Chapter 49: The Holy Grail

Three hours later, outside the Willow Cave Temple.

"To my surprise, the other side didn't set up any defensive measures. Climbing all the way up the ravine that was once created by himself, Zhao Mian not only sighed at the scene he had come along the way, "Should this be attributed to our luck or to the stupidity of the other party?"

"Neither, this should be the confidence of the other party. Rin Tosaka, who climbed up all the way behind Zhao Mian in cowhide boots, complained, but although it looked like she was just climbing the mountain leisurely, at her fingertips, the two gems, one white and one blue, were faintly revealing a magical aura, "There are only two SERVANTS on our side anyway, and the Hero King has an overwhelming advantage in fighting other Heroic Spirits, so I'm afraid the other party doesn't want to play any tricks at all - not to mention that this won't fit the character of that arrogant guy, right?"

"I'm so arrogant that I usually call stupidity. Zhao Mian continued to climb upward, although the huge ravine was not full of gravel and trees like other places, but the soft soil still made him feel a little troubled by the heavy armor, "Contempt for the enemy in strategy, and value the enemy in tactics - this is a quality that a commander should have." So at all times, I always do the best I can to prepare, whether it's a trap or a poison - history is written by the victors, after all. ”

"Uh, poison ......" Tosaka stopped for a moment, then looked up at the broad back—and then she noticed that the other party had also stopped, standing in front of her, looking in the other direction of the mountain, his vision seemed to penetrate the heavy earth and stone in front of him, and reach the other side of the mountain.

"Here we go. Zhao Mian carefully distinguished the news brought by the night breeze for a while, and then said abruptly.

"What started?" Tosaka asked with a strange look as she looked left and right, listened carefully to the sounds around her, but found nothing.

"THERE WAS A SOUND OF BATTLE IN THE WIND, IF THERE WAS NO ACCIDENT, IT SHOULD BE THE SOUND OF SABER FIGHTING WITH THE OTHER PARTY, JUDGING BY THE DENSITY OF THE SOUND, THE OTHER PARTY SHOULD BE LANCER. Zhao Mian turned his head and explained—he reached out and pulled the girl to his side, then leaned over and hugged her in his arms, "ALTHOUGH IT WAS EXPECTED THAT THE ARROGANT HERO KING WOULD NOT FLANK SABER AND EMIYA SHIROU, BUT IN ORDER NOT TO HAVE ANY SURPRISES, WE MUST SPEED UP OUR PACE." As the words fell, Zhao Mian slammed into the ground and rushed towards the top of the mountain like a cannonball.

Wrapped in steel and strong winds, Tosaka opened her eyes slightly, but found that due to Zhao Mian's obscuration, she herself was not affected much by the relative air flow, so she opened her eyes boldly with confidence, poked her head out of Zhao Mian's arms, and looked below herself- The other party snatched the heart of an android, and that heart was a very convenient item to use as a magic core or as a part of some item, so whether it was out of a girl's curiosity or a magician's caution, she had a reason to check what the other party was doing, and then she saw the slowly expanding mass of things.

As if it should be, the other party put all his secrets in front of her like this, not to mention that the other party could not even be said to be very big in the temple.

What is that? something like black mud wrapped in a flesh-colored film. Even just a hurried glance at her whereabouts cast an indescribable shadow on her heart, and in that short moment, it was as if countless resentful eyes were focused on her, making her feel inexplicably cold from the depths of her heart.

Unlike any other lightly leaping servants on the eaves and ropes, as if announcing his arrival to the other party, Zhao Mian smashed into a corner of the backyard of Liudong Temple with the help of a parabola he had chosen at random. Countless pieces of earth and broken stones flew out, hitting the outer walls of the nearby monastery, and some even flew over the inner walls not far away, hitting the huge mud masses that had already poked their heads out - the small stones seemed to hit some kind of sticky gelatin, and did not leave any traces on them, but they were firmly stuck to the top and could not be pulled apart, and then slowly seeped into it and disappeared without a trace.

"What's that?" Tosaka asked after everything around him—mostly dirt—had settled down, and then he asked eagerly pointing to something peeking out of the wall.

"This is the Holy Grail that you magicians have worked so hard to pursue, ignorant imps. Zhao Mian didn't speak, he took a somewhat guarded step forward, blocking the right side of Tosaka, and followed his gaze, at the wall over there, the hero king in golden armor was already standing there, as if he had been waiting for their arrival - he looked at the strange mud pile that was still expanding over there with a bit of confusion, and held a glass of scarlet wine that looked a little dazzling under the firelight in his left hand, and then said so. "What a disgusting thing. With that, he laughed wildly.

Rin Tosaka didn't reply, she moved a little closer to Zhao Mian, and then raised her head slightly to look at Zhao Mian's side face, her eyes seemed to be full of doubts, but she didn't ask.

Facing Rin Tosaka's gaze, Zhao Mian didn't say anything, he just nodded quietly, and then took a step in the direction of the hero king. "Looks like today should be the last, right?" he spoke, his voice piercing the laughter of the Hero King, piercing the disgusting curse coming from the ooze side, and resounding clearly in the empty field, "O Hero King over there. ”

"Ha, it's really worthy of RIDER, and I've never been ashamed of my job. The Hero King sighed, as if he was expressing something inadequate and human, his gaze stared directly at the black mud in front of him that was about to touch his feet, but he did not dodge, as if the thing that Tosaka had affected his mind by just a glance was nothing but a chicken, and what kind of world he saw through the expanding black mud, no one knew except him. "RIDER, I ASK YOU - YOU SAID LAST TIME THAT SOME THINGS ARE JUST FROM MORTAL HAMMERS, AND THAT PEOPLE ARE CREATING A FUTURE WITHOUT LEGENDS. He sighed, then turned his head to look at Zhao Mian with a grim face, "What kind of future is that?"

"A future for humanity. Zhao Mian opened his mouth and spit out such words. The short seven words fluttered in the wind and quickly disappeared into the air, and Rin Tosaka looked at all this in front of her inexplicably, these two guys who had long been inhuman didn't know what kind of dumb riddle they were playing, and she wasn't even a participant.

"A future for humanity...... The Hero King repeated heavily, and then the corners of his mouth rose slightly—the arrogant smile was gone, and he looked sideways, looking around from the height of this Liudong Temple, and the lights that were still bright in the dark night were reflected in his pupils, and he seemed to see a satisfactory picture, so the corners of his mouth rose a little again, which just constituted a small, unassuming smile.

But the expression didn't last long, as the sound of the breeze waking him from his thoughts, he shook his head a little boredly, and threw the unfinished wine into the thick black mud. "THIS YEAR'S RIDER, I HAVE HEARD THAT YOU ARE A KNIGHT, SO WHAT KIND OF KING DO YOU SERVE?" THE WIND ROSE IN A CLAMOR OF NOISE, BUT IN THE WAY OF THE WIND, A TRANSPARENT WALL APPEARED IN THIS WAY, AND COUNTLESS WEAPONS APPEARED BEHIND HIM.

"I am not a knight of the king. Zhao Mian stretched out his right hand, and then pulled out his big sword from the air, the holy sword of the Silver Knights flashed with light, the light was bright but not dazzling, but it was this soft light that forced the black mud that was about to gradually spread to this place back. Zhao Mian held the hilt of the sword with both hands, held the blade in front of him, his eyes looked at the hero king over there from both sides of the blade, and then said, "The will of the individual will eventually decay, and no one can live forever." There is only one object of my allegiance, past and present, and that is humanity. "Categorically, the voice fell like this.

"Humans...... PERHAPS I FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHY YOU MADE AN ALLIANCE WITH SABER. THE HERO KING SEEMED TO HAVE HEARD SOME RIDICULOUS WORDS, BUT HE DIDN'T EXPRESS IT, HE JUST STARED AT ZHAO MIAN IN FRONT OF HIM, AND THE FEELINGS REFLECTED IN HIS RED EYES WERE VERY SIMPLE, "COME ON, RIDER, IT'S TIME FOR THIS FARCE TO END!"

"Indeed, the time has come. Zhao Mian nodded.

The light rises to the sky.