a displeased humph, realizing today's efforts had been in vain.
"You've escaped with your life this time. Next time, I will kill you for sure!"
After one last exchange, it shot a sidelong glare at Castorice, then soared into the sky and vanished from sight.
Seeing her powerful enemy depart, Castorice finally relaxed, then turned a grateful gaze toward the haughty figure descending from above.
It was Ishtar—her attack had just saved the survivors.
"Thank you, Ishtar. If you hadn't intervened, the survivors might have suffered heavy losses."
Castorice smiled as Ishtar floated down beside her.
It seemed her earlier offerings hadn't been in vain—she hadn't expected the goddess to help at such a critical moment.
"Hah? Don't get the wrong idea—I wasn't helping those people. I just felt like taking my anger out on that man's city, so I tossed a few magic projectiles for fun! Those beasts were just… unlucky enough to get in the way! Yeah, that's all!"
Flushed, Ishtar twirled a strand of hair, avoiding Castorice's sincere gaze. She waved a hand dismissively, her tone a perfect blend of pride and shyness.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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