73. Xiling: Sorry, my hand slipped, Goddess.
Walking down the road, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash shifted their attention to a few people nearby.
Xiling grabbed Kevin by the collar and demanded, "Did you give the chat group a red envelope? Speak up! Confession is leniency, resistance is severity!"
Kevin, grabbed by the collar, looked smug, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
Seeing Kevin's smug expression, Xiling shook his head even more angrily.
"Then why are you a Saber and I a Berserker?"
Everyone participating in this mission will be assigned an identity in this world by the chat group. There will be seven standard servants and one foreigner.
After completing the mission, everyone will receive the same 20,000 points and their own rewards.
Xiling had initially assumed he was a Saber. After all, everyone in the chat group knew he was a master swordsman. And with that special holy sword in his hand, wasn't he a Saber? But then, he turned out to be a Berserker.
"Hey, please stop it. It's rare to be in a chat group mission. It's all fate, there's nothing I can do about it."
Kevin hadn't expected his identity to be a Saber, but that didn't stop him from being proud.
Now their identity had been confirmed.
Xiling [Berserker]
Kevin [Saber]
Tarnished [Caster]
Lemuen [Archer]
Dan Heng [Lancer]
Elaina [Rider]
Houraiji Kyuushou [Assassin]
Luo Tianyi [Foreigner]
Just as Xiling was growing increasingly annoyed by Kevin's smug expression, he, Kevin, and Dan Heng simultaneously looked toward a specific spot in the sky. At that moment, a black dot quickly approached and headed towards Fujimaru Ritsuka, though Fujimaru and Mash seemed oblivious.
As the black speck approached, a panicked female scream grew clearer and clearer from afar: "Waaaah"
Fujimaru Ritsuka turned her head, only to be enveloped by a shadow. Just as the black dot was about to strike her, a hand reached out and pulled her away.
Bang!!!
The black shadow plummeted from the sky, slamming into the spot where Fujimaru Ritsuka had stood. Dust billowed from the impact point, but without a speed bump to cushion its impact, the shadow didn't slow down at all. Driven by immense inertia, it began a frantic slide along the ground for dozens of meters!
"Hiss!" Elaina, sitting on the broom, suddenly covered her face with her hands, gasping for air and wincing as if feeling the pain herself.
"Just looking at it hurts!"
Xiling set the still-shocked Fujimaru Ritsuka down and, upon hearing Elaina's words, waved his hand nonchalantly, "Don't worry, that guy's tough. A little friction is nothing."
As if deliberately refuting Xiling's words, a wailing sounded from where the dust had slightly cleared: "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying! My face! My nose! My... Ouch! It hurts!!!"
The Tarnished approached Xiling and asked, "...Didn't you say that guy's flesh is thick?"
Xiling replied matter-of-factly, "It is, but I didn't say it wouldn't hurt!"
Everyone: It seems to be true.
"By the way, Xiling, do you know that person?" Lemuen felt that Xiling must know the other person; otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed her to free-fall.
"The goddess of beauty, harvest, and war in Mesopotamian mythology."
"Ishtar, the goddess of Venus"
"A very self-absorbed individual."
Xiling's tone was very flat, but those who knew him could tell he didn't like her very much.
And Xiling really didn't like her very much. As Xiling had said before, Ishtar was a very self-absorbed deity.
Savage, willful, and cruel was her true nature. If her personality hadn't been altered by the influence of her possessed object, Xiling guaranteed that at the seventh singularity, she would be far more likely to be an enemy than a helper.
Just then, at the end of the ravine, Ishtar finally stood up, rubbing her buttocks. The movement rubbed the pain in her face, causing her to gasp again. She shook off the dust and grass from her hair, then realized belatedly that she was being stared fixedly by ten different sets of eyes.
"Hey... hey!" Ishtar felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, instinctively shielding herself with her hands. However, the pride of a goddess made her quickly straighten her back.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"After all, car accident scenes are still rare these days, so I took a closer look." Xiling stepped forward with his signature smile.
"Huh?!" Ishtar's fury instantly flared up, her goddess demeanor nearly falling apart.
"Do you know who's standing before you? How dare you use such vulgar words as 'car accident scene' to describe the coming of this goddess?! Feel...feel..." Her angry words suddenly faltered the moment she saw Xiling's face clearly. Her arrogant expression shifted to one of deep thought.
The whole process lasted about five or six seconds.
Just as everyone began to wonder if the goddess had suffered a brain injury, Ishtar's eyes gleamed with surprise!
"Ah—!" Ishtar slammed her right fist into the palm of her left hand, making a resounding sound, as if she had discovered a rare treasure.
Then, she extended a finger, pointed it directly at Xiling's face, a smile of condescension spreading across her face.
"This goddess is generous and forgives your rudeness and the sin of watching over your shoulder! Be grateful, mortal!"
Ishtar paused, her chin raised higher, and gazed at Xiling.
"As for you, despite your acceptable appearance, this goddess has decided to grant you the highest honor!"
"I allow you—" Ishtar leaned slightly, raised her foot slightly, and extended it forward as if in a gesture.
"Gently kiss the back of my foot, swear allegiance to me, and from now on become my most beloved male concubine!"
The moment the words fell—plop! It was as if someone had hit the mute button.
Everyone in the chat group looked at the goddess in astonishment, their eyes revealing a single message:
You're going to die!
The silence made Fujimaru Ritsuka instinctively sense that something was about to happen.
And the two people in the front:
Ishtar, a smug look on her face, and Xiling, whose smile grew ever brighter.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Xiling moved. He took a step, a brilliant smile on his face, and approached Ishtar, step by step, as if truly ready to accept this supreme honor.
Ishtar watched Xiling approach, his handsome face magnified before her eyes, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
Xiling walked in front of Ishtar, stopping just one step in front of her outstretched feet.
Xiling's smile remained unchanged, even softening. Under Ishtar's hazy, expectant gaze, Xiling bent slightly, his movements smooth and natural, like a knight about to kiss the back of a princess's hand. His right hand naturally extended, seemingly aiming for Ishtar's slender ankle.
Ishtar closed her eyes contentedly, feeling the cool touch of his fingertips gently touching the skin of her ankle.
But—the next second!
"Whoosh!"
A sudden, violent, air-shattering sound of wind exploded in her ears!
Then, an unprecedented, terrifying force instantly gripped her ankle!
It was no gentle touch; it was the grip of an iron clamp!
"Ugh!" Ishtar's astonishment had barely risen, barely escaping her throat before a sound could even form.
She flung her eyes open, and what met her was not Xiling's humble face, but a rapidly revolving, blurry scene: dirt, weeds, the astonished faces of the crowd, the azure sky... everything was spinning and turning madly!
Her vision was like being splattered with thick ink, suddenly plunging into pitch blackness! A sharp impact and unimaginable pressure washed over her body!
The stench of earth and the stinging coldness of gravel against her face instantly overwhelmed her senses!
She felt as if... something... had been thrust... backwards... into the ground?!
Silence, a silence even more complete than before.
There was only the faint rustling of the wind across the wilderness, and... a humanoid figure stuck upside down in the earth, its feet twitching unconsciously, protruding from a hole in the fresh soil.
Xiling slowly straightened up and gently brushed the nonexistent dust off his hands.
Then, a slightly embarrassed voice rang out: "Oops, sorry, my hand slipped, Goddess-sama!"
_______
A/N [Author Note]:
Fujimaru Ritsuka was a superhuman, unfazed by being hit like a speed bump.