The drone took off, slowly flying toward the center of the cherry blossom forest.
The scenery along the way was captured by the camera and transmitted to the tablet.
The screen displayed an overhead view of the cherry blossom forest, with countless petals fluttering. The pink sea of flowers undulated with the wind, rising and falling rhythmically.
Although it was a beautiful scene, no one present had the mood to appreciate it.
For something that concealed great terror, no matter how beautiful its appearance, it was terrifying in the eyes of those who knew its true nature and had to be vigilant.
The Demon Slayer Corps members stared intently at the screen, trying to find something, perhaps Gilgamesh, or some anomaly within the cherry blossom forest.
However…
Accidents always came unexpectedly. Not long after the search began, the drone was destroyed by a magic bullet.
Before being destroyed, the final image captured by the drone was of twelve people looking at the camera.
Three men and one woman in casual clothes, and eight people in special attire such as armor and robes.
Without a doubt, they were a Master and Servant combination.
As for why there were no other speculations, it was because there was no one else in Romania besides those related to the Holy Grail War.
"Zzzt... zzzzt..."
Withdrawing their gazes from the snow-filled screen, the five members of the Demon Slayer Corps turned to look at their respective Servants.
"Those Servants... do any of you recognize them?"
Although they held little hope, the members of the Demon Slayer Corps still decided to ask. After all, anything was possible, and what if there was a coincidence? What if someone in the team just happened to know them?
Gambling on that sliver of possibility wouldn't hurt.
The Servants who were asked, excluding Artoria, all shook their heads.
Servants are the divisions of Heroic Spirits. The experiences of a division will be inherited by the main body upon returning to the Throne of Heroes. However, the amount of memory a division can inherit is determined by the Heroic Spirit's main body.
As divisions, Servants usually inherit memories from their lives. Generally, they don't possess memories from after they became Heroic Spirits.
But there are always exceptions. Certain Heroic Spirits, when carrying out missions, will grant their divisions all their memories.
Besides the above, there's another situation, like Artoria Pendragon's case.
When she signed a contract with the Counter Force, Artoria Pendragon wasn't dead. Therefore, every time she descended into the world, it was her main body, possessing all memories.
As Servants shook their heads one after another, though they knew it was expected, disappointment inevitably arose within everyone's hearts, except for Shinobu Kocho.
Artoria's shocked expression made it perfectly clear to Shinobu Kocho that she recognized one or more of the eight Servants.
"Saber..." Shinobu Kocho called out, rousing the dazed Artoria, "Do you know those Servants?"
"...Yes," Artoria replied, her voice tinged with both nostalgia and bitterness. "Gawain, Kay, Tristan, Lancelot, and Mordred were once members of the Knights of the Round Table and were my subjects..."
Hearing this, Shinobu Kocho's mouth fell slightly open, her mind filled with excitement.
Jackpot!
As if lost in memories, Artoria paused for a moment before continuing, "The woman in the robes is Medea. I once fought her; she's a very powerful spellcaster. The red-haired, cloaked, burly man is Iskandar, and he's very strong. He has a skill called Reality Marble, which is extremely troublesome."
At this moment, only one thought echoed in Shinobu Kocho's mind: I've won the grand prize.
She had only hoped to get lucky and obtain some information about an enemy Servant.
Who would have thought my luck would explode like this? There were a total of eight Servants from the opposing faction, and Artoria actually knew seven of them.
This luck… was absurd!
"So…" Shinobu Kocho looked at Artoria, her eyes sparkling with anticipation, and said with a slightly cheerful tone, "Tell us about the information on those Servants."
Amidst the expectant expressions of the others, Artoria refused with a serious face, "No!"
"As a king, how can I betray my subjects? Please allow me to refuse to disclose information about Gawain and the others."
As soon as Artoria said this, the atmosphere immediately dropped to freezing point. The expressions of the five Demon Slayer Corps members, who were the Masters, were all stiff, while the other four Servants' expressions didn't change much.
Whether there was information or not, Cu Chulainn and the others didn't really care.
Artoria didn't notice the change in atmosphere and still said seriously, "As for the other two Servants, I can describe the information I know in detail."
Shinobu Kocho and the others relaxed slightly, quietly listening to Artoria's account of the two Servants' information. However, it was information related to them as Rider and Caster. If their classes weren't Caster and Rider this time, then the information would be inaccurate.
After finishing the information she knew, Artoria hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll also tell you about Mordred's information..."
In the cherry blossom forest a few hundred meters away.
"Ugh~~"
Mordred shivered, goosebumps covering her body.
Kairi Sisigou turned to Mordred and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I suddenly felt a strong sense of malice." Mordred gripped her sword hilt, continuously turning her head, which was covered by a heavy helmet, observing the surroundings with the sound of "creak, creak, creak" from the metal.
"The drone can do aerial photography." Waver Velvet, who knew more about technological products within the team, said in a serious tone, "Our position has already been exposed in the enemy's eyes. We must leave here quickly, and we must be more vigilant from now on."
Kairi Sisigou was a wandering magus, traveling the world. He wasn't unfamiliar with human technology, nor did he have any particular opinions on it.
Lorelai and Marisbury, though born into prestigious magus families, weren't like some old-fashioned types who looked down on technological products.
The four present all had a certain level of understanding of modern technology. After Waver finished speaking, the group immediately took action. They moved around without a set pattern, while simultaneously dispatching Familiars to search for any trace of their enemy.
At the same time, the four suspected that the person behind the drone surveillance might also be the one who set up the cherry blossom grove and sent Servants to attack them.
The scene of countless Noble Phantasms pouring down like a torrential rain was particularly striking.
With so many Noble Phantasms, it was perfectly reasonable that one of them could create a cherry blossom grove.
Of course, they had no proof, only suspicions.
Make a bold assumption, then verify it carefully.
Besides, there might be another group of people in the cherry blossom forest.
After all, when they fell into the Reality Marble, they saw countless Noble Phantasms flying away.
Either someone neutralized the Noble Phantasms wholesale attack, or something else happened...
At the same time...
The red and black factions, that is, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada and Yggdmillennia Family's Familiars, arrived here one after another.
After all, losing a Servant and learning some information about the enemy from the other Servants participating in this war, it's not strange to send Familiars to inquire about the news out of some intention.
Familiars are consumables; exchanging a few Familiars for an important piece of information is simply too cost-effective.
Therefore, a large number of Familiars flew into the cherry blossom forest.
Why were there so many Familiars? Naturally, they were used for scouting. Their strength was extremely weak. If not many were sent, they might be casually killed before gathering any information.
If the quality isn't good, then make up for it with quantity.
A large number of Familiars flew into the cherry blossom forest from all directions, with a very wide distribution.
On the one hand, this was to avoid being wiped out by a single beam of light if they were clustered together. On the other hand, being scattered made it easier to gather information.
"So many Familiars!"
Lorelai exclaimed in an exaggerated tone, simultaneously using magic to eliminate the Familiars flying in the sky.
To actually use the Familiar sea tactic to gather information, I've learned something new.
A simple and effective method, with an eighty percent chance of gaining information. The only downside is the cost of the Familiar.
If those Familiars were reconnaissance Familiars specifically bred by a Magician, then "cost of the Familiar" should be changed to "costly".
Before long, four Magicians and eight Servants had cleared out the nearby Familiars.
"Where did these Familiars come from?" Kairi Sisigou asked, puzzled, as he re-holstered his double-barreled shotgun.
"Probably the Yggdmillennia Family," Lorelai said.
"Why not the other participants in the Holy Grail War?" Kairi Sisigou pressed.
Lorelai agreed, "That's possible, but my intuition tells me that the Yggdmillennia Family is more likely."
After all, so many Familiars couldn't be summoned by just one or two people.
"Instead of focusing on who those Familiars belong to, it's better to consider the consequences of their appearance."
Marisbury retracted his gaze from the depths of the forest and then looked at his companions.
"Are you saying someone wants to investigate the specifics of this place, and then use a Noble Phantasm with a long attack range to attack?" Waver said, describing a possible scenario.
Lorelai's expression became serious, and she looked at Marisbury and asked, "What's your suggestion?"
"First, withdraw from this forest," Marisbury said without hesitation. "Then we'll talk about other things."
"Alright." The other three glanced at each other, and all expressed their agreement.
The group changed their direction and walked out of the forest.
Another team, located at the edge of the cherry blossom forest...
The Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen had never encountered magic, so they didn't know the true identities of the familiars they saw.
It wasn't until Cu Chulainn made a remark that Shinobu Kocho and the others realized what those animals were.
They then questioned Cu Chulainn to learn about the various uses of familiars.
"Information gathering..."
The experienced Water-Wind-Insect Pillars exchanged glances and nodded slightly.
Then, they took out three drones and connected them to a tablet, controlling them to fly towards the cherry blossom forest.
The center of the cherry blossom forest, a lake.
"It's so noisy out there!"
Mu Yang sighed, then set up a few barriers around the lake.
These barriers were for: * Keeping out unwanted people. * Soundproofing. * False perception. * Defense.
False perception would make anyone looking at the lake see an ordinary cherry blossom grove instead.
Whether they used their eyes or other tools, they would only see a cherry blossom grove.
The scenery would also change with the environment around the barrier.
In short, if the area became ruins, then anyone looking at the lake would see ruins.
Keeping out unwanted people would make people subconsciously ignore this area and not approach it.
Soundproof, the people outside can't hear the sounds within the barrier, and the people inside can't hear the sounds outside.
Defense, capable of withstanding a certain level of attack.
With four layers of the Reality Marble stacked, even if dozens of Servants came outside for a team battle, they wouldn't be able to interfere with what was happening inside the barrier.
"The food is here!"
Thinking this, a bunch of Emiya Shirous lined up, each carrying two plates of food towards the platform, placing the dishes on the table, and the rich aroma of the food spread around.
The people nearby took their seats one by one.
Mu Yang raised his glass and said, "The banquet... begins!"
Clink~~
The clinking of glasses echoed across the table. The wine sloshed out of the glasses with the impact, splashing into the dishes.
The group ate, drank, and chatted...
"Why aren't you drinking?"
Tamamo no Mae noticed that Jeanne had clinked glasses but then immediately put her glass back on the table without drinking.
"I didn't descend as a Servant. Instead, I'm possessing a young girl. According to modern laws, minors aren't allowed to drink."
"Oh~" Tamamo no Mae nodded slightly, indicating her understanding.
Emiya Shirou, who had also heard Jeanne's words, asked, "Would you like some juice?"
The main body of Emiya Shirou was eating and drinking, while his other self was in the kitchen, preparing the food.
"Yes," Jeanne replied first, then added with gratitude, "Thank you."
Emiya Shirou got up and walked to the kitchen. He squeezed a glass of fresh orange juice and then walked back to the table, handing the orange juice to Jeanne.
"Thank you," Jeanne said again, taking the orange juice.
"It is the chef's responsibility to satisfy every diner," Emiya Shirou replied, sounding a bit showy.
It was probably because Jeanne looked too similar to Artoria, which stirred his DNA.
While everyone inside the Reality Marble was eating and drinking, there were new developments among the teams outside.
Yggdmillennia Family, relying on a large number of Familiars to explore the entire forest, confirmed the situation here.
The forest that shouldn't exist, the Clock Tower's team, did not find the group that had previously fought Karna, presumably they had retreated.
"But... we could launch a sneak attack on the Clock Tower."
Inside the Yggdmillennia castle, Darnic dispatched two Servants with high mobility and powerful Noble Phantasms, namely Siegfried and Chiron, to the cherry blossom forest to ambush the Clock Tower's team.
On the other side, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, who was also aware of the situation, sent out Karna and Achilles.
Compared to the Black Faction, the red-haired camp was better suited for a sneak attack.
Chiron's Noble Phantasm was a single-target attack, and Siegfried's Noble Phantasm couldn't attack targets from too far away.
Karna's Noble Phantasm was an area-of-effect attack, capable of destroying the cherry blossom forest with a single strike, while Achilles's Noble Phantasm could carry Karna away quickly.
Of course, that was if the ambush failed and they were pursued by many Servants.
Compared to the two, the difference was obvious.
When the two raiding squads set out, the Demon Slayer Corps also discovered the Clock Tower team.
-----------------------
Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Guys, I've uploaded some High Quality english translated fanfic on my Patreon shop! Feel free to check it out-if you're interested, you can grab a copy and support me there.
Here are a few titles of recently uploaded fanfics:
New Addition
" Marvel: The Speedster "
" Marvel: The Kryptonian "
" Marvel: Iron Man, Mechanical Armies Sweep All "
" American Comics: Copying the Strong "
" Marvel: Endless Superpowers "
" Marvel: Venom Devours the Myriad Worlds "
" Marvel: Starting by Playing the Role of Naruto "
" American Comics: A Certain Black-Suited Superman "
" Marvel: Starting by Obtaining the Super Soldier Serum "
" American Comics: Obtaining Black Technology Starting "
" Father-Worry System, I Raise Homelander in Marvel "
" I Am Spider-Man in Marvel "
many more are available 100+
Your support means a lot-thanks in advance, legends!
patreon.com/SuperTL
(End of Chapter)