FATE: Target of Grand Master

"Zhang Liao, come up here quickly, a large number of Shadow Followers have appeared on our side."

Upon receiving Diao Yunshang's telepathic connection, Zhang Liao immediately ended the state of releasing his treasure and rushed towards Red Hare.

"Red Hare, throw me up! The lord and the princess are in danger."

"Whoosh~"

After slaying a demonic beast, Red Hare lowered the tip of its giant spear, waited for Zhang Liao to step on it, and then threw him upwards with force, sending Zhang Liao flying directly onto the north wall.

Zhang Liao wielded his Yellow Dragon Hooked Scythe, cleaving away an arrow from an Archer-class Shadow Servant. He then beheaded a Sword-class Shadow Servant, who instantly turned to black ash and vanished. However, the number of Shadow Servants on the north wall remained densely packed, so many that there wasn't even enough space to swing their weapons.

Zhang Liao jumped onto the edge of the north wall and ran towards the center while dodging attacks.

When Zhang Liao arrived at Chen Gong's side, this usually steady, cunning, and ruthless strategist already had more than a dozen cuts on his body, some of which would be considered serious injuries even for a follower.

Fortunately, this was on the north wall, so the space for the shadow followers to rush in at the same time was not large. If it were in an open area, Chen Gong probably would have died before Zhang Liao arrived.

Lu Bu tried to help several times, but Chen Gong stopped him each time. Diao Yunshang even jumped onto Lu Bu and held him tightly. If Zhang Liao hadn't arrived, Lu Bu probably would have fought to the death.

"Strategist, leave the rest to me."

Pushing the injured Chen Gong backward, Zhang Liao gripped the Yellow Dragon Hook and Scythe and unleashed his unparalleled power on the not-so-spacious north wall.

With thrusts, slashes, cuts, and thrusts, Zhang Liao killed more than a dozen Shadow Followers of different ranks in one go. However, just like the situation Nero had encountered before, these Shadow Followers seemed endless and impossible to kill.

Zhang Liao, who had already been using his Noble Phantasm for a long time, was already quite exhausted in terms of both physical strength and magical power. If this continued, he would be dragged into the mire by the sheer number of people he had been dealing with.

Looking at Xia Yan's side, Euryale could only slow down the Shadow Servants' attack despite her best efforts.

Seeing this, Xia Yan did not hesitate and summoned Ibuki-dōji, whom he had been keeping as a backup plan.

"Ibuki, use lightning to sweep the entire north wall except where we are."

"Alright, leave it to me."

Having concealed her true form in spirit form, Ibuki has long been unable to suppress her desire to fight.

Upon receiving Xia Yan's order, Ibuki instantly appeared above the North Wall and summoned layers of dark clouds.

The entire north wall, along with the vast plain beyond it, was plunged into darkness in an instant, with only the occasional flashes of lightning in the clouds bringing momentary brightness to the area below.

Boom!

The deafening roar of thunder instilled an instinctive fear in some of the lower-level magical beasts.

"Feel the power of the gods, then fear, tremble, and awe. Divine thunder, fall! Ah, I've wanted to say this for so long, I wish I could do it every day."

Ibuki-dōji, who originally intended to display divine majesty, lost his composure because of his last words, but the two bolts of lightning that fell from the sky like a torrent did not diminish his power at all.

The two bolts of lightning first struck the enemies in front of Zhang Liao and Yuri Ellie with precision, and then began to move to both sides along the north wall defense line.

The shadow followers struck by the two lightning bolts were instantly reduced to dust, and the ground on the north wall was also split open, leaving behind a pile of charred stone bricks. From the sky, the shadow followers, who had been like an endless tide, seemed to have been swept away as if they had been wiped clean with a rag.

Kingu, who was engaged in a Noble Phantasm-level battle with Morgan, never expected that Ibuki-dōji, whom he had previously tried to win over but was ruthlessly rejected, would turn against him and join Uruk's side.

This guy is extremely self-willed and doesn't listen to me at all. I don't know what kind of spell Uruk has cast on him.

But now is not the time to consider that.

As the battle has progressed, although the monster army still numbers two-thirds, the monster tide has become a distant dream due to the stubborn resistance of the Servants.

Fortunately, the Shadow Servants provided by Typhon successfully destroyed the defensive fortifications of the North Wall, allowing the monster army, now free from suppressive fire, to advance more smoothly.

Moreover, why did Ibuki have to use lightning of all sorts of methods? In that guy's eyes, that was absolutely intolerable.

Just as Kingu had suspected, Typhon, who was hiding on the mountainside on one side of the North Wall defense line, was enraged when he saw Ibuki using lightning to destroy his Shadow Servants.

How could the Shadow Servants born from Typhon, who could even steal Zeus's thunderbolts, be wiped out by lightning!

"I declare! Your wish to annihilate the Shadow Servants with divine lightning will not be fulfilled!"

Typhon's golden eyes emitted a burst of light, and then Ibuki, who was suspended in mid-air, discovered that the two bolts of lightning had inexplicably disappeared.

Not only did the lightning strike, but the dark clouds in the sky also began to dissipate, and the northern defensive line and the surrounding plains regained their brightness.

"Huh?"

Ibuki was also a little confused by this sudden change. She looked down at her hands, as if to confirm whether there was anything unusual about her divine power and magic.

The answer is no.

But when she tried to use lightning to attack again, she was unable to gather dark clouds, as if an invisible law was preventing her from using lightning.

Xia Yan noticed Ibuki's helpless state and immediately used telepathy to inquire about the situation.

"Xia Yan, I'm a little confused. I don't think I know how to use lightning anymore."

Seeing Ibuki floating up to him crying, Xia Yan patted Ibuki's head like he was comforting a pet.

"It's alright, it's alright. Those Shadow Servants have been eliminated to a degree sufficient to resist. Ibuki, why don't you try other abilities to see if they work?"

Xia Yan pointed to the monster army outside the north wall defense line, whose advance speed had obviously increased due to the loss of fire suppression.

"Um!"

Thanks to Ibuki's lightning strike, Xia Yan was able to bring back Cú Chulainn Alter and Musashi, who were conducting special individual decapitation operations at the front lines.

Now, one of them is below the north wall, supporting Red Hare, while the other is beside her, taking the place of Euryale to fend off the attacks of the Shadow Servants. This has managed to stabilize the slightly out-of-control situation.

Ibuki floated to the front of the monster army and summoned several gusts of wind. The wind was so strong that it knocked down a large number of the charging monsters, and then blew them upside down and rolled around like autumn leaves being swept away.

"Goddess of Calamity! As a deity, how dare you choose to side with humanity!"

Just as Ibuki-dōji was enthusiastically manipulating the gale, almost causing the monster tide to recede, a huge figure emerged from the ground.

Has it finally arrived?

As they gazed at the female figure whose hair transformed into a snake's head and whose tail coiled like a mountain, Xia Yan and Diao Yunshang simultaneously uttered her name in their hearts: the Beast Goddess—Gorgon.