The Exorcism Tale of Hachiman

Chapter 229 Gathering of the Crowd

Shortly after Iskandar and Weber arrived, Irisviel and Artoria followed closely behind.

Since there is still no cure for Kiritsugu Emiya's injuries, and he has lost most of his fighting ability, he can only remotely command from the shadows.

Similar to Waver's experience, as soon as the two stepped into the territory established by Caster, countless tentacles emerged from the ground.

Fortunately, Artoria reacted quickly and managed to get Irisviel out of the way, thus avoiding the possibility of being grabbed and parasitized by the tentacles.

Then, Kenneth, leading Diarmuid, appeared on the other side of the street.

Upon realizing that neither Rider in the sky nor Saber on the other side had launched an attack, Kenneth instantly understood the atmosphere in the air.

He stopped and stood with his hands behind his back not far from the boundary, waiting quietly as well.

"Tokiomi, what do you think they're waiting for?"

A hundred meters above the ground, a uniquely designed flying boat, made entirely of gold and emeralds, floats.

Gilgamesh sat on his throne, his right hand supporting his chin as he watched with interest the three groups of people below who had arrived but had not taken any action.

"They're probably waiting for the right opportunity..."

As always, Tokiomi Tohsaka, dressed in a dark red suit and looking down at the situation below, turned around and answered respectfully.

"Waiting for the right moment? That's the kind of talk only a weak person would utter. How utterly boring... I didn't wait this long just to see them do nothing."

Gilgamesh paused slightly as he swirled the wine in his glass, and said in an impatient tone.

Just then, Karna, clad in golden armor, also arrived at the edge of the street where the incident had occurred.

"Oh?"

Gilgamesh was immediately intrigued by Karna's rather solitary appearance and attire.

"A warrior of considerable strength?"

Thinking this, Gilgamesh stood up, preparing to go down and properly 'greet' Karna.

However, his attention was soon drawn to the pair of Hachiman Hikigaya and Sakura who arrived riding on foxes.

"Hey, Tokiomi, I saw something quite interesting."

"?"

Tokiomi Tohsaka looked down in confusion, following Gilgamesh's gaze.

With just one glance, he saw Sakura sitting on the fox's back and the strange figure behind her wearing a fox mask.

"cherry?"

Upon discovering that his daughter was involved in the battle, Tokiomi Tohsaka involuntarily frowned.

At the same time, he also guessed that the masked man's true identity should be Hachiman Hikigaya, who had only made a brief appearance a year ago.

I never expected him to return for the Holy Grail War! And he even summoned such a powerful Heroic Spirit...

Turning his gaze to Karna, Tokiomi Tohsaka's expression was somewhat complicated.

Although he firmly believed that Gilgamesh would achieve the final victory, with the intervention of two unstable factors, Hachiman Hikigaya and Karna, the process of reaching this result would probably not be too smooth.

"Roar!"

A deafening roar suddenly erupted from the mist.

Immediately, several enormous tentacles emerged from the depths of the mist and reached out to grab the four groups of people at the edge.

Iskandar nimbly maneuvered the oxcart around to avoid the tentacles' attack, while Irisviel and Kenneth, with the help of their respective Servants, reached safety once more.

Karna watched the tentacles sweeping towards him, his face showing no emotion.

He slightly raised the spear in his hand, and the tip of the spear burst forth with blazing flames.

With a single strike, the tentacles that were attacking him and Hachiman Hikigaya were cut in half at the waist.

"So strong..."

Seeing Karna effortlessly deflect the attack launched by the unknown enemy in the fog, the mood of the other three groups on the ground immediately turned serious.

Admittedly, according to the church's requirements, they cannot fight amongst themselves now, but must unite to jointly defeat Caster.

However, after Caster was defeated, how to defeat the incredibly powerful Karna has now become a huge burden on their minds!

"Did Caster do this?"

Riding on the fox, through the thin mist, Hachiman Hikigaya could clearly see the enormous monster hiding in the fog.

Without a doubt, the one who could summon such a disgusting creature is definitely a caster.

"Yes, the opponent is very strong."

Karna nodded slightly, indicating his agreement with what Hachiman Hikigaya had said.

Then, for the first time, he gave such a strong evaluation of the creatures summoned by the caster.

"Is it strong?"

Karna is not used to lying, so once he says that his opponent is strong, then the opponent really is strong.

Thinking about the meaning of "very strong" as represented by Karna's strength, Hachiman Hikigaya felt a headache coming on.

After all, if it's a monster summoned by a caster, its self-healing ability must be incredibly powerful.

Therefore, to eliminate the opponent, a large-scale, one-time burst of damage is needed.

Fortunately, Karna is capable of dealing this kind of damage, and he has three ways to do so.

But the cost of using those methods...

Thinking of how Karna had almost drained him of his Noble Phantasm just by simply unleashing it in the forest outside the Einzbern family castle, Hachiman Hikigaya's lips twitched involuntarily.

It would definitely turn into human flesh, right?

Even if he used the power of Inari, in his current state, if Karna were to fully unleash his Noble Phantasm, he would be drained of his power in an instant, right?!

"Hey, bro!"

After witnessing the strength of Lancer's group, Iskandar was the first to arrive at the three of them in his oxcart and greet them.

When Iskandar saw that Hachiman Hikigaya was with a child, a look of surprise flashed across his face, but he quickly turned his attention to Hachiman Hikigaya.

If seeing Karna's displayed strength before made him take Lancer's team seriously, then Iskandar's current gaze at Hachiman Hikigaya is purely out of curiosity.

His intuition is never wrong.

The host of the Lancer before us has surpassed the limits of humanity and entered the ranks of their heroic spirits.

Not only that, but the opponent seems to be quite strong?

"If I could, I'd really like to fight him..."

Touching his beard, Iskandar's desire to fight grew even stronger.

"Is there something you need, Rider?"

While Iskandar was observing, Hachiman Hikigaya was also watching Webber and Iskandar, a pair that seemed extremely mismatched.

His strange feeling became even more pronounced after he saw Waver hide behind Iskandar after noticing his gaze.

Isn't it said that the summoned Servants are all similar to the Master's personality?

The reactions of these two people are completely unrelated to what we'd expect!

Chapter 230 Temporary Cooperation

"You must have seen what was in the fog just now. Although I don't know how Caster created that thing, it would be difficult to take it down quickly in a one-on-one fight!"

Iskandar's tone was filled with a deep sense of dread regarding the monster in the mist.

But it was merely solemn.

"Are you confident you can take down that monster alone, but just feel that would be a waste of time?"

Upon hearing Iskandar's words, Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't help but scrutinize him a few more times.

As expected, the heroic spirits summoned to fight are no pushovers...

With a sigh of relief, Hachiman Hikigaya nodded and continued to press for an answer:

"So what do you think?"

"Let's cooperate for now!"

"As for the timeframe, let's start from now until we defeat Caster and the monsters he summons. How does that sound?"

"Cooperate?"

Upon hearing Iskandar's words, Hachiman Hikigaya pondered for a moment.

Iskandar had already revealed his real name back in the harbor.

The title of "Conqueror King" is still quite believable.

Moreover, if he could defeat Caster without Karna using his Noble Phantasm, he would naturally be quite happy to do so.

"Okay, I agree to form a temporary alliance!"

Looking up, Hachiman Hikigaya agreed to cooperate with Iskandar.

"Oh, no wonder I chose him, he has such a straightforward personality!"

Hachiman Hikigaya's decisive judgment further increased Iskandar's opinion of him.

He then pulled his Master Waver out from behind and asked him to draft a temporary covenant.

"Honestly, I'm the Master..."

Upon hearing Iskandar's words, Waver complained as he pulled out the special paper used to make the contract from his pocket.

Soon, Weber completed a set of restrictive regulations.

After checking that there were no problems with the agreement, Weber and Hachiman Hikigaya each imprinted their spiritual mark on the paper.

"So, Lancer's Master, would you like to come with me to invite the others?"

After the agreement was signed, Iskandar, who found Hachiman Hikigaya increasingly pleasing to the eye, extended an invitation to travel with him, but was immediately rejected by Hachiman.