"Jiang You?"
Achilles pondered for a moment, discovering that there was no information related to this name in the knowledge bestowed upon him by the Holy Grail. This was a bit embarrassing; the other party could see through his background at a glance, while he knew absolutely nothing about them. Even if they weren't opponents, it still seemed a bit rude. "...Sorry, who was that again?"
"You haven't heard of it? That's normal. Then what about Azathoth?"
"..."
Achilles wore a confused expression; it was obvious that this character was not part of the knowledge granted to him by the Holy Grail. He suspected that Jiang You was making fun of him, but looking at the expressions of the two Jeanne d'Arcs nearby, it seemed to be real. In any case, he couldn't let his momentum weaken. He was a renowned Hero, and many acquaintances were participating in this Holy Grail War; he couldn't lose face here.
"Still don't know it. You wouldn't happen to be some nameless nobody, would you? Besides, you look like an Easterner. Are you messing with me by giving me this name?!"
"If you don't even know the Great God Azathoth, then I really can only be considered a nameless nobody."
Jiang You smiled at Achilles. The popularity of the special Class, Foreigner, wasn't that high yet, so it was understandable that Achilles didn't know about it.
"Well then, I've got the information too. Aren't you going to run away quickly? It'll be too late soon."
"Great God? That's quite a boast. Have you ever seen a real god?"
As a servant from the Age of Gods, Achilles had witnessed the power of gods, let alone a Major God-class existence. Jiang You gave him a very dangerous feeling, but it was nowhere near that level.
"Let me test your mettle!"
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Jiang You smiled even more cheerfully. Servants all had their own pride; after all, they were top-notch great Heroes or arch-villains in life, and generally wouldn't submit to anyone outside their own faction.
"Since that's the case, I'll give you a choice: Duel within my Noble Phantasm, or face my Summon in a head-on clash."
Actually, Jiang You wanted to step up himself, but he gave up on the idea considering his amateur-level combat skills. Plus, he couldn't just casually activate his passives. He had no choice but to obediently act as a summoner.
"A Duel Noble Phantasm?"
Achilles sneered. Who would be stupid enough to engage in a Duel with an unknown servant inside the opponent's Noble Phantasm? Even thinking with his heel, he knew the rules of the Duel would be biased in the opponent's favor.
"Keep your petty tricks to yourself. Don't blame me for being ruthless—humanity's survival is at stake, and I have no time for your nonsense!"
Achilles launched his passive Noble Phantasm, Dromeus Komētēs—a perpetually active ability that allowed him to traverse vast battlefields in a single breath, unimpeded by any obstacles. This Noble Phantasm granted him unparalleled ground mobility, but its sole weakness was the extreme exposure of his Achilles heel. However, few could capitalize on this vulnerability at such breakneck speed.
Jiang You's senses reacted swiftly. The instant Achilles' heel flared with energy, he sensed the imminent charge. His summoning was already prepared; he could theoretically summon all his available servants at once. But that would turn this into an uninteresting mob fight, and besides, they were all on vacation—dragging them back for Voluntary Overtime! would be a real mood killer.
After a moment's thought, Jiang You struck upon a brilliant idea. Since he had several Greek servants on his side, why not stage a little performance?
"Realized it now?"
In an instant, Achilles had closed the distance to Jiang You, his spear sweeping horizontally with perfect precision, the razor-sharp tip poised to tear through Jiang You's body.
"But it's useless! Your speed is too slow, far too slow!"
"Ouch! That hurts!"
Achilles hadn't expected to defeat Jiang You so easily. Jiang You had mentioned having a Summon earlier, clearly implying a powerful entity akin to the Black Faction's Caster. However, Achilles reasoned that as long as he denied Jiang You the chance to summon, there was nothing to fear. Yet he never anticipated that Jiang You's Summon required no preparation. A golden humanoid figure materialized directly in the path of his attack, blocking the spear shaft and letting out a pained cry.
Achilles hastily dodged—at this close range, things could get ugly. But the Summon showed no sign of pursuit, instead collapsing to the ground and rubbing its struck shoulder.
Achilles narrowed his eyes, realizing the summoned figure was someone he recognized.
"Jason!?"
"Who?"
Jason felt the voice was a bit familiar, but the memory was too distant, so he couldn't recall it for a moment. It wasn't until he saw the other person's appearance that he cried out with some surprise.
"Achilles!?"
As mentioned before, Jiang You could summon all the Servants from the Fifth Holy Grail War, and the authorization to summon Jason was also given by Medea.
"Your Summon is... Jason?"
Achilles looked in disbelief at the blond Servant on the ground. Although he hadn't seen much of this senior disciple, he had heard a few words about him from his teacher. He was mediocre in every aspect, perhaps even third-rate, but he did possess the sharpest mind—it's just that this brain would only be put to good use in critical moments. He was the most unreliable companion when things were safe, but the absolute backbone in times of danger.
"That shouldn't be right. Do we have someone like you in Greece?"
To be able to summon him, there must be a strong connection, but even on the Argo, there was no such character.
"Who exactly are you?"
"I didn't expect Medea to sell me out to you too! Just what kind of benefits did you give her!"
Seeing that the opponent was also a Greek servant, Jason hurriedly endured the pain and stood up. As an upperclassman, he still needed to save some face.
"Achilles, stop making wild guesses. It's just that my ex-wife transferred control over me to this guy."
"..."
Achilles shut his mouth; this was someone else's domestic affair, and he didn't want to hear about it at all.
"And Jiang You, what did you summon me for? It can't just be to catch up with an old acquaintance, right?"
Jason had a bad feeling about this. Achilles seemed to be hostile towards Jiang You. Jiang You could summon so many servants; pulling any random one out would be enough to fight Achilles to a standstill, and there were even a few with overwhelming combat power. Dragging him out definitely meant nothing good.
"Of course, it's to have you and this Achilles battle it out to see who is superior. As a top-tier Greek Hero, you can't possibly back down from the challenge of a rising star, right?"
Jiang You egged Jason on to fight Achilles.
"As long as you win, I can help you talk things out with Medea."
Jason pulled a bitter face. "Don't I know exactly what I'm capable of? I'm the Captain, a commander! A commander, understand? I'm not the type for direct, frontal combat!"
"You don't want to fight, do you?"
Jiang You laughed. "But that's not up to you. Just look over there."
Achilles took a deep breath. He glanced at the two Jeanne d'Arcs; neither showed any intention of stepping in to help, which meant he wasn't at a disadvantage yet. "Jason, whatever the reason, since you are standing on the opposite side, you are my enemy. I'm sorry!"
"Wait, wait, wait!!"
Jason hastily tried to explain. Jiang You's command wasn't highly compulsory, so he could actually choose not to fight. Even though Medea would settle the score with him later, suffering in the future was always better than suffering right now. Who knew, maybe things would take a turn for the better later?
However, Achilles didn't give him the chance and launched an attack straight at him.
Jason might not excel at much else, but his escaping skills were top-notch. He somehow managed to dodge Achilles' barrage of attacks, even if his posture was anything but graceful.
"Hasn't the backup arrived yet? Why hasn't the Black Faction's Rider made a move at all?"
Achilles glanced at the other enemies. The black Jeanne d'Arc was clearly getting a bit impatient. His backup hadn't arrived yet; perhaps he had gone too deep. The strongest fighters, Saber and Lancer, were kept at the base camp as trump cards to guard against any sudden attack from Tiamat. The other available Servants lacked mobility, and the previous pursuit had obviously widened the distance.
"Jason was also taught by the teacher, after all, so he has some understanding of my attacks. If this drags on, I'll only be on the passive side. In that case—come, stand before me! My chariot will be like the stars, mercilessly crushing you! It's already too late! Troias Tragōidia!"
In order to deal with emergencies, all Masters had given their Servants the right to decide for themselves whether to activate their Noble Phantasms. Achilles very decisively activated his. At this distance, while attacking Jason, he could catch the other enemies in it as well.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Jason watched Achilles activate his Noble Phantasm, breaking out in a cold sweat. His evasion skills were completely useless against this kind of high-speed, wide-range attack.
"I don't care anymore! I'll let you witness my, Jason's, glory! Astrapste Argo!"
"!"
Atalante's cat ears suddenly twitched, and her tail stood straight up.
Chiron, who was part of the Archer duo moving towards Jeanne, stopped in his tracks when he noticed Atalante.
"What happened?"
"I suddenly got a very familiar feeling. Is someone summoning me?"
Atalante's fur seemed to bristle; this kind of summon greatly annoyed her.
"A second summon? Does such a thing even exist?"
Chiron was not too familiar with the mechanics of summoning.
"My situation is a bit special. After all, it is related to my past. There is indeed a guy who can summon the members of the Argo, and you should know him."
Atalante didn't expect to receive such a summoning invitation at this time, but she decisively rejected it. It felt disgusting, and Jason must be doing something embarrassing again.
"Jason? But why would he summon the current you..."
Chiron still didn't quite understand, but reality soon gave him the answer. In the distance, a massive sailing ship abruptly appeared in the middle of the forest and collided with a green storm.
"The Argo! I see, Jason has been summoned too."
Chiron certainly recognized his own student's Noble Phantasm. "It's just that, the Noble Phantasm colliding with him is Achilles', isn't it? How could... Right now, out of the 14 Servants, only the Assassin on our side hasn't shown up yet. Could Jason have been summoned in the Assassin Class?"
Chiron pondered this, but no matter how he looked at it, it seemed highly unlikely. With Jason's shoddy martial arts, even though he knew a little bit of everything, only his swordsmanship was barely passable. The only Class affinities for Jason he could think of should be Saber and Rider. If granted Mad Enhancement, there was also a slim possibility of Berserker; however, while that would greatly enhance his combat power, Jason's greatest assets—Epiphany in the Jaws of Death and his summoning abilities—would be rendered ineffective. That would be a pure downgrade, where the losses far outweigh the gains.
"Since there is no answer, stop overthinking it."
Atalante didn't expect so many acquaintances to appear in this Holy Grail War. Based on her understanding of Jason, if they went late, they would probably only see his corpse.
"We will know once we go over and take a look."
"True."
Chiron nodded.
"Is this the Argo? It's truly spectacular. It's a pity I couldn't witness its glory back in those days."
Looking at the greatest Greek ship, Achilles's eyes held a bit of longing. Many great Heroes had left behind glorious deeds on this vessel. It was just a pity that Achilles made his debut a bit late and didn't have the chance to embark on a journey with the Heroes. Soon, Achilles raised his guard. This kind of Noble Phantasm definitely wasn't meant to be used for defense. Given Jason's status, there would likely be quite a few crew members coming down from it.
Jason thought the same. Although it was a bit disgraceful, it was still better than losing his life. However, after looking around, his face quickly turned pale. He was the only one on the ship; no one had responded to his summon, and not even Medea Lily came over.
"How... how could this happen!"
Jason cried out, clutching his head. Didn't this make him a fish on a chopping block now?
"?"
Achilles was somewhat at a loss. His impression of Jason was actually quite good. Although he was a bit lacking in martial prowess, he was still a dignified and great Hero, so this outcome caught him a bit by surprise.
Beside them, Jalter had already burst out laughing. When Jason and Achilles were fighting, Jiang You had explained Jason's Noble Phantasm. Having not a single companion respond to the summon made him look like an absolute clown.
However, they were still in the middle of a battle, so Achilles didn't say anything. Instead, he raised his spear and launched another attack. His Master's magical power wasn't enough for him to release his Noble Phantasm again so soon, unless a Command Spell was used.
"Jiang You! Hurry up and use your Noble Phantasm! Quickly!"
Watching Achilles charging at him like a green shooting star, Jason practically scrambled and crawled over to Jiang You's side. Without his crew, how could he possibly have the ability to block Achilles' attack now?
"Are you sure?"
Jiang You actually just wanted to prank Jason and drag him out so Chiron could teach him a lesson.
"I'm sure, I'm sure!"
Jason nodded repeatedly. If he didn't think of something soon, his little life would be forfeit.
"Then go ahead!"
Jiang You dropped the idea of calling out for Tiamat. Since Jason wanted to show off, he would give him the opportunity.