Chapter 93: Jason Ga Shinda!
[While you are still immersed in the peaceful atmosphere created by Pain Breaker, nearby Monsters have already begun staring at you.]
In the dense bushes, the Vorpal Chickens, having heard the commotion, began poking their heads out one after another like bamboo shoots after the rain, each pair of malicious chicken eyes locking onto them.
Even in Chaldea, where heroes gather, Vorpal Chickens were an existence that Heroic Spirits were not particularly willing to deal with. Their Instant Death attacks often gave opponents headaches, and in some events they had even brought down Servants.
"Damn it, they show up at a time like this..."
Looking at the Vorpal Chickens, Jason wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his face showing clear distress.
If this had been earlier, he naturally would not have cared about a few Vorpal Chickens at all, but now the members of the Argo Ship had all entered a gentle, detached-from-worldly-strife state, and there was no one left who could help him.
"Hey, hey, Heracles, there are Monsters over there!"
Heracles completely ignored him, instead sitting together with the others, laughing and chatting while eating pancakes made by miss witch.
"What are you doing, Heracles, playing house with the girls?! Atalanta, Caenis, Medea, save me, the Monsters are really coming over here!"
Without hesitation, he ran over, grabbed the strongest Heracles, and tried to drag him toward the Vorpal Chickens.
"Now is not the time to go on a picnic with girls, hurry up and kill all those Vorpal Chickens—"
Smack!
Heracles, losing patience, punched him once and sent him flying.
Jason was knocked back about five meters before landing, then, covered in dust, he yelled, "Heracles, why are you still using violence on me even though you've been hit by a Noble Phantasm?!"
It was over. This time, it was really over.
Even if they were not surrounded and attacked by the Monsters, just with their current state alone, there was no way they could smoothly complete the hunting mission anymore.
This time, they had lost utterly.
"We have to think of a way to deal with those Monsters."
At some point, Eikou had appeared beside him and spoke.
"Huh..."
Jason froze and said in surprise, "Brat, you're still okay?"
"Medea's Noble Phantasm has a relatively limited effect on me. Because my Magic Resistance rank is very high, I can withstand the effect better."
"Right now, we should think about a way to lure those Monsters away first. Prepare for the worst-case scenario in advance, which is that we can no longer rely on them,"
Eikou glanced at the teammates affected by Pain Breaker. "We can only rely on the two of us."
"Rely on me? I'm the Commander. How could I possibly go to the front line and fight."
Jason said it without even thinking.
"Then that's really unfortunate,"
Eikou said with a pale face, "Thanks to Caenis, she activated her Noble Phantasm once and completely drained all my mana, plus the debuff from staying up all night. Now I have the will but not the strength."
"What..."
The hope that had just been kindled in Jason instantly went out, "Hey, then doesn't that mean we're all just standing here waiting to die?"
"Don't ask me. Escaping death in desperate situations isn't that your greatest specialty? Hurry up and think of a way to survive!"
"Why does the way you're describing me sound like I'm a cockroach!"
Jason showed an awkward expression, "Even I rarely encounter situations like this. The crew still has strength left but no will to fight. Calling it adversity isn't quite right either, so I'm completely out of cards here."
The entire Argo Crew had lost their will to fight. A situation like this was also rare for him, truly the kind where he could cry to the heavens with no answer.
"So that's how it is..."
Eikou silently drew out the pair of Kanshou & Bakuya that had yet to disappear.
"Then next I'll slash you to the brink of death and throw you to those chickens. Maybe you'll come up with a strategy to turn the tables."
"What kind of insane idea is that? I'd die before that even happens!"
Jason shouted.
"Shut up. There's no other way anyway, right? Let me help you break through your limits."
Holding the twin blades, Eikou slowly pressed closer to him.
"Are you kidding... I'll live even if it kills me! Don't do it, I'll think of something right now!"
Jason hurriedly retreated. Even though Eikou was already close to exhaustion at this moment, with Jason's feeble combat ability, he truly had no confidence that he could beat him.
He had to survive!
[Actually, if you really think about it, you still have one trump card left.]
[That is to use a Command Spell to teleport a Servant here. Just randomly summoning a Servant would be enough to deal with those Monsters.]
[But the Command Spell is extremely important to you. It is one of the trump cards for facing Kiara later, and also a guarantee of safety when conquering the Singularity. Before the final moment arrives, you absolutely do not want to use it lightly.]
[Compared to that, squeezing Jason a bit seems more advantageous.]
"Fine, fine..."
After thinking it over back and forth, Jason somewhat unwillingly took out a Craft Essence.
"This is something I won from a few previous challenge stages. It's called GudaGuda Poster Girl, and it's quite valuable! As long as one person carries this Craft Essence, the enemy's target priority will be focused on that person. That way, at least it can ensure the teammates won't get hurt."
"I see,"
Eikou nodded as if thinking, "As long as someone carries this Craft Essence to draw the firepower, everyone else will be safe, right. If that's the case then..."
The two of them spoke in unison:
"You carry it!" x2
"..." x2
What followed was an awkward silence, the two staring at each other.
Meanwhile, the chickens had already begun to close in little by little.
"Is there some kind of mistake here, why do I have to carry it?"
Jason said resentfully, still trying to pass it off, "I'm the commander behind the scenes. There's no reason for me to do this kind of exhausting work."
"Then I'm not doing it either. I'm exhausted on my side too, you know. And in the end, this whole thing started because of you in the first place. If you hadn't gone and provoked us, none of this would have happened."
Eikou retorted, "Besides, aren't you really good at surviving? You'll definitely live longer than me."
"It's precisely because I'm good at surviving that I absolutely won't take on a mission that's basically suicide!"
"Then let's all die together!"
The two of them continued arguing nonstop, while the gazes of the Vorpal Chicken grew colder and colder. They advanced step by step, and one of them quietly circled around behind Jason.
"Then how about this, we take turns carrying this Craft Essence and run for half an hour. You run first, and I'll rest for a bit..."
Before he could finish speaking, a sharp flash of light suddenly burst out behind Jason.
A Vorpal Chicken could be seen launching a sneak attack from behind, viciously pecking hard into his back.
Immediately after, a status appeared above his head.
Instant Death!
"What?!"
Jason stared wide-eyed in terror, unable to believe that he had truly been taken down.
"Damn it, I actually..."
"Jason..."
Seeing the captain of the Argo suddenly collapse, Eikou could not help letting out a mournful cry.
"NOOO——!!!! (fake)"
[Saber Jason has fallen.]
[Seeing this, you have no choice but to shoulder the responsibility of saving your companions alone. Without hesitation, you pick up the Craft Essence that Jason dropped, draw all the chickens' attention to yourself, and dash away.]
[You are being hunted by the Vorpal Chicken tribe. Please perform an Agility check.]
A die fell down.
[The result is EX, great failure.]
Good heavens, in such a terrible condition, and it still turned out to be a great failure!
[You are currently exhausted, your speed slowing more and more. Before long, you are caught up by the Vorpal Chicken. In a moment of inattention, you slip, tumble head over heels down a slope, fall miserably, and lose your sense of direction.]
[You sense rustling sounds coming from the surrounding grass.]
[You have encountered other monster.]
Eikou's heart immediately sank to the bottom.
There are other monster here too. Could it be that the heavens truly want to drive me into a dead end!
Soon after, the enemies appeared one after another, including the Vorpal Chicken that had been chasing him earlier, densely surrounding him.
"Help—me—ah—"
Eikou's miserable cry echoed throughout the forest on the island.
"Wait a moment, these monster seem to be..."
[You were surrounded by a large number of monsters. As for what happened afterward, no one knows...]
[...]
[And just like that, time gradually passed...]
[Very soon, it was time for the hunting competition to end, and the moment to check the results arrived.]