On the boundless plains, magical beasts were now surging in from all directions like a rampaging horde, swiftly surrounding a small group of people.
It was a trio—one man and two women.
These young companions had barely set foot on this land when they were instantly besieged by the overwhelming number of magical beasts.
Yet, none of them showed fear. Instead, they charged headlong into the beast horde without hesitation.
"Hah!"
Mash gripped her heavy shield and dashed forward like a fierce gust of wind. Kicking up dust with each step, she barreled straight into the oncoming swarm like a war chariot.
"Boom!"
Her massive shield, like a hammer of judgment, swung out and sent the leading beast flying with a thunderous crash.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Mash plunged into the midst of the beasts, her shield transforming into the heaviest of blunt weapons. She wielded it like a windmill, flinging beast after beast aside while weaving left and right with astonishing agility. Despite the shield's weight, her movement was unhindered—she was no fragile girl; she was a true warrior.
But while Mash's fighting style was impactful, it paled in comparison to Altera's.
Where Mash beat down enemies one by one with her shield, Altera fought with terrifying decisiveness and efficiency.
Her style was simple—slaughter.
"Zzzap!"
With a sharp electric crackle, the Sword of Mars—a tricolored blade of divine light—turned into a rainbow-hued blur in Altera's hands, slicing and flashing in rapid arcs.
"Slash!" "Slash!" "Slash!" "Slash!"
Wherever the radiant blade swept, magical beasts were cleanly bisected the instant they entered its range. Violet-black blood sprayed forth, dyeing the earth with ominous colors.
Altera was like an unfeeling war machine. Her expression never changed as her sword cleaved through beast after beast in bursts of blinding destruction. Blood filled the air. The battlefield was a crimson storm.
Both Servants neutralized the approaching enemy with their own formidable methods.
And compared to the two girls, Rozen was by no means inferior.
His black coat flared behind him as he moved like a phantom, darting back and forth, toying with the incoming beasts.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
The magical beasts, enraged by his evasiveness, roared furiously and leapt after him again and again, only to fall into a carefully laid trap.
"Order!"
Floating in midair, Rozen suddenly hurled a talisman.
It was a Fire Element Talisman.
"Boom!"
Upon activation by his brief incantation, the charm burst into flames. Awakened by the intense fire-elemental jutsuryoku, it turned into a blazing inferno, engulfing the cluster of beasts that had been lured together.
The beasts trapped within the flames shrieked and writhed, their bodies scorched. Eventually, they were reduced to charred husks, smoke curling up from their blackened remains.
In this way, Rozen continued to eliminate the magical beasts. His kill count wasn't the least bit behind that of the two Servants.
For Rozen, it had been a while since he fought like this—with intellect and strategy.
But in his current state, this was the optimal method of combat.
To avoid exhausting his mana, Rozen relied primarily on talismanic jujutsu.
Since the spell formulas were already inscribed into the talismans, all he needed was jutsuryoku to activate them. As a result, even if he used dozens of talismans in a single battle, his mana expenditure was minimal.
Thus, fighting with talismans was both efficient and economical—perfect for Rozen while he was still recovering.
And more importantly, ever since acquiring the wisdom of Cleansing, Rozen had gained a new edge. Even if he couldn't yet fully comprehend the omniscient-level knowledge embedded in that ultimate forbidden spell, he was now in an awakened state—gradually grasping advanced techniques in magecraft and jujutsu that were once beyond his reach.
As a result, Rozen manipulated beasts with deadly precision—luring them together and then bombarding them with various elemental talismans:
Fire Element for flames
Water Element for tidal waves
Wood Element for summoning thorny vines
Earth Element to quake the land
Metal Element to generate flying blades
A dazzling array of talismanic techniques unfolded on the battlefield.
Rozen proved with action: Even without full mana recovery, he was now a stronger version of himself than ever before.
Nor did he worry about running out of talismans.
Before even acquiring Cleansing, he had stockpiled enough to fill an entire warehouse. He could afford to spend them lavishly.
Given their minimal cost, Rozen didn't hesitate to squander them like a rich man throwing gold—devastating the magical beasts, leaving corpses strewn across the plains.
The trio continued fighting relentlessly, the ground beneath them now soaked in blood and littered with fallen beasts.
Yet, the beasts just kept coming.
"There's too many...!"
Mash shouted anxiously as she bashed another beast away with her shield.
"Could it be... this whole area is filled with magical beasts!?"
Altera's eyes flickered, though her killing blows never stopped.
"Unfortunately, that's correct."
Rozen offered a grim answer.
Using his Wise Eye, he had already "seen" thick clusters of spiritual energy swarming toward them from all directions—undeniable proof that more beasts were approaching fast.
"Don't tell me... we got spiritron transferred right into the heart of a beast nest?"
The thought occurred to Rozen, but he didn't waste time pondering it.
Instead, he gave a swift command.
"There's no end to them. If we keep fighting, we won't lose—but there's no point staying here. We're pulling back."
He made the call instantly.
"Understood!"
Mash complied without hesitation, continuing to swing her shield to clear a path while retreating.
Altera, more direct, simply raised her sword high into the air.
"Destroy."
A pulse of devastating energy gathered in her blade—so dense it made the world groan—and she swung it down.
"BOOOOOM——!!"
With an earth-shattering roar, a blazing arc of destruction swept across the plains, obliterating everything in its path.
The atmosphere vaporized.
The earth shattered.
Everything—matter or mana—caught in the path of that destructive arc was completely erased, vanishing without a trace.
Naturally, any magical beast caught in it was annihilated on the spot, leaving nothing behind.
It looked as if a chunk of the earth had been scooped out—
No, more accurately, it was like a piece of the world itself had been cleaved away.
Rozen and Mash leapt through the devastation, landing on solid ground.
"Th-that..."
Mash was stunned into speechlessness.
"That's just as overkill as ever... that destructive power," Rozen muttered, slightly unnerved.
Altera calmly sheathed the sword of the war god.
"Let's break through."
With those words, Altera charged ahead.
Rozen couldn't help but quip internally:
"Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about what 'breaking through' means?"
Breaking through was supposed to mean piercing the enemy's formation and escaping—not erasing the entire enemy force and then strolling off.
But Rozen could only concede:
"I give up."
As expected, the Empress of Destruction knew no other form of battle besides absolute destruction.
Even when retreating, she had to devastate everything first—what a terrifying concept.
Rozen and Mash quickly followed Altera.
Along the way, Mash asked:
"Where are we heading now, Senpai?"
Rozen answered without hesitation:
"Uruk."