The Infinite Dragon God Cannot Find Silence

Ritsuka sighed, then her expression hardened.

"Oh, as expected of humanity's last Master, the savior who survived six Singularities, you've already adjusted your mood so quickly? But although it might be a bit discouraging to your resolve, Queen Orpheus is actually a rather easy-going, clumsy fellow, you know? Just rush up and be affectionate with her, and she won't know how to shake you off~"

"No one will think you're mute if the teacher doesn't speak."

"Fufu!"

Mashu glanced at Merlin's former students and pets, then looked at Merlin with a somewhat subtle expression.

"It seems... Mr. Merlin is quite a failure as a person."

As they spoke, the group pushed open the temple doors and went inside. It seemed that because of Merlin, they were not stopped in any way.

"Although Mr. Merlin seems to have a lot of influence, most people actually seem to avoid him like the plague!"

"Even you can see clearly here, right? That's King Orpheus, isn't it?"

Merlin skillfully ignored Mash's surprise and happily pointed ahead.

"Hmm... how should I put it, it's a bit different from what I've seen before."

Looking at Orpheus, who was surrounded by a group of messengers, Ritsuka touched her chin.

"Yes... King Orpheus's face is noticeably gloomy now, and his eyes are somewhat lifeless. Although he often wears a smile, the overall atmosphere is rather dark."

Mash thought for a moment and then responded.

The way Orpheus looked in front of them... if placed in a gloomy setting, she could totally be a cameo as the final boss.

"Indeed, is it because there are too many things to handle?"

Lily's ahoge (cowlick) twitched, and she seemed a little puzzled.

In her own unexperienced experiences, there have been similar situations where a large number of events needed to be dealt with in quick succession, but she did not seem to have such a dramatic change in expression as the other person.

"He's not what I imagined... I thought he was some kind of nouveau riche."

After a long silence, Anna finally offered her opinion.

"What are you all standing here for? If you just stand here and don't say anything, King Orpheus will just ignore you. Even if everyone else leaves and you're the only ones left, it'll be the same."

"Ugh?"

Merlin pulled Ritsuka up, ignoring her exclamation, and walked straight forward, ignoring the others who were still reporting to him and waving to Orpheus.

"Yo, King Orpheus, we're back."

"Let's do it this way for now, and report back if any problems arise..."

After handing the stone slab to someone else, Orpheus glanced at Merlin before fixing his gaze on Ritsuka.

Then... they just watched quietly, and no one else dared to speak, and the atmosphere became tense for a moment.

"You've returned safely, Lord Merlin. The operation went quite smoothly, didn't it?"

Hiduri, standing to the side, bowed and greeted him, slightly easing the awkwardness caused by the silence.

"Ah, the task that needed to be completed has been accomplished. Although there were some minor setbacks, they were nothing to worry about. The excellent Merlin handled them all with ease~"

"You smell of Enkidu... Did you flee from her again?"

With a soft sigh, Orpheus turned his gaze back to Merlin.

"Your sense of smell is as sharp as ever, King Orpheus."

Merlin didn't care when he was directly exposed; he just laughed it off.

"Compared to this, those people... they don't look like Uruk people at all..."

Seeing that the atmosphere was about to become tense again, Siduri quickly spoke up again.

"That's enough, Siduri, you may step aside."

At this moment, Orpheus, leaning on his staff, took a few steps forward.

"king?"

Then, amidst Siduri's exclamation, dozens of laser beams appeared from his wand and shot towards the two Chaldea Servants!

Chapter 71 Brief Encounter

"Apart from the lack of a preface, it's the same situation as when I've met with many kings before: King Orpheus has launched a sudden attack!"

Without any communication, Mashu and Lily would stick together, with Mashu standing in front to try and block all the attacks, while also dutifully reporting the situation to someone.

Orpheus raised an eyebrow slightly and flicked his wand. The laser that was about to hit the shield stopped instantly, ignoring all the laws of physics. It then dispersed before hitting Mash, seemingly trying to surround the two of them around the shield.

"The Glory of the Undefeated Snowflake Wall!"

Mashu was not caught off guard; a silvery light emanated from her shield, enveloping the two of them in a 360-degree circle.

"Oh?"

Orpheus gently bent his index finger, and dozens of laser beams turned once again, shooting straight down at the two of them before landing on the silver light barrier.

Bang bang bang bang bang───

The results were quickly revealed: the laser could not penetrate the silver light barrier, and the magic that could no longer condense upon encountering the obstacle scattered, causing repeated explosions.

"Drink!"

From within the smoke, a delicate shout rang out, and Lily leaped high out of the smoke, raising her hands to bring down the holy sword, which looked almost identical to Merlin's, heavily towards Orpheus.

Clang──

The unexpected attack failed; the holy sword was deflected by the wand, sparks flying. After easily deflecting the holy sword, Orpheus quickly turned his wand around and smashed it towards Lily's head.

Although Lily was disappointed that the attack failed, she was not surprised.

First of all, they've fought their way from the initial singularity to now, and there aren't many mages who aren't good at melee combat. Just from the pressure they exert, it's clear that this King of Uruk is not so easy to deal with.

As one retreated to avoid Orpheus's attack, almost without any opening, a dark figure crashed down from the sky towards Orpheus.

It was Mash, holding her shield in front of her.

At the same time, a strong golden light emanated from Lily's holy sword.

The shield is of very high quality, and with the added bonus from the fall, most Casters simply cannot withstand it head-on. As a result, they can only create distance as a response, and Lily can take this opportunity to buy time to charge up her attack. Once the opponent retreats, she can immediately deliver a beam attack while the opponent is still unable to make any follow-up moves.

Of course, all of this was just a beautiful idea in the hearts of the two girls.

Within the sphere at the tip of Orpheus's wand, purple covered gold, and a burst of intense magic erupted, then condensed around the sphere, enveloping it in an even larger purple sphere.

"Wait a minute, this reaction!?"

Roman suddenly exclaimed in surprise over Ritsuka's communicator.

Orpheus naturally couldn't respond to Roman, and the girl who was fighting didn't have the time either. At this moment, Orpheus had already hurled her wand at Mash's falling shield.

The moment they made contact, the magic within the sphere erupted, sending Mashu flying. The surging magic then condensed again, forming a beam that shot towards Lily.

"Well!?"

Caught off guard, Lily only had time to forcefully release all the magic power of her uncharged Noble Phantasm towards Orpheus.

The golden and purple cannon fire collided, and the violent impact sent Lily flying, just like Mashu.

The distance between them widened again, but although Mashu and Lily were somewhat disheveled, they were basically unharmed. Even their minor scratches were healed in a second by Ritsuka, who was already directing the battle from the rear. It didn't take them long to get back into position.

"King Orpheus's fighting style is characterized by its lack of weaknesses... Although his attack methods have varied greatly, has this aspect remained unchanged...?"

Looking at Orpheus, Mashu said to Lily with some distress.

The so-called "no flaws" does not mean being able to be flawless in battle, but rather that there are no particular weaknesses, and that there are ways to deal with basically any kind of attack.

Lily also frowned.

Although she was a little embarrassed... her partnership with Mash was indeed a combination whose defensive capabilities far outweighed their offensive capabilities, and they lacked decisive means against enemies like Orpheus.

The two sides remained locked in a stalemate for a long time...

Chaldea wanted to rely on Mash's defense to hold out and find an opening from the opponent's attacks, while Orpheus... just stared at the two of them, frozen in place.

“Your Majesty, if you have no intention of taking these people’s lives, then you can stop now… You are all highly skilled warriors, worthy of being recruited under Your Majesty’s command. You must be the strangers that Master Merlin mentioned when he spoke with Your Majesty in the past, right? If you can win them over, it will surely bring some improvement to the current situation, won’t it?”

Just when the Chaldeans thought they would have to wait several hours before the next round could begin, the priestess Hiduri suddenly knelt down and said something.

After spending a lot of time with Orpheus, Siduri began to understand things a little better...

This king often does unexpected things on a whim, and then when he wants to stop halfway through, he doesn't know how to stop, which leads to a rather embarrassing situation.

In situations like this, only her, as the deputy, can smooth things over.

"You must be from Chaldea?"

Finally, the purple on the sphere at the top of the wand slowly faded, returning to its original golden color, and Orpheus shifted his gaze to Ritsuka behind him.

"Yes...yes, my name is Fujimaru Ritsuka, and I am a Master from Chaldea!"

Swallowing hard, Ritsuka took a few steps forward, looked directly at Orpheus, and answered firmly.

"Hmm... I don't care about your name. Never mind, it doesn't matter. I won't interfere with your actions, but I won't support them either, until you truly understand what you should do."

After a moment of silence, Orpheus spoke to Ritsuka.

Actually, Orpheus herself didn't know what to do. Anyway, the other party was a professional in this area, so it wouldn't be a problem to let them do it themselves, right?

In Orpheus's view, the biggest turning point should be the goddess in the south whom he had never met, but she really didn't have the energy to explore the south, nor could she send people to their deaths, including Chaldea.

Orpheus will not allow them into the southern jungle unless they truly prove they have the ability.

As for not providing support... Uruk really didn't have any extra resources to spare for helping them.

“As long as you can prove your own worth, I am willing to give you some guidance.”

After thinking about it, Orpheus added that sentence.

Merlin alone would still make her a little uneasy facing the goddess's power. If Chaldea were strong enough, they could go and help together.

Go to the southern jungle to explore its secrets.

Chapter 72 The Chaldean Negotiations

Of course, the Chaldea members had no way of knowing what Orpheus was thinking.