Chapter 290
"...As always, the battle will be handled by the invincible Hercules!"
On the first floor of the Hundred-Storied Tower, in front of everyone, Jason ended his pre-war mobilization speech with the argument that "Hercules is invincible" - of course, it was visible to the naked eye that no one associated with the Argonauts was willing to pay attention to their captain, who had to serve as a funny mascot most of the time.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the most unheard-of injuries on Hercules—" Asclepius put on summer clothes to make it easier to rescue the wounded on other floors. He put his hands in his pockets and looked at the saints in front of him leisurely, "but I don't think they can leave such marks on Hercules."
There was no intention of going up to act as the main force in the battle. Jedidiah, Ereshkigal, who was just thrown in to play, and David, who came to play by himself, tacitly retreated to the back to reduce their presence, leaving the fighting space to the members of the Argo and the Saints who had not yet selected their challengers.
The members outside the Hundred-Storied Pagoda were watching the projection while listening to the commentators in the communication window explaining the situation on the scene. Lancermello, who had previously said hello and was going upstairs, slipped past the wall at this moment using a hint magic to reduce his presence. While the Saints were still considering the team arrangements, he went straight upstairs through the stairs.
"It's a good thing you're here, otherwise I'd have to go back." Avalon Le Fay smiled and waved to Lansemero, then walked through the crowd that almost filled the entire floor and came to Lansemero. "I was really worried that they would be drowned by us the moment they got here - but the two most important people are still on the first floor below, right?"
"I seem to remember that Mr. Merlin stuffed us into the Andromeda level, right?" Lancermello stroked his chin, looking at the rather free-spirited servants around him, "Well... Dioscuri is still down there. We have to adjust the battle restrictions based on the battle situation on the first level - although there is no suppression of divinity or anything, the power range is basically suppressed to a level where no one will die..."
"Don't worry, isn't Asclepius still on the first floor?" Avalon Le Fay smiled and motioned Lansemero to look at the two Demi-Narroyos standing together. "We also have these two guys on this floor who can help us out in an emergency - but, do you really think they can climb all 100 floors?"
"Is a year enough time for them to climb the Hundred-Storied Pagoda?" Lansemello raised his eyebrows and looked up. "We didn't have a long time to build the Hundred-Storied Pagoda. We used the previous time to slowly revive the Saints hiding in the underworld of Ereshkigal. Otherwise, we should have let them in to climb the tower a long time ago."
"No, I mean... they are still humans, not Servants - can they really win?"
"For this kind of problem, you should trust Athena, not them."
Meanwhile, the commentators in the Chaldea Control Room were explaining the trial of the Hundred-Storied Pagoda with great passion.
"Hercules is invincible... I personally have some different opinions, but this is unnecessary." K. Rasputin smiled and commented on Jason's pre-war mobilization speech. "The atmosphere on the Argo is as friendly as ever. It seems that the members of the first layer intend to let Hercules serve as the main force of the attack, and the others will assist from the side."
"Yes, but it seems that Jedidiah, the goddess Ereshkigal, and Asklepios are not even going to do this part of the auxiliary work." Ms. Avalon held her face and looked at the image on the screen, "Then let's see what arrangements the challengers from the Sanctuary will make to fight Hercules!"
"Oh oh——" Taigong widened his eyes, but soon returned to his usual smiling face, "Considering that the opponent is the hero Hercules who broke through the "Twelve Trials", the challengers from the Sanctuary sent out Saints who are good at three completely different attack methods!"
"Camus of Aquarius is good at freezing air, Aphrodite of Pisces uses poison roses, and Shura of Capricorn can transform his limbs into the holy sword 'Excalibur'." Merlin pinched the microphone beside his ear while looking through the paper materials of the Saints that Roman had just printed out for them, which were still steaming from the printer. "Well, let's look forward to how they will pass the first level!"
"Well, according to the message sent by Asclepius himself--" Roman glanced at the content Noah posted in the Crown Chat Room, cleared his throat and announced the victory rules of the first level, "The challenge of the first level only requires the Saint to defeat Hercules once. Of course, if you can't defeat Hercules, defeating all the assistants is also a way to victory."
Of course, this notice was also notified to the Saints who were preparing for battle through the broadcasting system installed inside the Hundred-Story Tower. The Saints who were not preparing to participate in the battle retreated to the edge and soon joined the few Servants who were slacking off on the first floor.
"No way, no way? Is there really someone who would choose to play support just to avoid Hercules? Even though Jedidiah and the others don't participate in the battle, they are also counted as the support team, right?" Ms. Avalon said in an exaggerated tone, praising someone who was also sitting in the commentary booth, "Even though he is only in his juvenile form, he is the magician among magicians - Magic King Solomon!"
"I don't recommend anyone to fight the omniscient King Solomon - but not the infant form." K. Rasputin smiled brightly and pretended to pray for the three people who came out to fight. "It seems that they can only fight Hercules - let us pray sincerely that they can win."
"The control room is really active..." Kirshtalia, who was squatting on the top floor of the Hundred-Storied Pagoda, sent a message to Fujimaru Ritsuka who was hiding in his private room.
"It seems that the video of the Hundred-Storied Pagoda this time will be burned into a disc and put in the audio-visual room." Fujimaru Ritsuka sat cross-legged on the bed and replied to Kirshtalia while tapping on the keyboard, "Kirshtalia-senpai, you should think about how to avoid looking too savage in the video, or set a small goal of not being weirded out by the commentator."
"They will definitely plan that." Kirshtalia quickly replied to Fujimaru Ritsuka, "I'd better think about how to set the conditions for their victory. By the way, how is the alchemist's plan to restore the Mecha God progressing in Da Vinci's workshop? If I say that I need an empty shell of Zeus's real body these days..."
"If it's just an empty shell..." Fujimaru Ritsuka thought for a moment and replied to Kirshtalia, "If you urge them, they should be able to get it out for you - is there anything else you need?"
"Let Corles go over and keep an eye on it." Kirshtalia added, "I remember that his specialty is electrical magic?"
"The effect of Hercules' Noble Phantasm has been weakened - I have increased the activation limit of the Twelve Trials." Lansemello and Avalon Le Fay sat together to watch the battle broadcast on the first floor, "But there is absolutely no limit to his physical strength - after all, it is innate."
"Who do you think has a chance of defeating Hercules?" Avalon Le Fay asked her.
"I think it's Aphrodite - if Camus can spare the time to enchant his rose." Lansemero looked at the broadcast image in front of him with a smile, "After all, no matter what kind of existence it is, as long as it can still be considered a living thing, if it is hit by fate, it can only die, right?"
"But now all of them are suppressed by the axe and sword wielded by Hercules." Avalon Le Fay laughed and asked Lansemero, "However, even if they pass the first two levels at once, do you think there are still people among them who can pose a threat to us?"
"As long as they don't send Scorpio to the second level, most of us on the third level won't be able to deal with it." Lanser-Mello sighed and complained helplessly, "After all, we don't have any resistance to poison. Pisces has entered a cooling-off period, and Hydra has been excluded from the beginning. Only Scorpio can still use poison - but it's just a threat."
"Yes, after all, we still have the power to purify everything." Avalon Le Fay got Lansemero's answer, and smiled as he turned his attention back to the battle on the first level.
"Hercules is indeed a world-renowned hero. The three Golden Saints representing the highest combat power group in the Sanctuary were also defeated by his attack." K. Rasputin sighed with a hint of regret, but his attention was soon attracted by the new changes in the battle. "Huh? Hercules stopped moving?"
"What is that - Camus of Aquarius used ice to freeze Hercules' steps!" Merlin never hesitated to praise others, but he also complained at the end, "A clever choice! But ordinary ice can never stop Hercules' steps - Hercules crushed those ice blocks! However, it seems that the other servants really don't intend to care about Hercules -"
"The battle is over, and the Sanctuary has won." Roman, who was sitting in the middle of the commentary booth, announced the final result expressionlessly.
“Huh?!” The other four commentators nearby jumped up at the same time, “Wait! Show us the video replay!!!”
Therefore, the four people who applied for the video verification saw in the video that at the moment when Hercules exerted his strength to break the ice, the only Saints who were still confronting Hercules were Shura - Camus and Aphrodite who avoided Hercules' attack range and worked together to send Hercules a white rose that killed him with one blow.
"Finished? Then let's go to the next level. Don't waste time here." Asclepius glanced at Hercules who had collapsed due to excessive blood loss, and urged the Saints to continue going upstairs. "Hercules can revive himself, and there are no interesting wounds this time. I will leave him alone for now. Seeing the situation on the first level, the difficulty will definitely increase later. I will follow them and make sure they return to Athena alive."
"Huh? A rest room that shortens the sealing time of the microcosm? You have only passed the first level, and you haven't reached the standard for opening the rest room yet."