Chapter 374: Freezing Yamata no Orochi
Inside the castle lord's estate in Toke Castle of Shimousa Province—a magnificent mansion in an antique style that originated from the prosperous Tang Dynasty but had developed its own unique flair—the lovely Princess Kiyohime was currently entertaining her tiny guests.
Upon arriving in the city, Musashi and Gudako had first followed Atsu's directions, which led them to find the dancer lady at the inn, where they were naturally received with warm hospitality. However, regarding the intelligence inside the city, the dancer lady actually did not know very much.
Therefore, led by the dancer lady once again, they came to the castle lord's estate to seek help from the one in power, Princess Kiyohime.
At this moment, inside Princess Kiyohime's reception room, Miss Tamamo the dancer was covering her face with both hands, making funny faces to coax Shinsuke, who was in Atsu's arms, into chuckling and giggling.
Miss Musashi was happily eating the refreshments served by the servants of the castle lord's estate.
Meanwhile, Kiyohime and Gudako were staring eye-to-eye, silently confronting each other.
Kiyohime half-squinted her eyes, making threatening assessments of the females present one by one.
'The fox lady—a very difficult opponent to deal with. Right now she is right under my eyelids and has no chance of succeeding, so I'll leave her alone for now. Sooner or later, I will burn her to death. Threat level: High.
The samurai lady—she has a careless personality and is a foodie; she looks like someone who can be bought off. Furthermore, she appears to be a swordsman with her own pursuits, making it unlikely for her to stay here forever. Although she is strong, her threat level is actually the smallest here. Threat level: Low.
And then... the younger-sister-type kouhai! She looks completely harmless to humans and animals and is the weakest human here, but a certain dangerous aura can be faintly felt from her body. Could it be that she is actually the most terrifying existence here? But looking at her playing cute, maybe she is a bitch who knows men very well? Kiyohime thought to herself, feeling slightly hesitant. Threat level: Unknown.'
'??' Gudako opened her eyes wide, trying her best to make herself look cuter while projecting her goodwill. Right now, this place was Shirou-senpai's Shuraba (battlefield/love triangle), and she was actually glad to see it happen. If it could also help reduce some of her pressure back in Chaldea, that would be even better.
After all, rather than having Shirou-senpai as her man, she wished for Shirou-senpai to be her mother. As for an existence that could give her pocket money every year, of course, the more
the better~! As long as she joined hands with Shirou-senpai, they could absolutely establish a super large family! Naturally, even people from a different world could not be let off.
At this moment, a rustling sound came from outside, along with the hurried footsteps of several people; some sort of commotion seemed to have occurred.
"Waaah, there are snakes! Snakes have crawled inside."
"Someone come quickly, bring long bamboo poles to pitch these snakes out!"
Kiyohime walked out of the veranda to take a look, only to find that the snakes that had always hidden underground had actually all crawled out, scrambling to climb outside the walls. It clearly wasn't the summer season yet when snakes were active.
"These children seem to be very excited, both joyful and afraid. What on earth is happening?" Kiyohime said in puzzlement.
In fact, it was not just the castle lord's estate; inside and outside the entire city, within the cracks of underground holes and among the grass, snakes had all crawled out, slithering on the ground in swarms. It frightened the women into screaming incessantly, and they all ran back to hide in their homes, not daring to go outside anymore.
The one causing all of this was naturally the Yamata no Orochi that was running amok on the mountain.
When a divine beast like it was born into the world, it would always cause some anomalies. For instance, when the divine bird Phoenix appeared, it would cause the phenomenon of a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix. As the greatest Snake God of this country, it naturally received the submission of all its kind. Even if Yamata no Orochi did not deliberately command anything, the nearby snakes would involuntarily be drawn over upon sensing the Snake God.
These were merely racial suppressions, and it was even more so for existences that held a special connection with the Snake God.
"What an unexpected surprise. It seems that I have sensed a very familiar aura. Could it be that this world is already destined to be destroyed without needing us?" A petite figure spoke, a pair of straight horns growing on her forehead, and what slipped from her mouth was a soft and lovely Kyoto dialect. Although the girl's physique was still below that of a middle school student, she possessed the aura of a coquettish woman from the pleasure quarters, and she also spoke in a very alluring tone.
Standing on the other side, a tall samurai woman revealed a terrifying smile and said, "Ara ara, truly, what a dense stench! If I were summoned in a normal fashion, I probably would have rushed over there regardless of everything by now. That is something that must be cut down as quickly as possible, isn't it?"
"Well, we have already gathered a sufficient amount of souls, so we can go back, right? We can watch a good show just in time," the petite, horned woman shook the precious gourd she was holding and said with a smile.
"Shouldn't you rush over there to take a look? No matter how you put it, that is your mother. If a child can never step out of their rebellious phase, then..." the samurai woman asked.
The horned woman said, "I am already a Heroic Spirit existence now. I really don't want this pathetic appearance of mine to be seen by an acquaintance. Besides, what could be resurrected is merely an empty shell running amok based on the instinct of revenge; even if we meet, nothing can be said."
"Roar!!! So hungry! So full of hatred!! Susanoo! Tsukuyomi! Amaterasu! I will swallow you all!"
At this very moment, upon the mountain where no trace of any animals had been seen for hundreds of years and which had been dead silent, a violent roar resounded, shaking the earth so much that it was cracking, and even the sky seemed as though it would shatter apart. Countless swarms of snakes transformed from black miasma were squirming around, and Shirou and Illya's escape was still continuing.
The large white bear had its tongue sticking out, its four giant paws sprinting with all its might, actually managing to run at the speed of a cheetah.
When a mountain-like colossal object was wildly rampaging, with giant snake heads thrusting out from underground one after another, each making an earth-shattering loud noise, the scene was truly extremely shocking. On top of that, a rain of snakes, large and small, was falling from the sky. Fortunately, the large white bear ran fast; otherwise, a giant tree entangled with a python would have crashed down less than two meters behind them.
"Waaah! Run faster! Shirou!" Tears were streaming from Illya's eyes. Holding a giant blunt sword high, she swung it with all her might, batting away all the snakes falling from the sky, deeply afraid that a snake would land on her head.
"Little bugs! Inhale!" The giant snake opened its mouth wide and began to draw in breath. The frenzied suction pulled all surrounding things backward into the air, which were then swallowed into the giant snake's mouth. Exerting all its strength, the large white bear frantically stomped the ground, yet it still couldn't take a single step forward.
"Goddess! Susanoo! Little bugs! Do not run! My stomach is so hungry, I'll first use you to satisfy my appetite! Then I'll fight my way back, and I want to swallow all the deities of Takamagahara into my stomach!" Yamata no Orochi let out cries of hatred.
The revived Snake God seemed to have a defect in its intellect. Rather than calling it a god, the Yamata no Orochi that was wantonly destroying everything at this moment was closer to a monster that only knew destruction. Right now, the giant snake had not used any other methods besides attacking with its body; otherwise, it would have been impossible for Shirou and the others to escape to this point.
But even if it was just physical attacks, Yamata no Orochi's eight heads were as terrifying as having to face eight dragon species.
'I must think of a way!' Shirou thought anxiously.
'Ordinary attacks have absolutely no way of causing damage to Yamata no Orochi. In that case, should I use an anti-snake Noble Phantasm?'
In fact, he did possess the strongest method of attack against Yamata no Orochi: the Muramasa version of the Tsumukari Muramasa that he had forged. Once, when using Possession Summoning, he had also used this divine artifact to deal with Gorgon, the monster transformed from an incomplete, rampaging goddess summoned by Perseus.
However, if he were to unleash this divine artifact, he would inevitably have to mobilize the divine power belonging to a god within his body, and his tracks would be discovered by the white deity.
One of Yamata no Orochi's snake heads opened its blood-red maw and pounced forward.
'There's no time left to think! Then there's only this! Nine Lives (Shooting the Hundred Heads)!!!'
Shirou modified the axe that incorporated the martial arts of the Great Hero into a giant arrow carrying a golden light. His left hand projected the longbow he was accustomed to, and placing the arrow upon it, he turned around and shot it out.
Replicating Heracles' grand feat of shooting the nine-headed hydra back then, the arrow instantly split into hundreds of arrows that emitted a golden flowing light and became substantial. As if they had eyes, they actively flew out, pursuing all the large and small snake monsters that were being sucked over around them, and finally, they all bombarded into the wide-open mouth of the snake together.
And then! Broken Fantasy!!!
However, very quickly, the other snake heads pursued them again.
"Gaaah!!" In a panic, the large white bear opened its wide mouth and spat out a white, freezing ice beam, freezing the uneven swarms of snakes beneath its feet entirely into a smooth surface of ice. Utilizing the ice surface, the large white bear turned into a gust of wind and rapidly slid down like a slide, dodging the attack of the snake heads.
"This! I can do it too! Watch me!" Illya received inspiration. Saying so, she took out her small-bow Noble Phantasm and drew back the string. Searing cold energy that could penetrate to the bone condensed upon it, and she fired it right at the giant snake head that was chasing them.
The ice arrow struck the snake head, instantly freezing the giant snake head into a small mountain.
Freezing was a considerably effective method against snakes, which were cold-blooded animals. This was why the Counter Force chose to let Illya come to this world to resolve the issue of Yamata no Orochi.
Because this type of poikilothermic animal generated relatively little internal heat within their bodies, their body temperatures varied along with the changes in the temperature of nature. When a snake basked in the sun, its temperature would be very high. But on cloudy days, or when it was in the water, its body temperature would drop by several or even over ten degrees.
Therefore, animals of this kind had no way of surviving in environments that were either too cold or too hot.
"Kill! Kill..." The frozen snake head actually stopped its movements. With a thud, it fell onto the ground, emitting a muffled sound, and no longer moved; it had actually fallen asleep.
"Illya, do it again! Freezing can counter it!" Shirou said in pleasant surprise. He also projected ice-attribute Noble Phantasms, and along with Illya, directed a wild barrage of bombardment right at Yamata no Orochi's body.
"So sleepy..." Yamata no Orochi let out a muffled groan and began to snore.
By now, the top and bottom of the mountain had turned into a silvery-white sheet, and snowflakes were drifting down in the sky; it had completely become a frozen world. Yamata no Orochi's body gradually receded. Dragging those eight giant heads that had already fallen asleep, it sank into the bottom of the sunken mountain.
Shirou and Illya opening the seal ahead of time was not a useless effort. Because the Yamata no Orochi that was awaiting repair had manifested ahead of time, it broke the balance of its soul, leading to the instability of its spiritual intellect. A miss is as good as a mile.
Yamata no Orochi's resurrection consequently became incomplete. It originally should have recovered to its full peak as an evil god possessing a physical body, but now, if evaluated according to the Heroic Spirit Servant summoning system, it couldn't even be considered an Avenger; it was closer to a completely rampaging Berserker.
The giant snake, which acted entirely according to its bodily instincts, chose to hide away and hibernate under the cold.
"We finally escaped." Shirou and Illya finally let out a sigh of relief, having survived a disaster. The large white bear directly flopped onto the ground, panting heavily, exhausted to the point of collapse.
However, the matter was still far from over; the giant snake could wake up at any time.
In the bottom layer of a certain dark attic.
A black-haired female ninja wearing fishnet clothing was crouching on the ground in agony, and the strangulation marks from whatever was binding her body became even more
apparent. Although the object binding her was invisible to the naked eye, it could be clearly seen that the skin on her body was being compressed by something long.
Furthermore, that object had been constantly moving since just a moment ago, causing the flesh within the indentations on the female ninja's fair skin to constantly tremble as well, bringing a burning and sharp pain.
"Ugh... forgive me, please forgive me, Lord God..." The female ninja knelt on the ground, trembling in agony, her entire body soaking wet, with sweat still dripping down.
She frantically tore at her hair again, ripping apart the bandages on her body, making her hair disheveled while simultaneously revealing her heterochromatic eyes—one golden and one blue.
Within her golden eye, a black vertical slit pupil appeared at this moment. It seemed as though something was utilizing the female ninja's body, peering at something. Within those eyes, there was only animality and a fury that desired revenge.
Above the attic, several dark shadows were looking down from a high position at the distracted female ninja below.
"It seems she can no longer be used. But that's fine as well; that Yamata no Orochi can just happen to help us pin down that man," the sorcerer in the leading position said in a deep voice.
The sword fiend, clad in a cloak that concealed his face, coldly glanced at the female ninja in agony there and said, "Originally, when setting out on the campaign, this old man saw an expert man. To guard against changes, I advanced the plan. To think a problem still occurred. Since Lancer has already failed and now the female ninja cannot move, then simply leave Musashi's execution to this old man to handle."
The sword fiend gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist, itching to try.
"No, it is not yet time. Miyamoto Musashi's current sword is not yet enough to satisfy you, is it? Furthermore, she is someone who shares the same destiny as me; if the timing isn't right, she will shift to another world and escape again," the sorcerer spoke up.
"Hmph!" The sword fiend let out a cold snort, but his hand still left the hilt; he had been persuaded.
The sorcerer continued, "Moreover, that Chaldean Master who restored human history is also around; it won't be surprising no matter when we clash with her. This is the purpose for which I summoned you all over. First find a way to kill them for me, Caster!"
"Of course, Master, leave this place to us. My puppets have already taken that silver-haired Oni Samurai to find them. Furthermore, the Union Hell and the Black Rope Hell should also have gathered a sufficient amount of souls and are on their way back. I will have them set out
to crusade against Musashi as well. Everything is for Satan of Hell," the mysterious man smiled, bowing and saluting as he agreed.
"Very well, then act separately," the sorcerer commanded.
"Yes..." The two dark shadows vanished into the dark attic.
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