A female servant jumped out of the ground a little late from the large hole that the swordsman's spirit base should have appeared in.
The area around the large hole was protected by a slightly higher ice wall created by someone's magic, preventing the black turbid current that was ravaging the forest floor from flowing in.
"Cavalry...? Why are they so powerful...!"
In her eyes as a Master, the Heroic Spirit's Status is enlarged like a honeycomb pattern.
Understanding the power possessed by the cavalry, Harley immediately took a stance and let the swarm of glazed armor spread out around her.
In front of heroic spirits, the so-called sting is not worth mentioning at all.
However, as the chief priest of the goddess Ishtar, Harley had no choice but to fight.
"Um……"
Countless 'bees', covered in carapace reminiscent of blue armor, swarmed in front of Hippolyta.
The queen judged that these bugs were familiars controlled by the magician. She looked around and saw the figure of a girl near the upper entrance of the temple.
"Is she the shrine maiden from that temple...?"
Hippolyta deftly turned the direction of her mount and arrived near the entrance of the temple in just one move.
"It seems that you are the shrine maiden who protects this temple! Because it is wartime, please allow unmounted visitors to visit!"
As the daughter of the Priest Artemis, Hippolyta is both the queen and the warrior captain who protects the temple.
Although the gods worshiped are different, one cannot abandon respect and make a fuss.
Therefore, the queen made her request calmly.
"I will not deny your belief! However, according to the covenant between me and the Master, I cannot turn a blind eye to the ancient gods who are meaninglessly toying with the world and ravaging the people! Therefore, I am the one who requests that the reverberation of gods be returned to the ancient land.
people!"
Hippolyta openly declared war on the goddess.
Around that, the swarm that must be controlled by the witch from Ishtar dispersed——
Hippolyta made a huge ax appear in her hand, and while galloping on her horse, she waved the battle ax with one hand.
The queen's offensive collided with the strong wind caused by the typhoon, and the strong wind generated by the rebound blew the swarms of bees far away. Hippolyta rode on horseback and announced to the witch.
"Whether I am a warrior or a king, I do not wish to kill any living thing without benefit. Please allow me to pass through to the interior of the temple!"
Hippolyta declared, holding the reins tightly, intending to rush over regardless of the miko's response.
There was a skeleton mask above the passage leading to the temple that kept producing black shadows. Hippolyta was quite concerned about this, but at the moment when the queen was thinking about whether to ignore it——
A sacred and arrogant voice came from the top of Hippolyta's head.
"How disrespectful, daughter of the God of War of the West."
"!"
"Or, the warrior chief of the Temple of the Moon Goddess...should I call you this?"
Hippolyta looked up and saw the goddess Ishtar sitting on an empty boat, holding a war hammer that looked like seven snakes.
"You weren't summoned by Alaya to protect humanity, were you? A mere Servant of the Holy Grail War, expelling me for the sake of humanity? What a joke."
There is light all around the goddess.
There is no dazzling halo around Him, but a calm and transparent light that can be felt when looking up at the blue sky.
The rush of energy produced by the snake staff, and the radiance produced by the goddess herself.
Ishtar relies on these two things to constantly resist the endless shadows coming from all around.
god.
Even though he is attached to the Little Holy Grail (Philia), he is not on the same level as his followers, and Hippolyta has long understood this.
However, the Queen still refused to give in. She stood on horseback and glared at the Mistress of Heaven, saying so.
"The reason for being summoned is irrelevant! My body is always a shield for those who are abused, and my arms are blades of resistance! This is my oath to the goddess of the moon and the god of war (father)!"
Combining Hippolyta's solemn declaration with the goddess's words just now, Harley, as the witch of Ishtar, immediately realized the true identity of the cavalry——
"You are the...queen of the Amazons."
Ishtar on the other side was loudly retorted by Hippolyta, lowered her eyes and sighed.
"Really, so does that trash, and so does this hateful assassin..."
Then, the goddess opened her eyes, a cold light appeared in her eyes, and she used her "charm" power with all her strength.
"You guys underestimate me!"
The ground around the temple seemed to collapse, and the huge temple floated into the sky.
The chain connecting the front end of the huge harpoon still exists, and the golden chain shot from the whaling cannon appears in the world like a suspension bridge connecting the city and the air fortress.
"ah……"
Even Hippolyta was shocked. In order not to fall from the shaking temple, she readjusted her horse's stance.
"Do you think I didn't notice it? Rats digging holes in the ground!"
The base of the temple so far has several holes dug into the ground, and several moving figures can be seen through them.
"I see, you think that the temple has enhanced my power... This is true, but if you think that you can kill me just by destroying the temple... it is really disrespectful!"
Ishtar said this and raised his war hammer.
The goddess added her own magic power to the war hammer whose mere existence could bring death to the enemy.
"But, it's quite courageous to let the servants act as bait. I will crush you first and make you disappear from my world. I like such human beings, right?"
The goddess said "I don't hate it" in a heartfelt tone, intending to strike death on the magicians below the temple.
"Carion!"
The cavalry shouted the name of the war horse, and the horse immediately jumped up.
In the howling wind, as if her own weight no longer existed, Hippolyta used the flying trees and the fragments of earth blown up by the wind as pedals to move at high speed in the air of the forest.
"Crack the warband! Diamatia!"
Hippolyta unleashed the power of the battle belt of Ares, the god of war, as her Noble Phantasm, and fully drew the long bow that replaced the battle axe.
Divine energy overflowed from the military belt of the God of War, and magic power of a different tone than what filled the temple was injected into the arrows.
Then the arrows shot straight towards the goddess Ishtar. The goddess used the warhammer in her hand to block the arrows injected with divine energy.
At the same time, the barriers to the goddess' expansion were also shattered.
"What a pity."
The goddess smiled fearlessly and said to Hippolyta, who was flying through the air.
"If it were the domain (era) of the Moon Goddess (Artemis) or the Western God of War (Ares), it would have penetrated me long ago."
Then, just as the warhammer that was slashing horizontally to deflect the arrows hit Hippolyta——
At this moment, countless 'cursed Gandr' flew from the temple below.
"!"
Although the barrier failed to be broken, the scattered curse fragments also confused the goddess's sight. In order to protect the people on the top floor of the temple, the cavalry seized this opportunity and landed on their horses.
Two figures appeared above the temple.
The red and blue-based costumes are the characteristics of these two women, and it can be seen that they are both experienced magicians.
"Finally we caught up. You and I are the only two people who arrived at the temple. I'm not happy about this, right?"
Rin responded to the taunt of the blue-robed magician Luvia without hesitation.
"Oh, you are indeed a hyena. I think finding gold in the underground is your specialty, so I took this route!"
"Didn't I say it many times? The most graceful hunter on earth, this is the right name for me!"
"The person who comes to correct me at a time like this is not considered... Youmei, just watch your moves!"
When the two were sarcastic with each other, Rin did not stop attacking, constantly consuming the gems that spread around him to shoot magic bullets.
Almost at the same moment, Luvia also consumed a large amount of gems and launched a magic barrage and barrier to contain the movements of the goddess in the sky.
There were 'shadows' moving around the two of them, as if they were peeping at something, but they did not look like they were going to attack the two of them or Hippolyta.
"By the way, what is this 'shadow'?"
"Although I care about it, if it doesn't hurt us, just ignore it for now! If it's a friend, wouldn't it be a gain?"
"Hey, it's come to this point. I really don't care anymore."
Although they said so, Rin and Luvia always maintained the minimum level of vigilance towards the 'shadow'.
Both of them understood the 'shadow' through the feeling of being magicians.
The 'shadows' that fill the surroundings of the temple are existences connected to profound death.
At the same time, the concept of death is not necessarily directed at oneself.
As long as they don't act rashly, they are harmless to themselves.
After the two made this judgment, most of their attention focused on the 'goddess' floating in the air.
"Calling yourself the goddess Ishtar... is so tacky. In a sense, it's just like the description in the myth."
Rin said provocatively - but what was incredible was that the goddess Ishtar was stunned and looked at Rin intently, with a surprised expression on her face.
"What? Is there something on my face?"
Rin, who thought the goddess would immediately fight back, tilted his head in confusion. He saw the goddess's thoughtful expression, and then he spoke.
"Have we met somewhere? It's not this container (artificial human), but 'me' and you."
"Huh? With the goddess of Mesopotamia? Are you kidding? If I had met the guy who did such a thing, how could I forget it?!"
Looking at Rin who was getting more and more confused, the goddess nodded proudly.
"...The so-called one-way feeling of inconsistency probably does not refer to this place, but to my fate with you...that's what it is. Okay...you can disappear for me!"
Yes, the goddess nodded. Then she swung the war hammer without hesitation and hit the two of them.
A violent shock wave fell from the sky. At the critical moment, the arrow shot by Hippolyta offset the impact. At the same time, the 'shadow' that had been in a temporarily improved state emerged from the ground, swelling with the momentum of engulfing the temple, towards
Ishtar attacks.
"Ah, damn it, it's so annoying! My spiritual core is broken, when will you disappear..."
Having said this, the goddess suddenly reacted, the expression on her face disappeared and she calmed down.
He drove Ma Anna to fly high into the sky and distanced himself from the group of 'shadows'.
The goddess in the sky stared at the 'shadow' again and murmured.
"Ah...I see, that's it?"
The cavalry, Rin, and Luvia took advantage of the shadow craze to distract the goddess and temporarily hid inside the temple.
"Master, why are you exposing yourself? Since you two have arrived at the temple..."
Hippolyta asked two of her masters a question, and Rin answered like this.
"I'm so sorry, Cavalry. Our battle plan is to destroy the altar from within..."
Luvia, who calls herself 'the most graceful hunter on earth', shrugged and continued.
"On the altar of this temple, there are a large number of gemstones sold in Snowfield. There is no catalyst or aesthetic sense."
"If I have to say it, that woman, the berserker, and that stupid typhoon, these three things replaced the artifact and stabilized the divinity of this land."
After hearing Rin's additional explanation, Hippolyta stared at the sky and muttered to herself.
"...Then, to stop the deterioration of the world, you need to..."
"I think if we smash this kind of temple together, the speed of degeneration will be slowed down and the power will be slightly weakened... If we want to fundamentally solve the problem, we can only eliminate one of these three, right?"
Rin asserted.
"Typhoon, Berserker, God or a cursed android. No matter which one you choose, it's a jackpot. It's really touching!"
"Although it's not elegant enough, there are still ways to deal with the Berserker Master, right?"
In response to Luvia's question, Tohsaka Rin, who had experienced the Holy Grail War, shook his head.
"According to my observation, that Master... as a goddess, her magical power channel is connected with the goddess. I am afraid that when the Master is killed or incapacitated, the Master's rights will automatically
Give it to the goddess."
Having said this, Rin paused and discussed the Berserker.
"The seven-color halo, the guardian of Ishtar's domain... Based on Senior Mary's observations of the battle in front of the hospital, and the combination with the Bull of Heaven, it can be determined that the berserker is Humbaba."
Humbaba.
It is the courtyard of the goddess Ishtar and the guardian of the Lebanese cedar forest. In the oldest heroic story in the world, "The Ballad of Gilgamesh", it is the monster that scares Gilgamesh.
However, it is said that it was eventually defeated by Enkidu, who came to the forest with Gilgamesh. After it was killed, its monster nature merged into the world, and was widely spread on the land of Greece, influencing weird monsters such as Gorgon.
.
"I have asked the swordsman to stop Humbaba... To be honest, is this request too much?" ()