The current situation is almost overwhelmingly unfavorable.
Although Arturia was confident that with Mash's cooperation, she would finally escape from the siege of the Chimeras, the time it took was by no means a fraction of the time.
By that time, Boudicca and Fujimaru Ritsuka would have been submerged in the nearly endless tide of Chimeras.
This was not the first time that Matthew had faced such a scene. The countless faceless monsters with their limbs curled up in Chakdis City still left a deep impression on her.
Artoria also destroyed a large number of wyverns in the French singularity.
But whether it's Elizabeth's faceless monster or the Dragon Witch's two-legged dragon, they are nothing compared to the number of [200,000] Chimeras.
Perhaps in terms of quantity, there are more faceless monsters and wyverns than chimeras, but the quality is far different.
Although Mash and Artoria have killed a lot of Chimeras in the battle so far, it seems very easy.
But that was all done based on the sufficient magic power in the magic ritual given to them by Animusfia as a backup.
Every time a Chimera is killed, a huge amount of magic power is released.
"Excalibur————Morgan——————!"
Another pillar of pitch-black light shot up into the sky, and the strong wind stirred up the surrounding dust and broken leaves and branches to fill the air broken up by the Sword of Victory.
After swinging the King's Hammer again to smash the other Chimeras that flew forward, Artoria gasped slightly and handed her body to Mash's shield.
Even though she has given up being the king now, she still feels at ease behind this familiar "shield".
Fighting alongside Mash also reminded Artoria of the time when she fought with the knights of the Round Table.
However, there is no time for Artoria to reminisce about the past now.
Master Fujimaru Ritsuka and Boudica should be facing the same dilemma, and she and Mashu will not be able to escape from it for a while.
The sudden impact from behind made Artoria groan, but then she reacted and turned around to release the Noble Phantasm again, and cleared away a large area of Chimera with her sword.
Thanks to the cloak given by Animusfia, Artoria Alter did not suffer any substantial damage. The faint purple fluorescence on the cloak proved its effectiveness.
Even with the existence of a bug-level ritual equivalent to the Unlimited Command Spell, Artoria still felt a little tired as she continued to release the Noble Phantasm.
It’s not just physical fatigue—heroic spirits don’t have bodies, so they can keep fighting as long as they have magic power.
It’s the fatigue of the magic circuit.
Continuously absorbing magic power from the cloak and releasing it from the sword places a heavy load on Artoria's spiritual body. Even the blade of the Sword of Victory, which was born in the inner sea of the planet, shows signs of fatigue.
It was as if the barrel of a gun fired multiple times in a short period of time or the muzzle of a gun fired continuously overheated.
Arturia and Mash were trapped in an out-and-out quagmire of bitter fighting.
Not to mention 200,000 chimeras, even 200,000 pigs would take some effort for Artoria to slaughter.
And the initiator of all this, Mikhail VIII, was sitting on a throne made of spider webs, smiling and watching.
It was as if he was completely out of the loop.
When did he lay down such a dragnet?
Arturia Alt has no way of knowing.
Perhaps even before they arrived, these invisible spider threads had already invaded the surrounding land.
It deceived Chaldea's observation, deceived Boudica and Mash's eyes, and even deceived Artoria's intuition.
The web of conspiracy that was completely undetectable was not revealed until the moment it was actively exposed by the other party.
The Chimera standing on the ground might have been ambushing there for a long time, but she didn't know anything about it.
After slamming a chimera into the ground again, Artoria Alt looked at Mikhail VIII sitting on the throne.
A servant who can control as many as 200,000 familiars...such an existence should not be an unknown person.
And it seems that he is still a servant of the [Rome] system.
However, Artoria didn't have the slightest clue in her mind.
Perhaps if Animusfia were here, she could identify the true identity of the enemy from these "clues".
But this is obviously not what Matthew and Artoria can do now.
"whispering sound."
After complaining pointlessly, Artoria gritted her teeth and continued to devote herself to the battle.
Even though she knew that continuing like this was not the answer, but——————
She was caught in the web.
On the other side, in the city of Cologne, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Boudica watched with ugly expressions as the civilians in the city walked out of their homes one by one with ferocious expressions, wailing in pain and lying on the ground twisted under the drive of purple threads.
Even some of the soldiers in the barracks had spider silk glowing with purple light on their bodies.
A huge purple web appeared in the sky, and the spider threads emerging from countless citizens and soldiers finally gathered here.
"Soldiers who are not affected, gather at the back of the camp! Set up your resistance horses and form a formation!"
After cutting off the threads behind the soldiers, Boudica stretched out her hand to block Fujimaru Ritsuka behind her, and at the same time ordered the remaining soldiers.
"How is this going?"
The red-haired girl was a little at a loss when facing the scene in front of her.
Large numbers of soldiers and ordinary people lay on the ground in pain, twitching and twisting their limbs.
The stiff body and head even caused some people to bite off their tongues.
Red blood flowed from their mouths.
However, even then they could not stop their twitching.
"I don't know... Damn it, even many of our soldiers have been hit. It should be the enemy's servant's Noble Phantasm————"
Boudica stared closely at the giant purple net in the sky and took a deep breath.
"This feeling...is that of a [Rome]-type servant."
After trying to contact Chaldea failed, Fujimaru Ritsuka shook his head and said:
"No, we can't contact Dr. Roman and Leonardo da Vinci at all... Saber and Matthew have also lost contact. Our communication should be completely blocked by this giant network."
"I'm sorry, Master. This network should have been built under my nose... What a dereliction of duty. I failed to notice such a thing and put you in danger. What a shame." Miss Artoria and Miss Matthew have been transferred away from home."
"No... Chaldea's side has not been able to find any clues or traces at all. This is not your mistake, Miss Boudica."
Just when Fujimaru Ritsuka tried to relieve Boudica from blaming herself, something even more surprising happened to them.
The citizens and soldiers who were connected and entangled by the spider silk gradually stopped twitching.
However, that was enough. What happened next made the girl almost unable to believe her eyes.
The bodies of those lying on the ground suddenly began to swell and deform.
The limbs turned into sharp claws or sheep's hooves, and the beast's head gradually appeared on the chest.
Amid howls of pain, they turned into monsters.
"Is this...Chimera?"
After studying mythology and history with Animusfia, Fujimaru Ritsuka recognized the true form of the monster in front of him.
But the more urgent situation is that the defense line formed by her, Boudica and the remaining soldiers has been completely surrounded by the Chimeras.
The worst thing is that ordinary soldiers cannot resist the attack of the monsters.
Even Fujimaru Ritsuka's constant use of the Jupiter magic taught to her by Animusfia could not slow things down in the slightest.
Although Boudica can effectively block the progress of the Chimeras, once that happens, she will not care about protecting the safety of Fujimaru Ritsuka.
They were like prey entangled in a spider's web. They could only continue to struggle needlessly, and finally exhausted their last bit of strength.
**********
“Hmph, at this time, it’s time for the idol to come on stage————”
With its wings flapping, a graceful figure landed on the top of a house in the city under the moonlight, overlooking the giant net below.
She took a deep breath, and a huge castle slowly rose behind her.
Sometimes, even the tough webs break beneath the prey's vigorously flapping wings.
