Battlefield of gunpowder

When Matthew rushed into the back of a building with Luo Zhen in his arms, causing the rain of arrows falling from the sky to miss the target, a figure stopped at the top of a tall iron tower about a few kilometers away from where the two were located. unleashed attack.

"Did you know how to find a shelter so quickly?"

A steady voice came from the other party's mouth.

It was a man wearing a combat uniform, holding a black bow tightly in his hand, with dark skin, gray hair, and a man with strange lines on his face.

"It seems that the other party has a commander with a fairly calm mind."

The dark-skinned man raised his angular face, revealing a pair of eyes full of vicissitudes and perseverance.

People with such eyes are generally either extremely determined or extremely cruel.

And on this man, it seems that no matter what kind of appearance is suitable.

"Unfortunately, although this judgment is correct, it is a bit hasty."

The man held out his bowless hand.

"Buzz!"

In the humming of the air, the red magic power surged in its outstretched hands like lightning.

The next moment, the magic power caused a miracle, and a sword was made.

The man put the sword on the bow.

"Beep...!"

Amidst the sound like an electric shock, the sword surging with magic power turned into an arrow as if it had shed its shell.

Magic, riot on arrows.

"As long as the shelter itself is destroyed, there is nowhere to escape."

Under the cold declaration, the man let go of the bowstring in the torrent of magic power.

Then, under the sound of a "pound" like a cannonball, the arrow turned into a meteor and shot towards the distant target.

......

"Boom!"

The sound of the explosion was deafening, making the tall building feel like it had been hit by a cannon, and the side facing the shooting exploded, like fragile building blocks, most of which were shattered into pieces.

Such an astonishing impact caused the entire building to vibrate violently.

"senior!"

Behind the building, Matthew rushed to Rozen's side, raised a huge shield, blocked it, and resisted all the falling rubble.

The astonishing arm strength was immediately released from Mash's body. Even the rubble comparable to rocks could not shake the shield at all, and was bounced away when it fell on the shield.

Involuntarily hugging his head, Luo Zhen, who was hiding under the shield, stared at Matthew who was protecting him earnestly, feeling a little complicated in his heart.

(Sure enough, Mash gained power and became a Servant.)

Whether it is the defensive power to resist shooting, the speed when rushing into cover, or the arm strength to withstand even rock-heavy rubble, it is not something normal humans can possess.

Even if the physical ability is strengthened by using magic, it is extremely difficult to exert this level of strength.

Therefore, there is no doubt that Matthew has obtained a power comparable to that of a follower, and has become an extraordinary existence.

(It is estimated that it must be the level of a superior familiar.)

No.

In terms of defensive power, it may have surpassed the level of the superior familiar, and it may have reached the level of the highest level familiar.

When Luo Zhen was so silent, Matthew spoke again.

"The power is very strong, and the arrow can have this level of power. The enemy is likely to be a servant." Matthew said with a serious face, "If this continues, the shelter will be destroyed, Master, let's find Other cover, while hiding, leave at the same time."

This is the judgment made by Matthew.

However, Luo Zhen did not adopt it.

"Since the opponent is likely to be a Servant-level existence, unless you can get out of the opponent's eyeliner at once, otherwise, it is impossible to hide and leave at the same time."

Luo Zhen said so.

If it is a servant-level existence, it is not impossible to jump back and forth between high-rise buildings and come and go freely.

Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to escape while hiding from the opponent's astonishingly powerful shots.

As long as the opponent leaps over the tall buildings along the way, keeps shooting and destroys the cover, sooner or later Luo Zhen and Matthew will have nowhere to hide.

At that time, the two can only rely on a shield to defend.

"Then what should we do?"

Matthew cast his eyes on Rozen.

In those eyes, Luo Zhen saw the same trust as before, and some other things.

That thing shocked Luo Zhen's heart.

then…

"To deal with archers, you can't keep a distance from the opponent. You have to get close to them, get close to them and knock them down, or you have to get out of the opponent's field of vision and out of the opponent's shooting range."

As Luo Zhen said so, various tactics and strategies emerged in his mind, and at the same time, his eyes swept to the four directions, carefully observing the terrain.

This is a town in ruins.

There are many shelters, and there are fires everywhere, which greatly affects the vision. As a sniper site, it can be said to be the worst place.

However, the enemy is a Servant-level character, so it cannot be judged by common sense.

No matter what kind of cover it is, the opponent can destroy it with arrows comparable to shelling.

No matter what kind of blinding method, the opponent can use the ability that ordinary people can't imagine to grasp the enemy's position.

"The opponent may have some kind of super vision, even if it is several kilometers or even dozens of kilometers away, it can shoot. It is not easy to escape the opponent's shooting range."

Luo Zhenru made his head run fast like when he was simulating a battle.

Until, Luo Zhen saw something.

"Yes!"

Luo Zhen's eyes lit up immediately.

......

"Boom..."

In a burst of roar, the building could not support the powerful shooting, and slowly collapsed under the explosive flames.

That was the result of the dark-skinned man's second powerful shot.

"Thus…"

The archer, who was full of magic power, narrowed his eyes on the iron tower.

This archer has a skill called "Clairvoyance".

Such skills can give the owner superb vision, and are often used in reconnaissance.

If he just looked around from a high place, the archer could even see the entire town and search for the enemy.

In addition, <Clairvoyance> will also affect the shooting accuracy of the bow. Once he sets up the bow, he can carry out precise sniping.

Thanks to this, he can shoot ultra-long-range shots with an accuracy beyond human limits.

In other words, under these eyes, the targeted enemy is almost impossible to escape.

Of course, the prerequisite is —— "must be within the field of vision."

"Um?"

Looking at the collapsed buildings several kilometers away, the archer suddenly had a blank expression.

"Missing...?"

Yes.

The opponent is gone.

Under the collapsed building, there was no trace of the enemy at all.

This surprised the archers.

And at this very moment...

"call----!"

A gust of wind came from behind the archer.

"...!?"

Without the slightest hesitation, the archer turned around abruptly, blocking the bow in his hand in front of him.

"Clang!"

With the sound of a clash of gold and iron, a huge shield suddenly smashed and collided with the bow.

The strong wind blows.

"Snapped!"

Amidst the sound, the clashing shield and bow bounced off each other in the gust of wind, causing the users on both sides to retreat violently, and opened a distance.

"Tsk..."

The archer was stunned.

Because, he has seen it.

In front of him, at some point, two people appeared.

"Are you the attacker?"

Matthew, who was holding a shield, questioned the archers with a serious look and expression while on guard.

And Luo Zhen, who was standing behind Matthew, also looked at the archer and confirmed it.

"Sure enough, the assailant is a servant, and the job agency is an archer? Shouldn't it be unexpected?"

The only one who can shoot at that level is a Servant.

However, if the other party is a follower, then there is a problem.

"Who summoned you, and why did you attack us——if you ask this question, you probably won't answer it?"

Luo Zhen said such words playfully.

"Although, I have already made some guesses."

Luo Zhen's words were passed into the other party's ears so clearly.

The servant with the job title of Archer suddenly fell silent.

"What? Are you silent?" Luo Zhen said very easily, "You should be a servant who was summoned through a regular channel. It's impossible for you to be a defective product like <Shadow>, and you can't even talk, right?"

Luo Zhen teased each other.

That being said, Luo Zhen was actually full of vigilance in his heart.

The opponent is a real servant, not the kind of defective product that appears in simulated battles. If he is careless, he may be killed.

Luo Zhen didn't want to face another crisis.

Therefore, in the case of a failed sneak attack, you can only delay as much as possible to find a countermeasure that is beneficial to your side.

Luo Zhen was making such a plan, and induced the other party to talk to him.

As long as there is a dialogue, it is possible to obtain information and find out what is beneficial to oneself.

And Luo Zhen's provocation seemed somewhat effective.

"It really surprised me. I didn't expect to be approached to this extent while occupying the commanding heights."

The servant whose job title is Archer glanced at Matthew who was on guard, and then turned to look at Luo Zhen.

"how did you do it?"

This is archer's question.

"Regardless of the sky or the ground, there is nothing to hide under the surveillance of my <Clairvoyance>. It is not easy to get close." Archer stared at Luo Zhen and said, "Could it be that I used the magic of invisibility or Is it a Noble Phantasm capable of space transfer?"

Archer could only think of such a possibility.

Unfortunately…

"That's wrong." Luo Zhen shrugged, and said, "Either you don't need to use invisibility magic, nor do you need to use such precious treasures as space transfer, as long as you use the things underground in this town, isn't that all right?" ?"

Something beneath the town?

Archer was taken aback for a moment, then immediately understood.

"So that's it, is it the sewer?"

exactly.

Behind the building as a cover, the last thing Luo Zhen saw was the entrance and exit of the sewer.

As long as you enter the sewer and follow the sewer, you can approach the archer quietly without being seen by the archer.

As for finding the location of the archer, it is even simpler.

"Although you are several kilometers away from us, if you want to snipe us from such a distance, you must need a place high enough. In this direction, only here is the most suitable place."

Luo Zhen laughed and solved all of Archer's doubts.

"So, it's time for me to ask a question?"

Luo Zhen stared in the direction of Archer, and his voice became solemn.

"Who asked you to attack us? Who is your Master?"

First of all, this problem must be solved. "

Besides, Luo Zhen still has many doubts.

Among them, the most important is…

"What happened to this town? Why did it become like this?"

Luo Zhen spoke out the most important question.

The burning city turned into ruins.

This is obviously an abnormal state.

If Luo Zhen guessed correctly, he should have been transferred to 2004 by the Lingzi.

A fire in the control room caused Chaldea's first battle to be aborted.

However, Chaldea's first spiritual transfer experiment had already been activated, and it was already being adjusted before Luo Zhen left the control room and the control room exploded.

Then, after the control room exploded, the system detected the suspension of the experiment, switched from manual operation to automatic operation, and transferred the still intact master spirit to the combat destination, which is not a strange thing.

That is to say, at this moment, Luo Zhen is in Fuyuki City in 2004, in the spatial singularity f.

After all, Fuyuki in 2004 does not have the fire that engulfed the town in Chaldean records.

This can only show that there is an anomaly in this era, which is not recorded, and an event that has never happened in human history is happening.

This event led to the end of human history.

Now, Luo Zhen is ready to figure out this problem.

"Don't say you don't want to answer?" Luo Zhenpi said with a smile, "The current form is beneficial to us."

Even if the sneak attack failed, if the opponent was an archer, at such a close distance, even a follower would be knocked down by Matthew before he could draw his bow and set his arrow.

unless…

"Do you think you can win by closing the distance?"

Archer's indifferent voice was transmitted.

In the next second, Archer did one thing.

That is to let go of the bow in your hand.

"Buzz!"

The magic power surged again, turning into red lightning, gathering in Archer's hands.

Immediately afterwards, Archer's hands held two short swords formed by magic power, which looked like bipolar.

"Varied…!?"

Matthew was taken aback.

"There is a sword...!?"

Luo Zhen was also surprised.

Obviously the job agency is an archer, why is there a sword?

Even if the archer in front of him was also good at wielding a sword, when the archer's spirit foundation is summoned, the only treasure that can be allowed to have is the bow.

While being so surprised, Luo Zhen also understood in an instant.

As a magician, Luo Zhen still knew exactly what the servant in front of him did just now.

"projection…!?"

----<projection>.

It is a kind of magic that uses magical power to materialize objects that existed in reality in the form of imitations and create them.

The servant in front of him possessed the sword in this way.

In other words, the opponent did not use a Noble Phantasm, but magic.

"It's your mistake to think that archers can only use bows, unknown Master."

Leaving those words aside, the nameless Archer laughed, and then his smile turned cold. He stepped on the ground suddenly, and launched a charge with astonishing momentum.

"Master!"

Matthew immediately jumped up, stood in front of Rozen, raised his shield, and was ready to face Archer.

Sudden…

"———!"

The archer who charged suddenly stopped, turned his head suddenly, and looked in one direction.

The expression was replaced by anger.

"That annoying dog!"

After making such an angry noise, Archer turned around and turned into a burst of particles, regardless of Rozen and Mashup, and disappeared.

"this…"

Matthew was stunned.

"dog…?"

Luo Zhen also frowned.

Suddenly, only the boy and girl remained in the whole iron tower.

The cold wind blows past, bringing the smell of gunpowder smoke.

A few minutes later, Luo Zhen and Matthew had left the iron tower and returned to the burning town.

It was too conspicuous to stay on that iron tower, Luo Zhen could only let Matthew take him away, find a temporary stronghold as quickly as possible, hide in it, and avoid a second attack.

That being said, the so-called stronghold is actually just one of the buildings in this ruined town.

But no matter what, at least the two of them had a chance to catch their breath.

However, when they came back to their senses, the two of them were looking at each other, and they were both caught in indescribably complicated emotions.

"That... are you okay? Senior?"

"...Well, no problem."

"Then... is there anything abnormal about your body?"

"I think should not be?"

"That... that's good."

"Um…"

After a very brief conversation, both of them fell silent.

Luo Zhen raised his eyelids, looked at the girl who had changed drastically from the previous image, looked awe-inspiring and somewhat disturbed, couldn't help but sighed, and broke the silence first.

"All in all, let me understand the situation first." Luo Zhen asked Matthew in a calm tone, "If I guessed correctly, Matthew, you have indeed become a follower, am I right?"

This is already an irrefutable fact.

Luo Zhen, who had escaped from the sudden situation, had long felt something that he had been ignoring before.

That is the slightest connection with Matthew.

This kind of connection is like an invisible channel connecting himself and Matthew, so that Rozen can easily send his own magic power into Matthew's body, and even use the command spell on the back of his hand to control Matthew. Xiu ordered.

Luo Zhen knew very well what this meant.

this means…

"You signed a contract with me as a follower, right?"

Luo Zhen made such inquiries word by word.

In this regard, Matthew nodded, shook his head again, and made a correction.

"I did sign a contract with senior, and I did get the power of a follower, but I am not a regular follower in this state."

Speaking of this, Matthew's tone paused slightly, and then he said this sentence.

"I've become a <sub-Servant> now."

Hearing this sentence, Luo Zhen's first reaction was not surprise, but a wry smile.

"As expected...is that so...?"

———<A follower>.

This is not a special Servant, but something created by human hands.

Although the so-called servants have inhuman power and amazing fighting power, they are heroes, legends and fantasies of the past, and each of them has extraordinary will and belief. It is a bit unrealistic to carry out arbitrary service.

That is to say, the servant may betray the master, and is more likely to violate the master's order, disobey the command, or even harm the master in turn, so that the summoner can steal a lot of money.

It is precisely in order to prevent this from happening that Command Spells came into being.

The Command Spell is a three-time command power. There are three strokes in total, and each stroke is an order. The original intention of its creation is to force the servants to obey the command of the master.

Chaldea reworked this command system to cooperate with the heroic spirit summoning system, so that the master who contracts with the servant can also have the command spell.

It's just that Chaldea's command spells don't focus on the aspect of "domination", but specialize in the aspect of "support", abandoning the compulsory command power, and strengthening and healing the servants. It has a miraculous effect, and the domination of the servants is at best similar to a "curse" effect.

Of course, if all three command spells are used at once, it is not impossible to force the servants.

Anyway, under the magic power of Chaldea, the masters can get a command spell every day, and the command spell can be fully recharged in three days, and it can still be used when it is time to use it.

However, if the servant does not obey the command and has to use the command spell to drive it every time, it will also cause great trouble and is not conducive to the battle at all.

In addition, the servant itself is a spirit body, and the existence itself needs to consume magic power. In order to make up for various defects, Chaldea launched an experiment.

"The Fusion of Humans and Heroic Spirits..."

That's right.

The fusion of humans and spirits.

This is one of the studies that has been going on for more than ten years, and it is the sixth experiment of Chaldea.

"By merging with the heroic spirit, the experimental body can not only obtain the power of a servant, because it is not a spirit body, it does not need to consume magic power if it only exists, and what is even more rare is that it can obey orders and avoid various disadvantages. This is ———<Sub-Servant>."

Luo Zhen looked at Matthew and made a bitter voice.

"Is this experiment actually completed now?"

The experiment of sub-companions started more than ten years ago, but it has not been successful so far.

Luo Zhen never expected that this experiment would be completed under such circumstances.

That's what Matthew said.

"After all, that's what I'm here for."

Matthew's unwavering words made Luo Zhen clenched his fists.

So far, there is no need to even say anything.

Matthew is one of the subjects of this experiment.

This is Matthew's past, and also the fate and life he had two years ago before he appeared in Chaldea.

It was not until two years ago that she was finally liberated due to the failure of the experiment, and the girl who could openly appear in Chaldea became an inhuman after all.

"It's... hell...!"

Luo Zhen couldn't help scolding.

After a while, Luo Zhen's clenched fist was held by a pair of soft hands.

"Please don't be so angry, senior."

With her own hands, Matthew gently wrapped Luo Zhen's clenched fist.

There was also a peaceful smile on his face.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Mash's straightforward words echoed around.

"At least, now I have the power to protect the senior, and I feel very happy to be able to fight with the senior as a servant of the senior."

This is definitely not a lie.

The girl named Mash must be grateful for the current situation from the bottom of her heart.

"If it were me now, I would be able to fight."

Matthew smiled at Luo Zhen.

However, this girl didn't know that her smile made Luo Zhen feel distressed.

(What do you mean very happy?)

Luo Zhen recalled the look in Matthew's eyes that he saw not long ago.

In addition to the trust as always, there is something else in the pair of eyes.

That thing is called fear.

(On the one hand, I am happy because I have gained power and can fight with me, on the other hand, I am afraid of the battle itself, and I am afraid of it...)

Luo Zhen held Matthew's hand instead, making a decision in his heart while exerting force.

(I will never let her face all this alone...)