Although Shirou managed to quickly calm himself down, that sudden spike in his mood caused by the annoying Valkyrie had led to a tiny trace amount of his unique wavelength aura to leak out - probably even less than when Merlin peeped on the goddesses. It was only for a moment, but just that little bit, just that brief moment, was enough to make Surtr suddenly squeeze his blazing eyes into enraged, suspicious slits.
He immediately gripped the apocalyptic sword Laevateinn resting beside him, causing hungry flames to rage wildly up and down the mystical blade as he bellowed furiously, "Who's peeking at me?!"
Laevateinn burned so bright with his fury that Shirou felt a piercing, searing pain as if his own eyes were being burnt straight out of his skull. They began stinging badly, watering up reflexively. He quickly slammed them shut, immediately cutting off his [Clairvoyance EX].
He reached out and rubbed his eyes. Beside him, Salter couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with your eyes?"
"Nothing, just got caught peeking," He said, still rubbing.
"Don't tell me you have clairvoyance and pulled a Merlin?"
Although his [Clairvoyance EX] was powerful, it could also easily be detected. Especially when peeking at divine spirit-type Servants, they were likely to detect him. That's why whenever Merlin used his [Clairvoyance] to sneak a peek at bathing beauties, he didn't dare try it on bathing goddesses. In addition, high-level [Instinct] could also sense Clairvoyance.
"It's a bit annoying," he said, rubbing his eyes.
"What's wrong, Eternal King?" The one asking wasn't Salter, but Sigurd, who had walked over but stopped ten meters away.
Shirou glanced at him. "I thought that Valkyrie was exaggerating about the 300,000 fire giants, but from what I saw with clairvoyance, there's probably way more. Also, why're you standing so far away?"
He took two steps toward Sigurd, who retreated four more in fright. "Don't come near me!"
Shirou: "???"
He was dumbfounded.
Sigurd knew he was being awkward. He quickly coughed twice to cover up his wariness, and said, "Even if there are over 300,000 fire giants, there's no need to worry. They've survived for more than two thousand years in this dead world with barely any resources or things to feed themselves properly, so all of them must have extremely weak bodies by now. They aren't worth worrying about. The ones who broke in earlier still seemed pretty strong, but they were probably the toughest batch."
"No," Shirou shook his head solemnly, "Based on what I've seen, the ones who got in were actually the weakest. The giants outside the walls, each of them is stronger than the previous ones we faced."
Sigurd's eyes widened in shock. "How's that possible! This world's been dying over two thousand years. It doesn't have the resources left to support their whole race. How'd they do it?" He asked in complete bewilderment.
"I'm not sure. But obviously, they found a way."
Just then, with an earth-shattering, thunderous boom that made the ground tremble, the previously indestructible walls suddenly collapsed and imploded in nearly ten different locations, leaving behind nothing but huge, gaping holes and piles of rubble.
The first beings to come lumbering out from the dust and debris were ten blood-covered giants - several with badly caved-in heads and limping gaits, no doubt the very ones from the horde who had relentlessly smashed the walls down through sheer brute force and numbers!
These ten hulking giants greedily sucked in the fresh air inside the towering walls through their cavernous mouths, flaring their nostrils as if they could catch the faint scent of frightened, helpless prey cowering within. They slowly tilted their rugged faces skyward and unleashed guttural, bone-chilling roars that echoed throughout the snowy land.
Through those ten enormous, gaping holes torn open in the once-impenetrable walls by their sheer brute strength, one gigantic fire giant after another slowly lumbered into the vulnerable world contained within. This new wave of invading giants entering from the outside were not the disorganized, half-crazed and half-starved ragtag lot that had come before, but disciplined giant warriors outfitted in sinister obsidian armor that glinted in the sunlight and wielding flaming swords that crackled with each movement.
Each had a hideous, fierce, and greedy look, yet they kept themselves in control, marching through the breaches in the walls and into the world inside in orderly rows.
Sigurd stared open-mouthed at the scene unfolding before his eyes, stunned into silence by the sight of this disciplined army of giants that moved with the purpose and coordination of Odin's own troops of Valkyrie warriors, yet with a uniformity and discipline he had never seen from their kind before.
Perhaps to an ordinary person, the undisciplined, greedy giants who looked like starving ghosts and tried to eat them before would seem far more terrifying. But to Shirou, Salter, and Sigurd, this orderly giant army was far more alarming.
"How is this possible?" Sigurd finally managed. "Aren't they giants? How can they have such an orderly army?" His worldview was shattered. If the giants could form armies like this, the gods wouldn't have stood a chance at seizing control of the world from them during the Age of Gods.
"They cannot be allowed to enter!" Sigurd gritted his teeth and raised his demonic sword, intending to kill those giants. But Shirou grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.
"What are you doing?"
"This is a war, not just a battle. What can you achieve alone? Go help Saber evacuate the villagers. Leave this place to me." Shirou said as he walked away.
Watching his back, Sigurd felt as though he was seeing ghosts of fallen warriors around him. He was startled. "Are they the fallen Asgard warriors?"
He took one last deep look at Shirou, then left with Salter.
...
When ten huge breaches were opened in the wall and the infantry giants had finished gathering inside, a fire giant reported to his superior, "General, six thousand infantry are now inside the walls."
He nodded seriously, then asked, "And what about those undisciplined bunch with no survival instincts?"
"We can't detect their life signs anymore. They were likely killed by Chaldea or the Valkyries."
"They're gone? You can't detect their life signs anymore? Hmm. Although they were exiles, they had the great ancestor's noble blood within them. For them to have died like that grieves me. But in terms of contribution, I suppose they served their purpose well enough," the General laughed coldly.
The giant nodded. "We drove them to the borderlands, and for two thousand years they kept attacking the walls just to survive. They drew counterattacks from the Valkyries and that upstart Chaldea. Thanks to their sacrifice, that traitor Skadi and that stupid little lamb still think we're a primitive, disorganized rabble - unaware we've long been ready to ambush and exterminate them!"
"Now, now. Don't speak of the little lamb that way. That goddess has accumulated four parts of ancestral power; she rules this world now," he laughed mockingly.
"Ruling this dying world is no better than scavenging through garbage," the giant replied fanatically. "Even I look down on that lamb. Our king though - he's the true ruler, bearing our clan's will to survive! He stayed hidden for over two thousand years, biding his time before we invade the panhuman history!"
The general nodded. "Of course. But we mustn't grow careless and ruin this war - our very survival depends on it."
The giant assistant nodded repeatedly. "Should we get the army ready now and set up a base here in Village 6 then?"
"No," the general shook his head. "It's dangerous inside these walls. We should stick to the original plan and wait until all the legions have assembled before attacking."
"But that seems like such a waste of time," the assistant objected. "Skadi's already been beaten by that little lamb, and the king said she won't come after us yet. The fairies, dwarves, and other creatures that might've caused problems are gone too. It's just some humans left struggling to survive, and they're our food, not a threat."
"Then how did those exiles die then?" He retorted.
"It was probably those people from Chaldea. They killed our men," the assistant replied.
He shook his head. "Wrong. Chaldea had their hands full resisting those giants at the borderlands. And according to the scouts, Chaldea and the Valkyries are no longer allies - they clashed and the Valkyries came out on top. So Chaldea is in no condition to interfere in another conflict, which means they couldn't have annihilated our men. Either another force did it, or the little lamb was secretly probing us."
"So what should we do now, General?"
...