Chapter 327

"Real name, revealed - I stand on the side of the savior!!!"

Mashu walked in front of everyone, took a deep breath, and slammed the cross shield into the soil in front of him.

"It is a city that has crossed many journeys and witnessed many wishes. It is an observatory that takes in everything from the sea of ​​stars and guides those who travel far away to their homeland! Look—"

"Lord Fenis Chaldea, the observatory that overlooks the Earth from the void!"

Magic power continuously emanated from the cross shield in Mash's hand, forming a white observatory with a cold metallic glow, enveloping the dark forest.

"In this case, there shouldn't be any problem." Abe Haruaki and Asiya Michiman exchanged glances, took out a spell and lit it, and followed the guidance of Yin Yang Jutsu to lead everyone to find the mastermind hidden deeper in the world. "'Lord Fenis Chaldea, the observatory overlooking the earth from the void' - Asiya Michiman should not have an inherent barrier that can resist it and can be used."

"So he can only use other means to stop us from moving forward." Asaya Doman laughed, watching the yellow talisman burn out in Abe Haruaki's hand, "For example--"

"The shikigami he is best at using in the true sense."

Black mist surged in front of the crowd, gathering into shape with a shrill scream, blocking their way forward. The black-armored female knight drew the red-handled sword at her side, and silently stood in front of the few people who actually had no offensive power together with Abe Haruaki and Asaya Michimitsu.

"No matter how many times I've seen it, I'm not used to these dark things." Abe Haruaki held a handful of talismans in his hand like Tamamonomae, staring at the black fog that was constantly stirring with a serious expression, while complaining to Asaya, "It's cold and smelly, my nose and ears are protesting."

"Eh? Ms. Shielder——"

"Actually, after the 'Lord Fenis Chaldea' observatory overlooking the earth from the void is deployed, all you need to do is steadily inject magic power into the shield." Fujimaru Ritsuka interrupted Ashiya Hanae's question and explained to his collaborators while the servants responded, "And providing magic power is my job - and a Shielder doesn't just fight with a shield."

"Just like Onmyoji don't just use spells to fight - besides, my Shielder is a knight. There's no knight who can't use a sword."

"May God bless you."

Pure white holy light merged into the sword, and the light of good suppressed the evil spirits so that they could not move.

"Wow, did she learn some tricks from those saints?" Asaya Doman took a few steps back, leaving the close combat space for Mashu, and quickly folded many origami shikigami to join the battlefield, while complaining to Abe Haruaki, "In our memory, Noah has never used the blessing 'Gift' so much, right?"

"Noah didn't do that, but the others may not..." Abe Haruaki jumped, sighed with a headache, and superimposed a supporting magic that he had been preparing for a long time on Mashu, "especially the guy who often says - 'You are a dragon too'. That guy is the most skilled in using holy light to chop people, right?"

"It all comes down to the fact that those guys prefer the Master."

"But, although he's called a knight..." Asaya Doman looked at Mash's sword, destroying a lot of the black mist, and made a subtle comment, "But because of the confusion of teachers' schools and styles, you can tell whose moves they use sometimes... Especially when the goal is to destroy the enemy members."

"That was the swordsmanship of the group at the end of the shogunate, right?"

"I think it's Watanabe's technique..." Abe Haruaki blinked. "Look, among the Sabers who are special attack fighters, there is only one who has a systematic anti-magic combat method, right? Anyone caught at the end of the shogunate can kill people... But, these guys - you can't use anti-magic techniques to solve them."

"Ah... That's right. After all, it's a dead spirit, so the ability it needs is special attack against spirits." Asaya Michiman glanced at his hands and drew a Kikyo seal in the air to hide the magic fluctuations generated when he used his skills. "Hey, in this case, it should be fine as a temporary countermeasure."

The Kikyo Seal sank into the body of the knight guarding the front of the formation, and at the same time, the effect of Ashiya Michiman's "Story Compiler" was cast on Mashu - although the number of Servants with special attacks against spirits can be said to be very rare, this does not prevent Ashiya Michiman from temporarily adding this ability to Mashu by compiling a story.

——Just like when he was alive, he relied on compiling various stories to spread Abe Haruaki’s name, which allowed Abe Haruaki to ascend to the Throne of Heroes.

Mashu, who had received targeted enhancement, quickly eliminated the black mist in front of him, so everyone was able to continue to go deeper into it to find the hiding place of the two masterminds - the spiritual power thread guided by Abe Haruaki in front of him twisted and turned, and finally twisted into a knot at a certain intersection.

"They've started to transform it in reverse." Mashu, who stopped behind Abe Haruaki, gave a more accurate answer, "Awaya Michiman can't really cover our observatory - but after all, the foundation this time is Mount Oe, so he can still do something inside to delay the time it takes us to reach him."

"Well, in other words, it's about the same place as when Beast III/L appeared?" Asaya Michimitsu tapped his palm cheerfully and spoke in a refreshing tone like the protagonist of a shonen manga, "Okay, now let's switch to Caster-level and rush into the hearth in one breath."

"Are you an idiot?!" Abe Haruaki kicked Asaya Domitsu hard and asked angrily.

"The place where Beast III/L descended was the Great Inner Palace, which had been transformed into a strange maze..." Fujimaru Ritsuka stroked his chin and began to recall the exploration records that New Chaldea had shared with him in the past. "Although for the guide Kasuga Tsubone at that time, the Great Inner Palace should have been her base, but Beast III/L turned it into a maze in the Great Inner Palace's shell?"

"He can probably do this kind of transformation, too - after all, this is a fairly basic 'replacement' technique." Abe Haruaki looked at the fork in the road before him and gave the choice to Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was the luckiest person present. "Well - there are three roads now, which one should we choose, Master?"

"Right." Fujimaru Ritsuka paused and added, "At most, we can just walk through every fork in the road like we did when we explored the Great Inner Palace. Asoya Doman probably won't have the time to change the state of the maze at any time, right?"

"…It's hard to say." Asaya Michiman rubbed his calf, which had just been kicked by Abe Haruaki, and gave Fujimaru Ritsuka an awkward but polite smile. "However, for safety reasons, it's best for us to leave some easily identifiable marks on the road so that we can confirm our location."

"By the way, what is the specific structure of this building like?" Abe Harusai, who was walking behind, asked everyone.

"There are four floors above the ground and five floors underground - we are now on the first floor on the surface." Fujimaru Ritsuka explained to the non-Chaldean members of the team, "The first floor is the ordinary exhibition hall and warehouse area, which is not much different from an ordinary planetarium; the second floor is the living area consisting of the cafeteria, library and dormitory; the third floor is the work area, where the infirmary, office and conference room are located."

"There is only one observatory on the fourth floor. In addition to some astronomical observation equipment, there are bookshelves filled with starry sky myths and astronomy academic journals. It is generally used by people to look at the stars, not for professional research. It can be regarded as a leisure area."

"But some of the floor partitions are connected - for example, the control room in the central area is directly connected to the first to third floors on the ground." Mashu turned around and smiled to supplement Fujimaru Ritsuka's introduction, "And the library on the second floor has also been connected to the third floor."

"There are only two entrances to the control room - one is a direct entrance to the observation room from the third floor. Most members enter from here; the other is a direct entrance from the first floor to the space below the observation room. This is the passage used by members who often participate in field operations." Fujimaru Ritsuka introduced to several people in a tone as if he was taking some servants to visit Chaldea.

"There are also connected areas underground, but generally no one is on the fifth underground floor because that is the nuclear power plant that supplies energy to the entire observatory." Mashu briefly recalled the structure of the underground part of Chaldea, "and the third and fourth underground floors are basically connected to make laboratories for various purposes - but the height of these laboratories is the same as the control room on the ground, which is also three floors high."

"The first and second basement floors are archives filled with various paper reports and materials - that's how it was originally." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned his back to Abe Harusai and the others and spread his hands. "But later, in order to meet the needs of different members, half of the space was vacated and converted into an entertainment area - a video room, a game room, a small theater, a small concert hall... ah, it seems there are also rooms like those for fan club activities?"

"There are unexpectedly many types!" Ashiya Hanae widened her eyes in surprise and complained.

"That being said, since it has been renovated by Asaya Michiman, the structure here cannot be the same as the observatory we know." Fujimaru Ritsuka calmly led everyone to the fork on the right. "However, in this case, the only good thing is that no matter how he renovates it, it is impossible to deviate from the theme of the observatory*."

"And what Seimei-sama and the others need is to prevent this place from turning back into the workshop of Asaya Michiman. No matter how hard he tries, he can't turn the observatory back into Oeyama. We just need to be patient and pay close attention to everything around us, and we can catch him."

"Indeed." Abe Haruaki, who left his mark at the fork in the road, laughed. "After all, the opponent he has to face this time is not just an old enemy from a thousand years ago - there is also a savior who has experienced many battles."