Equipment Printing School Mage

“…Absorbing elements!”

Emiya made a gesture and absorbed the frost that affected him, which lessened the damage he suffered.

Lulu and the Phantom Pony under him were not so lucky. Although Lulu escaped the most dangerous wave of cold from the ice wall, she was still seriously injured. With a wail of grief, she fell into Emmia's arms. The Phantom Pony under him was completely destroyed by this blow in an instant.

The worst thing is that Emilia is still maintaining a high speed of dozens of meters per second.

Fortunately, after losing vision, the devil's spellcasting was seriously inaccurate, and Emilia was almost pressed against the ice wall and fell out while holding Lulu.

——Even more fortunately, thanks to the cover of flames, the devil was unable to realize their victory immediately.

Just when Emiya was about to roll on the ground as if in a car accident, Yin had already covered Emiya's body with the Feather Fall Technique, preventing him from becoming a victim of a car accident in another world.

Amidst the scorching heat, the battlefield fell into a brief silence. For the first time, the Emiya squad was forced to stop, securing Emiya in the center of the group.

Seeing Emiya's condition, Metatron shook his head.

She skillfully took out a jade ring from the dimensional bag at her waist and put it on her head: "...Transformation."

Yin looked at this scene and sneered barely perceptibly.

Regardless, the next second, Metatron's already muscular body began to change.

A pair of broad white wings like clouds spread out behind her, and at the same time her body silently expanded to several meters high.

What was even more striking was that her body began to radiate an extremely bright light like the sun.

Although it was just Emiya's own feeling - even the brilliance of the sun was inferior to the brilliance of this strange creature.

Metatron used magic to transform his body into that of a Seraph. Even among the countless powerful celestial creatures, he was undoubtedly the strongest.

Zariel, who once led a group of hastily trained mortal troops into Hell, was just a servant of the Seraph.

It is said that even if one counts all the worlds, the Seraphim are mysterious creatures that only serve a very small number of the most powerful gods.

To put it more bluntly - Seraphim are even rarer than true gods.

In Faerun alone, there are dozens of gods. Even if countless worlds were added together, there are said to be only a few dozen Seraphim Gods.

Being able to transform into such a powerful creature to fight is the power of shape-shifting.

Metatron appeared in a flash at a height of forty meters, with the wings behind him naturally extended.

Then she extended her hand and gave it a slight shake.

Whoosh—the magic in the air began to spin rapidly around her.

The whistling tide of magic accelerated to its maximum speed around her in just a few breaths, and swept around her like a blade-like death storm. Even though they were dozens of meters apart, Emiya had no doubt that if he dared to get close, he would be cut into pieces in an instant.

Although both were Blade Barriers, Metatron's spells were visibly much stronger than Elastrid's.

The demons' reactions were much more intense.

The death ring Metatron summoned had a radius of several dozen meters, requiring no line of sight for its effectiveness. With a simple up-and-down movement, she easily engulfed the vast majority of the demons, forcing them to flee and completely disrupting their formation.

Seraphim are exceptional warriors and the most powerful of clerics. Their divine arts and combat skills are equally formidable. However, the shapeshifting spell has a crucial flaw—it doesn't create the weapons these powerful creatures typically use. The greatswords and longbows of Seraphim possess immense power, and their bows may even be more powerful than their magic and physical abilities.

At the same time, Yin looked at the badly scratched Emiya, pursed his lips, and pointed lightly at the sky with a dark face.

The wall of time reappeared, and more than ten demons immediately fell into the time trap.

At this moment, the giant eagle finally arrived.

The giant eagle that Fenwei transformed into held several huge pine cones. She simply loosened her claws and threw the pine cones in the general direction.

A pine cone luckily fell on a bone demon, and then the razor-like spore leaves on it exploded instantly, turning into countless blades that pierced into the demon's body. The demons affected by the Wall of Time had no time to dodge, and even the surrounding demons were blown into sieves by this explosive pine cone specially made by the druid.

The devils' shrill screams soon stopped, leaving only countless pus and blood rolling down from the sky.

After a while, the pus and blood disappeared—the entangled ropes and composite longbows commonly used by the succubus fell from the sky and hit the ground.

This indicates that their bodies are completely dead.

Seeing this, the Hell Demon looked deeply at Emilia and her group, gritted his teeth, cursed a few words from a distance, and then immediately disappeared from the spot.

And there was no trace of the devil in the sky.

Yin narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "...They escaped. Their target is far away."

At this time, the Hell Knights finally arrived at the battlefield with the help of the portal.

At this time, only less than a minute had passed since the war started.

Asur's breathing was a little rapid due to nervousness, and he had already drawn his sword in his hand. However, by the time they arrived at the battlefield, everything was over.

Elastri had already dismounted, intending to treat the two wounded. Lulu, panting a few times in Emilia's arms, waved her front legs, "Don't worry about me. I haven't used my healing skills yet..."

As she spoke, she fanned herself with her wings, and the frostbite on her body instantly disappeared without a trace. She flew up again, but she still looked frightened: "...I almost died...!"

Emiya took a deep breath, trying to expel the coldness in her chest.

The Hell Knights scattered around with shamefaced expressions, protecting Emiya and her group. A few rushed towards the lagging Digger Worms, hacking and killing these immature nymphs.

Asur rode Pegasus to Emiya's side and said, "Sorry... Sorry! We are too late."

"We arrived at the battlefield in less than a minute, how can you say it's late?"

Emilia shook her head: "You arrived quickly enough."

It's just that the battles in this world happen faster.

"...Then, I also bring bad news." Asul shook his head. "This decapitation operation can already be declared a failure. We are here to rescue you first, and secondly to ensure that you do not act on your own and retreat with us."

"Is it that serious?" Emilia grimaced as her frostbite was slowly recovering.

Mars frowned and said, "What happened? We don't have a good relationship with other teams, so we haven't contacted them much. We don't know what happened."

——Of course, if these teams were frustrated, they would not deliberately inform Emiya and others.

Sig curled his lips and said, "The same thing happened to them as it did to us. They're even underground, maybe even closer to the devil's lair. We're all in such a mess, so they're naturally even worse off."

"Indeed." Asur nodded.

"The Supreme Observer and the Church of Amaunator were ambushed and suffered heavy losses. All participants have retreated to Eltoril using the Word of Return. They have informed me of this bad news and asked me to contact you and evacuate immediately."

"Really?" Emilia struggled to get up. "...Then can we recover the spoils left behind by the devil?"

"......?" Asur was stunned for a moment, "Will the devil leave behind spoils after death?"

"Huh?" Emilia was stunned for a moment, "Isn't it possible? We have fought against the devil several times before."

"...Is that so?" Asur was stunned. "I haven't had many experiences fighting demons, but the literature clearly states that demons in this world are merely projections. After being defeated, they will dissipate and leave nothing behind."

Emilia pointed blankly behind her. "So, what are those longbows and tangled ropes left behind by the devils?"

Author's Note: Errata: When writing the first part, I had a brain glitch and forgot to limit the trigger to itself. Now it has been changed to Bouncy Orb.

After the 55th War

Although the demons have been defeated and retreated, the scars they left on the material plane will not disappear.

The poisonous arrows left by the Lust Demon, the ice crystals left by the Bone Demon, and the deep pits left by the Hell Demon.

"...It's truly remarkable." Asul withdrew his hand from the marks, stood up, and looked at Emiya. "Just from these marks, I can tell you that the demonic squad besieging you is incredibly large. If we were ambushed, our team's fate would have been horrific. From this perspective, you helped us withstand this dangerous attack."

This was a bit too serious. Furthermore, in this battle, their team didn't really defeat the demons, but rather relied on Metatron's intervention to survive.

Emiya waved her hands repeatedly. "In fact, we should thank you all for your rapid march here. Even if we hadn't repelled the demons, these guys from the lower planes probably wouldn't dare to stay here any longer."

"Thank us?" Asur lowered his head, glancing at the scratches on his armor and shook his head. "Originally, we thought we were in poor condition and were already preparing to retreat. Furthermore, we arrived so late that we only had time to help clean up the battlefield. This outcome is a disgrace to the Hell Knights."

"Don't be so modest." Asur bowed to Metatron. "Ms. Forsaken, your arrival makes us feel at ease."

Metatron bowed slightly and returned the greeting.

As he spoke, the Holy Knight Asur looked towards the direction of the battlefield with some lingering fear.

Over there, Mars was sorting out the spoils of this battle. Bundles of long tangled ropes were wrapped around his body like ordinary hemp ropes, and the surrounding Hell Knights could only look at Mars with envy.

Capturing the enemy's iconic gear is a mark of honor in itself, not to mention the impressive power of such trophies.

Yin was also holding a bundle. She rubbed it up and down for a long time, her face not looking good. "Bad news, Emiya. These tangled ropes must indeed have been left by the succubus. The strong smell of sulfur doesn't indicate forgery."

This news immediately made the atmosphere here even more depressing.

However, Sig was a little confused: "--Does it mean that demons didn't have any spoils in the past?"

"Almost nothing. At least the equipment they carry will disappear with the wind as their bodies disappear." Mars's face was not happy. "In exchange, the activities of demons in the material plane are extremely restricted. There is a hypothesis that demons are actually unable to leave Hell, and various summoning arrays are actually just summoning their projections."

Silver examined the intact tangled rope in his hand, his eyebrows rarely curled together. "This restriction greatly hinders the activities of demons in the material plane and also limits the damage they can cause."

Back in the Silver Shield Mansion, Emya had defeated a Pit Fiend with the weapon gifted by the God of Craftsmen. However, the power of the god's thunder hammer was so terrifying that they had no time to determine whether the Pit Fiend's weapon had been destroyed by the hammer or dissipated along with its master.

Furthermore, Emya had no intention of revealing all her secrets in the present-day Elturgard. This was the only way to indirectly warn the Hell Knights about the dangers of the devil.

Ideally, the demons could be dragged out of the shadows completely.

Asul stared at the tangled ropes before him, pursed his lips and remained silent for a long time. He then called out to the mages in the team: "—We must return to the camp immediately! We can't stay here any longer! Also, notify the Keeper of Balance and have him return immediately, no matter what!"

*****************

As soon as they returned to the camp, they felt the bitterness brought by the failure of the decapitation operation.

Just a few days ago, the atmosphere here was quite exciting, with countless adventurers coming in and out. Inside the tent, adventurers and warriors would occasionally swear an oath towards the Sun Companion.

When Emiya and the others returned, they immediately saw a large crowd gathered at the Supreme Observer's temporary camp—though they were clearly not there to celebrate. Just by passing by them, Emiya could sense the anxiety and uneasiness that washed over her.

Ordinary troops and adventurers dealt with large groups of burrowing worms, while stretching out their front lines to control the density of the burrowing worms, keeping the scale of the battles each team encountered at the level they were most comfortable and accustomed to. At the same time, they concentrated their most elite forces to clear the empty burrowing worm nests.

But judging from the results, the plan failed miserably.

"...We haven't even managed to control the spread of the news." Asul snorted heavily, breathing out through his nose. "Even we don't know what happened to the other teams."

This wasn't even the end of the trouble. Asur was the Knight Commander of the Hell Knights, and naturally he should have reported to the Supreme Observer upon returning to the camp. However, even he was stopped at the Supreme Observer's residence.

Guarding Craig were Eltoril's Order of the Companions. This paladin order, formed after the advent of the Companions, had always enjoyed close ties with the Knights of Hell, sharing common aspirations. Assur even held a prominent position in both organizations: leader of the Knights of Hell and Chief Knight of the Companions. However, despite this, the guards refused to let Assur in: "...My apologies, Chief, the Supreme Observer has been severely injured and is currently receiving treatment."

"Is it so serious?" Asul frowned. "What on earth did they encounter?"

"...I don't know." The guard frowned and lowered his voice, "But, Your Excellency, this time when the Supreme Observer went on the expedition, only the priest of Oghma, the Supreme Observer, and Rex returned.

In other words, the Sun Companion Knights may have sacrificed their lives in the underground palace in order to cover their retreat.

"It's so tragic?! How many demons are there in the underground palace?" Asur couldn't help but feel a lingering fear when he heard this - although the Hell Knights are well-trained, they are still not as elite as the major churches.

It would be better to say that, right now, the weakest team is the Hell Knight Squad.

If the Supreme Observer was seriously injured, then the Asur team was actually on the brink of death.

At that moment, a Torm priest emerged from the residence. Upon seeing Asur, his face lit up with joy. "Knight Commander! It's great to have you here! The Supreme Observer has a plan, but he needs some time to recuperate, so I'd like to ask for your help in carrying it out."

"Please?" Asul was stunned for a moment, "I can't think of anything I must do."

There was another crucial point—the two of them had a falling out before, and it was assumed that they would not be in contact for a while.

"It has to be you," said the young Reverend Tom. "Sir Craig believes that in the coming battle, the camp must maintain a highly mobile, high-end force to deal with the demonic attacks. But you also know that these people generally hold important positions in various factions and will never act alone..."

"But my connections are concentrated in the Holy Knights and the Church of Tyr, and I don't know anyone at all..." Asur said halfway when he suddenly realized.

"You want me to help contact Miss Forsaken? Indeed, she's the only Ninth Ring Mage in this camp right now. But she seems to have a good relationship with Team Emia. She might choose to continue working with Team Emia, and might not choose to join this mobile team."

"Especially..." Asul thought about it and shook his head. "Team Emia was attacked not long ago. It was also a life-or-death situation. I guess she might not be interested."

Pastor Torm blushed slightly and shook Asur's hand: "This is why we hope you will come forward! She just arrived in Elturgard and had a good conversation with the Church of Tyr. You also have a good relationship with the Emya team. There is really no one more suitable than you!

"This isn't a team formed to protect a specific individual. I hope you'll reconsider this. Would the demons specifically target Team Emia and attack them? Even if they do come, isn't this mobile team more powerful than Miss Forsaken alone? Wouldn't it be better able to protect Team Emia?"

"Please consider this!"

Fifty-six Craig's Sincerity of Cooperation

Emiya had been quite generous when building the camp for the Church of Tyr. In fact, the scale far exceeded the needs of the Church of Tyr, and a surprising amount of margin was left in the design.

As a result, they themselves experienced the benefits brought by this generosity first: even though the camp was already crowded with people coming and going, Emiya and others successfully got their own residence - located on the relatively edge of the camp, so that they could get reinforcements in time and would not be isolated by the camp, while at the same time not being abnormally noisy due to the coming and going of people.

However, the atmosphere in the house is not very warm now.

"...It's raining so hard." Metatron was standing by the window, watching the gentle rain trickle down from the top of the window, forming strands of rain outside. "It's raining so hard in early autumn! I hope the harvest at the Chauntia Church is over now."

"It has been announced that it is over at noon today. Most of the food has been successfully stored in the warehouse before the rain. I have already inquired about this after arriving at the camp." Mr. Asur, the Knight Commander of the Hell Knights, stood behind Metatron and said so.

"It's admirable that the Hell Knights care so much about the lives of ordinary people." Metatron turned around and said, "Do you know what Emiya and the others are doing now?"

"do not know."