Chapter 17: Charging Straight into Caster's Lair!
Shirou, watching the last sliver of light disappear beneath the horizon, slowly closed his eyes.
Scenes from the storyline flashed through his mind like a slideshow. Soon, Shirou spoke to Karna.
"If I'm not mistaken, the figure of Assassin should appear in the southeast direction. Go and take him out!"
"Assassin?"
Hearing Shirou's command, Karna unhesitatingly looked to the southeast and immediately spotted a dark figure crouching high up.
In an instant, Karna exerted his A-rank 'Speed', trailing a golden shadow as he charged towards Assassin!
-
-
-
At this very moment, Kotomine Kirei, who had dispatched Assassin to the warehouse district for reconnaissance, was sharing vision with his Servant, Assassin.
From Assassin's perspective, Kotomine Kirei saw the warehouse district illuminated only by the faint moonlight and streetlamps in the darkness.
"Eh... what was that...?"
Suddenly, through Assassin's vision, Kotomine Kirei saw a golden shadow, which instantly vanished from sight, leaving him somewhat puzzled.
Just as Kotomine Kirei was about to order Assassin to turn, he suddenly saw a golden spear thrusting towards him through Assassin's perspective!
Swoosh—!
In just a fraction of a second, the visual link between Kotomine Kirei and Assassin was severed.
"This...!!?"
Having observed that scene from a first-person perspective, Kotomine Kirei was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. Although his physical combat ability was considered strong among humans, he ultimately couldn't compare to a top-tier Heroic Spirit like Karna.
Therefore, he saw that dangerously menacing sight before he could even react. Even though it was brief, it caused Kotomine Kirei great psychological distress.
"I must quickly inform sensei..."
Kotomine Kirei endured the discomfort of his mental shock and began contacting Tohsaka Tokiomi.
.
.
.
"...It's done, Master!"
Karna's figure leaped continuously between the tall buildings, finally returning to Shirou.
"Mhm, well done. However, Assassin has many copies; the one you just took out might only be one of many."
Hearing this, Karna raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Is that so..."
"Speaking of which, what do you think of Assassin's strength?" Shirou asked.
Karna, hearing this, confidently hefted his 'Undying Blade' (Vajra) in his hand.
"If they are all like the one just now, it doesn't matter how many there are."
"I see."
Shirou nodded, then looked around to confirm no one was paying attention to them, and then said to Karna.
"That's enough for now, let's go."
With that, Shirou and Karna left the warehouse district.
The Mion River Bridge was not far away. Shirou recalled the location of Caster's workshop from the plot and planned to take the initiative to go and eliminate the guy first.
.
.
.
The moon hid behind the clouds, and a black curtain enveloped the sky above the city.
Less than a kilometer from the Mion River Bridge, near the beach, Shirou found the magical workshop set up by Caster.
"This is the place."
For a Magus, a workshop is the culmination of their magecraft.
Especially for Caster, who is known as a 'Champion of Sorcery' and possesses the Class Skill, 'Territory Creation', which enhances this ability.
And for a Black Magus like Gilles de Rais, the magical workshop he creates naturally wouldn't take aesthetics into consideration.
As soon as he arrived at the entrance to the sewer, Shirou immediately smelled a sickening stench of blood.
The depths of the sewer resembled an otherworldly demonic mirror, where countless tentacled aquatic demonic beasts resided in the narrow pipes, waiting to strangle any unfortunate intruder.
Looking at these demonic beasts, certain images from doujin comics popped into Shirou's mind. The similarity between the two was surprisingly high, causing the corner of his mouth to twitch slightly.
Karna could sense Shirou's negative impression of these demonic beasts, so he wielded his spear and walked ahead to clear the path for him.
Fragments of the demonic beasts, ripped apart by the swiftly passing spear, splattered the sewer with blood. Shirou walked through this space filled with a heavy, foul odor.
Continuing forward, they reached the deepest part of the sewer. In the space shrouded in darkness, the crystal ball at the center, emitting a glow, was particularly eye-catching.
The complex defensive array set up by Caster was easily broken by Karna's personal skill, 'Mana Burst (Flame): A'.
"So this is Caster's magical workshop. If a Magus came here alone, they probably wouldn't make it out alive."
After all, while there was no magical disguise or magical traps inside.
There were quite a lot of 'mobs' like the demonic beasts. For an ordinary Magus, they would certainly pose a threat, but for Karna, they were indeed just 'mobs'.
Furthermore, Caster isn't a Magus in the true sense of the word.
He is able to hold this Class entirely because of the grimoire in his hand.
Gilles de Rais, as a Marshal of France, should inherently have an affinity for the Saber Class, not Caster.
He had no contact with magecraft from birth, let alone mastering it personally.
After the death of Saint Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais had only one thing on his mind: resurrecting her.
He believed that the God whom Joan of Arc believed in had abandoned her, so he pinned his hopes on blasphemous black magic, attempting to resurrect Joan of Arc through it.
But Gilles de Rais did not have the talent to become a Magus, so the 'Prelati's Spellbook' became the source of his black magic.
The 'Prelati's Spellbook' actually has a more famous name: the 'R'lyeh Text'.
Aside from the fact that the original manuscript was written in pre-human script, all other details remain unknown.
There was also a previous view that the original manuscript was written on clay tablets.
It is said to contain methods for summoning gods from another dimension.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, it is a magical text that ranks alongside the Necronomicon, written in the R'lyehian language, and was used by ancient priests and Magi.
It is easy to see that in the anime, aside from summoning deep-sea demonic beasts with Cthulhu characteristics, Gilles de Rais had no other offensive moves.
The reason is that the sole purpose of the 'Prelati's Spellbook' is to use a medium to summon deep-sea demonic beasts to fight enemies.
Although these deep-sea demonic beasts are not powerful compared to a Servant, the advantage is that the 'Prelati's Spellbook' is itself a massive magic core. Gilles de Rais, who holds this Noble Phantasm, is completely unafraid of a war of attrition.
Furthermore, the corpses of the lost sea monsters can also be used as a medium to summon new ones, allowing Gilles de Rais to wear down his opponent little by little.
Moreover, if he weren't constrained by controlling the sea monsters, Gilles de Rais could even summon massive sea monsters hundreds of meters tall.
All information regarding Gilles de Rais flashed through Shirou's mind. His gaze swept through the gloomy sewer space, but he found no sign of any hostages.
"This is indeed Caster's magical workshop... but Caster is not here..."