To become a king and a magician

"After all, no one would be so bored as to tell such a lie, especially in this place, and besides, your eyes and expression don't seem to be faking it."

21. If the Blade of the Ruined King's passive can be used on minions...

Several tens of minutes later, just like a classic scene from some tomb raiding TV series, Xia Chuanhu and Belsak walked one after the other into an underground corridor built entirely of stone bricks, full of a sense of antiquity.

Through the lantern he was carrying, Natsukawa Tiger could barely see his surroundings—but even so, it didn't really matter, because from the beginning until now, the surroundings hadn't changed; they were just unchanging stone bricks.

"It's such a desolate place, like a cemetery."

Natsukawa Tiger said half-jokingly that he intended to break the gloomy atmosphere.

Glancing at Natsukawa Tora, Belsak, who was walking ahead, nodded: "Indeed. If we have to say, this underground is the real Brackmore Cemetery—by the way, why are you walking so far away from me?"

Although Bersak and Natsukawa Tora were walking one after the other, there was a distance of about five people between them. They could only see each other's positions clearly by using their lanterns.

"I'm just afraid that thing you're holding might accidentally kill me."

Xia Chuanhu looked at what Belsak was carrying and laughed – it was a large axe that looked rather dilapidated.

"I have no fighting ability other than a little bit of basic magic. If you suddenly turn against me and chop me with an axe, wouldn't I be dead? Anyway, there's no trust between us, so please understand."

"Hmph, although he's just a kid, he's quite vigilant."

"If I hadn't been able to, I would have died a year ago."

"The Holy Grail War?" Belsac's eyes flickered. "You said you summoned King Arthur, right? Specifically, what kind of person is he?"

Completely surprised that Belsak would ask this question, Natsukawa Tiger fell into thought for a moment, then shrugged: "A very ordinary person, at least to me. Apart from having a big appetite and being able to eat a lot, which almost wiped out all my savings, there's nothing special about him."

"Your relationship with her is very good?"

"Who knows? To outsiders, I should be a coward who has always been protected by him. In fact, that's true. He was the one protecting me throughout the Holy Grail War, and I only mustered up the courage to fight alongside him a few times at the very end. In that sense, I should be considered his comrade-in-arms, albeit reluctantly?"

As he said this, Natsukawa Tora didn't realize that his tone and expression were unexpectedly relaxed, as if he were talking about an old friend.

Bersak, however, frowned slightly as he listened to him speak.

There was one point in Natsukawa Tora's words that contradicted his own understanding.

"he?"

Bersak stopped in his tracks.

"Wasn't King Arthur a woman? Why would you say he was?"

"Ah, I forgot to mention, the King Arthur I summoned wasn't the one from your side, but the King Arthur from another world... or rather, a parallel world."

Looking at Natsukawa Tora, who spoke these words with a smile, Belsak turned around and gripped his great axe: "You lied to me?"

"No, I just hid part of it. After all, you wouldn't have brought me here otherwise, would you?" Xia Chuanhu laughed. "Or are you planning to turn back now that you've come this far? Giving up halfway isn't a good habit, old man. At your age, it's good for you to walk around and get some exercise, isn't it?"

"But in my opinion, my physical condition is much better than yours. Magicians who stay cooped up in the lab should walk around more."

"That's why I came out for a walk with you."

(A sharp-tongued and shameless brat...)

With a few furrowed brows, Belsak put away his great axe—Natsukawa Tiger was right, since they were already here, there was no need to go back. Besides, they were already close to the end, and going back would be a waste of time.

Just as Bersak was preparing to continue his advance—

"Speaking of which, isn't there an intersection up ahead? You should turn left over there, right?"

Natsukawa Tora's unexpected question made him stop again.

"how do you know?"

"Who knows? Ever since I came here, I've had this vague feeling that I know the way, as if I've been living here for a long time."

Xia Chuanhu knew exactly what was going on. The power belonging to Arthur within him resonated with the simulated spirit of Artoria in this graveyard. To put it simply, the other side had opened a private message with him and kept pinging his signal one-way. The further he went in, the faster the pinging became, now reaching more than ten times per second.

Honestly, if the other party was doing this on purpose, no matter how much difference there was in their fighting strength, Xia Chuanhu would definitely blast her in the face with a fireball when they met. Pinging is one thing, but what's with pinging more than ten times a second? Don't you know it's disturbing the neighbors? His brain is about to go numb from all the pinging, it's like having an alarm clock right next to his ear, the kind that you can't turn off, can't break, and even removing the battery won't help.

However, there is good news: Xia Chuanhu not only knows how to get to the other side, but also knows their current movements—the other side is also heading this way.

"Gravekeeper, may I ask how strong your fighting ability is?"

Why are you asking this?

"Because if we turn left twice more and then right once more, we'll encounter about thirty skeleton soldiers and that thing."

“That depends on what you do,” Belsac said. “If you want to leave, I can take you away without any problem. But if, as you said before, you want to deal with that thing, then be prepared that we might both die here.”

"So that means there are some available?"

Natsukawa Tiger laughed, then walked up to Belsak, removed the Mystic Eye Killer from his eyes, and the sky-like Mystic Eye emitted a faint light in the dim tunnel. At the same time, the world that Natsukawa Tiger saw instantly changed.

"There are quite a lot of spirits here. No wonder it's a cemetery. It's a paradise for necromancers. Glastonbury looks rather shabby in comparison."

"Then let's consider it as increasing our combat strength—please all listen to what I have to say."

The moment the words fell, all the spirits within the range of the Demon Eye froze for a moment, and then all transformed into ferocious evil spirits that were almost materialized!

“GAAAAAAA——————————!!”

For a moment, a chaotic cawing sound, like that of crows, resounded throughout the underground.

Seeing this scene, Belsak couldn't help but frown: "Your eyes... are truly a pair of demonic eyes that make me very uncomfortable."

Natsukawa Torama smiled slightly: "Same here—by the way, for some reason, my Magic Eye can only be used for about five minutes."

The implication is that if the battle isn't over in five minutes, then retreat.

Belsac snorted: "That's why I say you magicians should get out and exercise more; you have no stamina at all."

22. Ayako Kawasumi's voice is too obvious.

The Demon Eye of Spirit Corrosion—abbreviated as the [Demon Eye of Spirit Corrosion]—has been awakened for a year. During this year, although it has been suppressed through the Demon Eye Killer, he will try to control it if conditions permit, since there are many places in this world where he can use this pair of demon eyes.

After training, Natsukawa Tiger can currently control these two demonic eyes for five minutes.

This doesn't mean that the magic eyes will become ineffective after five minutes, but rather that these five minutes are the limit of time that can ensure his magic eyes don't go out of control—yes, even after a year, Xia Chuanhu still can't control his magic eyes freely. One reason is that these magic eyes are extraordinary, and it's still quite difficult for him to control them without guidance.

On the other hand, there's the issue of his own abilities.

Once activated, the Soul-Eating Demon Eye will continuously transform surrounding spirits into evil spirits. As time goes on, the number of evil spirits transformed will only increase. Although theoretically these evil spirits are all under Xia Chuanhu's control, he is ultimately just one person and cannot possibly control so many evil spirits.

He really couldn't handle managing a hundred accounts by himself!

Therefore, Natsukawa Tora's control over the evil spirits is basically limited to basic commands like "forward" and "backward". Even so, he can only maintain this for a maximum of five minutes, and this time will be even shorter if there are too many evil spirits.

Once more than five minutes have passed, the demonic eye and evil spirits, now free from Natsukawa Tora's control, will begin to wreak havoc, creating a night parade of a hundred demons.

Therefore, no matter what the situation, as long as the Magic Eye is used, Natsukawa Torato will only be able to use it for a maximum of five minutes.

Looking at the swarm of howling and screaming evil spirits surrounding Xia Chuanhu, Belsak frowned in displeasure: "You really have no respect for the dead."

"That's just how my demonic eyes are, is it my fault? More importantly—"

Xia Chuanhu looked ahead. He had just sent dozens of evil spirits to scout ahead, and just a second ago, he felt that all of those evil spirits were wiped out at the same time.

"They're moving a little faster than I expected. Is the old man ready for his post-lunch walk?"

"Noisy."

As Belsak shouldered his large axe and was about to step forward, Xia Chuanhu stopped him, saying, "Ah, don't come into my sight for now. My magic eyes don't distinguish between friend and foe. If you come in, you'll become like these evil spirits. What I mean is, I'll fight that guy next. If I can't beat him, you take me away. I don't mean you have to go and fight him."

"Crack crack crack—!"

As they spoke, the sound of armor rubbing together came from the front of the passage. The next moment, the skeletons scattered on the ground seemed to be manipulated by invisible threads, floating into the air and assembling together as if pieced together. In their hands, they held weapons also made of skeletons—swords, spears, and bows and arrows. Judging from their equipment, it was clear that they were probably ancient soldiers.

The moment these skeletal soldiers stood up, Natsukawa Torama realized one thing—

"They are absorbing the magic here."

The magic circuits felt a slight stinging and powerlessness, because suddenly there were a large number of entities that needed magic power. The magic circuits, which could normally absorb magic power from the surrounding atmosphere at will, suddenly found themselves in a situation where supply could not meet demand.

Even though the feeling returned in the next breath, Natsukawa Tora still frowned.

"My Mystic Eyes are ineffective, and I can't see souls. It's not an ordinary spirit... It's as if the surrounding magical energy was injected into a recording tape stored in space, and only through the medium of bones did it barely gain a form that could move—a failed Servant?"

Although Natsukawa Tora only had a basic understanding of most magic knowledge, he had consulted Webber for professional knowledge regarding spirits.

Without saying much, Xia Chuanhu waved his hand, and the horde of evil spirits surrounding him instantly transformed into a pack of ferocious wolves that pounced on the skeleton soldiers!

Spirits are normally unable to interfere with the mortal world. Even if they transform into evil spirits, they can only interfere with the surrounding magic or affect the minds of others. Their physical interference is quite limited.

However, if the opponent is a spirit, the situation is reversed.

“GAAAAA————————!!”

The roars of the evil spirits rose and fell like waves, and with each contact between the evil spirits and the skeleton soldiers, the skeleton soldiers that touched the evil spirits became like machines with their gears stuck, their movements noticeably slowed down or even stopped!

"Malignant interference between spirits?"

“Hmm.” Natsukawa Tora smiled and nodded at Belsak’s opinion. “After all, it’s already a flawed spirit origin. It’s not easy for it to even be able to function. If my evil spirit interferes on this basis, its original functions will be affected.”

To put it simply, it's just a computer riddled with vulnerabilities that has been infected by a virus and has temporarily crashed.

"[Fire, blazing forth]."

A cluster of flames suddenly ignited in Xia Chuanhu's palm. Xia Chuanhu gently blew on it, and the flames turned into countless sparks that drifted forward. Then, they rapidly expanded into dozens of fireballs the size of fists and shot towards the immobilized skeleton soldier!

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

The not-so-spacious underground passage was instantly filled with flames and explosions. Fortunately, Natsukawa Tiger's fire magic focused not on impact but on extremely high temperatures; otherwise, the passage would have collapsed long ago if dozens of fireballs had exploded together.

But even so—

"Is your magic power not bad?"

Looking at the skeletal soldiers whose bodies were half-melted, Natsukawa Tora curled his lip. Even if they were failed Servant creations, they were still skeletons with a long history. Being bathed in the magic-filled underground for many years had probably given these skeletal soldiers a decent level of magic resistance.

"If one shot isn't enough, then let's have another one—"

Just as Natsukawa Tiger was about to gather his magic power again to use magic, a figure that seemed out of place in his surroundings quietly appeared in his field of vision.

It was a figure with the posture of a young girl, yet also the presence of a queen leading a group of Shadow Heroic Spirits. Because she wore a metal mask, her true face could not be seen, but that posture was so iconic, and so familiar to Natsukawa Torato.

Is it you?

A cool, clear female voice echoed in the corridor—yes, it was somewhat different, but it was definitely Ayako Kawasumi's voice.

Reaching out, she removed the mask covering her face, revealing an appearance almost identical to Artoria's. The Queen of Bones stared at Natsukawa Torato.