At this moment, shatter the dimensional barrier

“That woman…” Kadoc’s face grew even uglier. That woman was merely a collaborator of ‘Alien God,’ not an assistant to their Group A, and wouldn’t care at all about their plans.

The priest said with a smile, "According to the intelligence from the Killer Hunters, that woman has reached the border town and even found three ancient humans."

"Three ancient humans, without a doubt, must be from Chaldea. Could she have taken care of Fujimaru Ritsuka? That would be troublesome for us."

Chapter 299 Abandoning humanity for survival, the summoning of servants, and the response of extraordinary individuals.

Smolensk town

At this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash were resting by the fireplace. Although Mash and Fujimaru Ritsuka had very strong physical abilities, especially Mash who was stronger than ordinary Heroic Spirits, they were exhausted after more than a day of continuous action in a world ravaged by an eighth-level blizzard.

Having just eaten a hearty meal and feeling slightly sleepy, their breathing quickly became steady. Next to them was Yaga, an elderly woman wrapped in a thick quilt, her toothless mouth moving as if she was still savoring the soft bread she had never tasted before.

"..." As Patsy cut the monster meat into strips and placed them on the heated wall of the furnace next to the chimney, he would occasionally glance at the two people sleeping in his house. Were they so unguarded, were they stupid or trusting?

However, seeing a hint of happiness on his mother's face, he felt relieved.

He didn't eat the bread. If he sold it in Moscow, he would definitely get a lot of monster meat in return, but he didn't plan to do that. His mother had lost all her teeth, and the monster meat was too tough to chew. It could only be cooked until soft. The bread was just right for his mother.

A soft beeping sound appeared, and Patsy looked over.

A screen appeared in front of Holmes, who was sitting at the wooden table. The screen displayed images, which he did not know what they were, but they were probably magic tricks, since they were magicians.

"Holmes, we've detected a venomous vein," Leonardo da Vinci exclaimed excitedly.

"It really took a lot of effort. All the original spiritual veins in the entire Russian territory have dried up, and there is only a little bit of spiritual vein reaction left, which just happens to be not far from your location."

"That's great! I was just worried about this. Master and I have been searching all this way without finding a trace of any spiritual veins, and we were getting a little anxious." Holmes breathed a sigh of relief.

Lostbelts are worlds that have been cut off from the world. Natural resources are constantly being depleted. The ecological condition of Lostbelts is linked to spiritual veins. The fewer spiritual veins there are, the worse the ecology becomes.

The plants and animals in the Russian Lostbelt have all died, which means that the spiritual veins are completely depleted, and the magical beasts will also become extinct after exhausting the magical power in the atmosphere.

A map of Russia appeared on the screen, with an arrow pointing to the location of the remaining spiritual veins.

The map of Russia only shows blank mountain ranges, without towns or human settlements. Its history of more than 400 years is different from that of pan-human history, so the cities that exist are naturally very different.

"We also detected 11 locations where monsters were reacting," Da Vinci said.

"Yes, thank you all for your hard work." Holmes nodded; the reward for finding the location of the monster's reaction was for Patsy.

With fewer and fewer monsters, the food that the Yaga can catch is also dwindling. Now, the whole of Russia is facing a food shortage. Patsi only wanted information about the monsters' locations and didn't ask for food.

This led Holmes to internally accept Patsy.

“Mr. Patsy, this is the location of monster activity within a hundred kilometers around the town. I hope it will be helpful to you,” Holmes said, handing Patsy a map.

"Thank you," Patsi said gratefully. With fewer and fewer magical beasts, it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to support his mother while paying taxes. If things really came to the point where he couldn't even survive himself, he might have no choice but to die with his mother.

the next morning.

Although the blizzard obscured the sky and made it look much like night, the town had come alive with noise and shouts.

'I need to buy food. Is this enough?'

"Oh ho ho, that's not enough, sir. There's a food shortage right now, so the price of grain is twice as high as last time."

'What! Twice! How did it get so much higher?!'

'Yes, it's too expensive! What a rip-off!'

After waking up, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu stretched and put on their winter-protecting magical costumes. Pazushi had already taken his magic gun and was ready to go hunting.

"Is the town always this lively?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked.

“No, there can only be one reason why the town is so noisy,” Patsy said with disgust. “Starting three months ago, every seven days that unscrupulous merchant from Moscow comes to the town to sell goods at inflated prices.”

"Moreover, she mainly sells food, and there is a food shortage everywhere. Even if she is unwilling, there is nothing she can do. In addition, she can command the Tsar's hunting troops, and no one has the power to drive her away."

"Now unscrupulous merchants have taken control of the sale of food, medical care, and alcohol across the country, no matter where you go."

“Let’s go see what kind of unscrupulous merchant he is. This reminds me of those despicable capitalists.” Fujimaru Ritsuka said, opening the door and going out.

"Senior, it's best not to cause trouble. Our most important thing right now is to summon help," Mash whispered, pulling on Fujimaru Ritsuka's arm.

“That’s right. Our most important task now is to summon Servants and gain leverage to engage in equal dialogue with the Tsar. Only then can we get the Tsar to sit down and negotiate peace with us,” Holmes said.

With the seven World Tree seeds given by God, Chaldea had no need to be enemies of the Tsar; instead, they should have engaged in peace negotiations with him.

According to the information given by God, planting the World Tree seed in the Lostbelt will create a plane independent of the pan-human history and then shift it from the pan-human history's ecological niche.

The World Tree seeds will rapidly improve the Lostbelt's ecological environment, restoring it to its pre-disaster state.

Therefore, Chaldea should join forces with the Tsar; perhaps the Tsar could even help in conquering other Lostbelts.

As for why they didn't approach them directly? Nobody knew if the Tsar would resort to violence and plunder; Chaldea dared not gamble.

Fujimaru Ritsuka, Mashu, Holmes, and Patsy arrived on the town's streets, which were already crowded with thousands of Yaga.

In the middle of the street, twenty killing hunters stood in two rows, and a large 21st-century truck was loaded with bran cakes, jerky, and even alcohol.

A woman dressed in a traditional Russian military coat was hawking her wares through a megaphone. Underneath her military cap was a head of long pink hair. Her stunningly beautiful face was filled with the pleasure of doing something naughty.

"To all you poor but hardworking Yaga folks, today is a food sale! Prices are only three times higher, first come, first served, or they'll all be gone!"

"This ten-kilogram piece of meat only costs 500,000 rubles. Why not take action and exchange your useless, cold metal currency for food? What a bargain!"

"Too expensive! I can't afford it at all!" exclaimed one of the Yaga people upon hearing that it cost 500,000 rupees.

“That’s right. Last time it sold for 200,000 rubles. We don’t have that much money at all. We can’t even afford a piece of meat.”

The Yaga spoke up one after another, but their eyes were fixed on the cartload of food. Many of them had not hunted any magical beasts for several days, and some Yaga had even run out of their food supplies. Some had even been starving for several days.

Although they couldn't afford it, they were unwilling to leave; they were practically ready to rob it.

"Can't afford it? Stupid idiots, did I ask you if you can afford it or not?" The woman's smiling expression instantly turned cold and mocking as she narrowed her eyes.

Whoosh!

The killing hunters standing on both sides of the truck stomped their feet in unison, making a synchronized sound, and all the noisy Yaga fell silent in fear.

The terror of the Tsar's hunters had long been etched into the bones of the Yaga people; any resistance would be met with execution by the killing hunters.

"It's her! That woman named Koyanskaya!" Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression changed, and Mash instantly produced a shield in her hand, her whole body tensing up.

"Don't make any rash moves!" Holmes quickly restrained the two, his expression grave. "Da Vinci, have you detected any spirit origin reactions?"

[Detected, but only the fact that the other party is a Servant was detected; the scale of their Spirit Origin and their specific True Name remain unknown.]

[Even Chaldea's detectors couldn't detect the scale of the Spirit Origin, so it undoubtedly possesses abilities like Confuse Aura.]

Based on the situation during the attack on Chaldea, it has been determined that the opponent is extremely powerful and not an ordinary Servant. It is best not to act rashly.

Leonardo da Vinci's voice came through the communicators in the ears of the three people.

"Oh my, isn't this our Master from Pan-Human History? It's been a long time!" Koyanskaya's face lit up with a smile as she clapped her hands upon seeing Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was hiding on the outskirts of Yaga and preparing to leave.

"First of all, congratulations on escaping the encirclement of 12,000 killing hunters. This is quite unexpected and makes me very happy. However, I am very unhappy that you arrived so slowly."

"They've been waiting for you in Russia for three months, and their proud, smooth fur is getting split from the cold."

Time is chaotic in the Imaginary Sea. Although Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others have only been in the Imaginary Submarine for seven days, three months have passed in Russia.

The Yaga quickly looked back at the people being targeted by the unscrupulous merchant. Some of the Yaga looked warily at the three ancient human species. As everyone knows, any one of the ancient human species that has appeared so far is terrifyingly strong and can easily crush them.

Yaga is inherently cowardly and bullies the weak; they cannot muster any resistance against anyone stronger than them.

But when they saw Pazsi, they were met with cold, mocking stares. Pazsi was the town's acknowledged weakling; only the weak would pity the weak. In their eyes, Pazsi would soon die along with his mother if he couldn't support her.

Patsi ignored the cold, mocking stares; he was used to it.

“Koyanskaya, right?” Fujimaru Ritsuka clenched her fist, her gaze fixed on one of the culprits who had conquered Chaldea.

"Mash!"

Mashu held her shield taut, ready for battle at any moment.

“Since we’ve already noticed, there’s nothing we can do.” Holmes produced his cane, his brow furrowed with helplessness.

The killing hunter cocked his demonic gun with a click, awaiting orders.

"Hehehe, you're really going all out, Master of Pan-Human History." Koyanskaya put one hand on her hip, maintaining a pleasant smile on her face: "Don't be so nervous, the priest and that Hermit Master have already spoken to me, they've already reserved you."

"Although I won't listen to them, I also want to see which of the two human Masters will fall first, so I don't plan to make a move against you right now."

"Furthermore, we noticed your Chaldea presence the moment it appeared."

"In other words, from the very beginning, you were transparent to us."

Holmes stepped forward, blocking Fujimaru Ritsuka's path: "Well then, Miss Koyanskaya, you must have come here specifically for this purpose. I wonder what business you have with our Master?"

“No, no, no.” Koyanskaya squinted. “I didn’t come here specifically to find this amateur magician, but specifically to find you, detective.”

"As far as I know, Sherlock Holmes is not a real person in the history of humankind; he is only famous as a detective novel."

"And your core isn't someone else wearing the 'Sherlock Holmes' suit, so who are you really?"

"Furthermore, as a detective, one should deduce immediately that entering the Lostbelt territory will be the Lostbelt's home ground, and foreign objects will most likely be discovered immediately."

"Then why are you so careless, given that you've been following Chaldea all this time? There's always been a sense of contradiction about you that intrigues me, making me want to find out more."

As a Beast larva, she could directly sense the disconnect in Holmes. The relationship between Holmes and Chaldea was too thin, as if he had not been summoned by Chaldea.

So here's the question: if it wasn't summoned by Chaldea, then who summoned it, and what is its purpose within Chaldea? An undercover agent?

That's so funny! It feels like a cat finding a dried fish in the crack of a sofa.

Considering the anomaly of Sherlock Holmes, which Chaldea is unaware of, and even the human Masters are kept in the dark, it's practically a super comedy yet to air.

I really want to know how interesting things will happen when the mystery is revealed.

Holmes calmly replied, "What do you mean I've been following Chaldea the whole time? Even detectives make mistakes sometimes. Are you mocking my abilities as a detective?"

"Hahahaha...Alright, alright, I'll let you off this time. Don't bother me while I'm selling grain, or I can't guarantee I won't play a little claw-showing game with you right now." Koyanskaya's eyes narrowed with laughter as she looked back at the Yaga, who were starting to get agitated.

"Have you prepared your money, you hungry, smelly furry creatures? If there are no customers to buy anything, then I'll have to head to the next town."

"But, but we don't have that much money."

"Yes, we can't even afford a piece of meat."

“Fools.” Koyanskaya pointed at the Yaga and said with a smile, “If one person’s money isn’t enough, then the money of your relatives and friends combined will be enough, right? Just rob them of the money, no, no, just kill them and you won’t even have to pay them back.”

"You all understand the struggle between a group of people starving to death and someone robbing all your money to survive, right? You experience these things every day, it's just that this time you're reaching out to your relatives and friends."

"Then let's get moving, you stinking furs, for food, hehehehe~"