Chapter 169: Terrifying Summon
"Forget treating Yu Ji like a girlfriend—he doesn't even treat her like a woman!"
In his heart Eikou thought, you guys don't understand; this is a necessary sacrifice (Dumbledore's voice).
He'd known Yu Ji for quite some time, and this level of self-detonation didn't hurt her in the slightest.
"With such a spectacular blast, surely plenty of Treasure Vaults have been destroyed..."
The blood mist gradually dispersed and his vision cleared.
When he finally saw the condition of those Treasure Vaults, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock.
"What? None of them died?"
Not only him, Finn exclaimed the same,
"Mochizuki Eikou buffed her with so many strengthening skills, and that was even a Noble Phantasm Buster—a chain of world-shattering moves—and yet the casualties are zero! Isn't Yu Ji's Noble Phantasm far too weak? Could it be that the power boost still wasn't enough?"
"Not like that, my king,"
Diarmuid, standing beside him and looking over the contestant data, explained seriously:
"Lady Yu Ji's Strength is quite low, and her Noble Phantasm rank is only C. On top of that… her Noble Phantasm inherently carries a buff-removal effect; before activation it erased all buff states, so she received no enhancements from Eikou at all."
"Additionally, she's an Assassin class, which is naturally countered by the Caster-type enemies in the Treasure Vault, ultimately making the Noble Phantasm's damage far from ideal."
"The most critical point is that she and contestant Eikou are not actually a real couple, so they can't unleash their full power in the Holy Grail War of Love!"
"..."
Hearing this, Eikou was left speechless.
If he'd known it would turn out like this, he might as well have done it himself!
"I thought class affinity and the buff-removal effect before Noble Phantasm release were just game mechanics—didn't expect her to be like that in reality too!"
Suddenly, Eikou felt the sharp gazes of the other contestants.
It was as if he were surrounded by a pack of wolves.
Everyone had noticed that Team Mochizuki was currently the weakest pair on the field.
"Damn, we haven't earned any QP, and we already showed all our trump cards right from the start!"
A bead of cold sweat slid down his forehead.
It was as though even the moisture in his body grew fearful, wanting to flee this place at once.
Yu Ji's body was quickly reconstructed.
With a heavy expression, Eikou stepped toward her.
"Senpai, this one's on me—I misjudged the battle situation."
"Human, what are you apologizing for..."
A faint blush appeared on her pale, beautiful face.
It seemed she also knew the Noble Phantasm's damage was disappointing.
"It's fine, human… my magical energy recovers quickly; before long I can charge up for another release."
"A Noble Phantasm this 'merciful' won't kill anyone no matter how many times you use it—senpai, your Noble Phantasm is way too weak."
"I am not weak," Yu Ji retorted, her face flushing bright red. "Never mind, this isn't a game decided purely by strength—luck is very important too."
"But your luck is E; that's even harder to hold your head up about."
"Annoying! And yet that makes perfect sense—why can't I convince an idiot like you!"
Yu Ji bared her vampire fangs and growled.
Then the two of them simultaneously sighed, suddenly feeling the weight on their shoulders grow heavier.
"At this point, we can only take things one step at a time."
He brushed back the fringe of hair on his forehead.
"Winning from a weaker position isn't impossible, as long as we can maneuver among these Servants."
He still had a few skills left, plus seven encouragement dice—the odds of victory weren't gone yet.
[Your turn has ended.]
[Although Yu Ji's Noble Phantasm damage was less than ideal, it still inflicted some harm. The Treasure Vault has dropped about 40,000 QP for you.]
[A new round of dice rolling begins.]
[The other pairs each roll their dice, heading toward different branches of the shopping mall, exploring unknown random events, and gaining resources from the shop.]
[Very quickly, it is your turn again.]
[Please perform a Luck check.]
A die tumbled down.
[Result is E, great success!]
[You rolled a six and move straight ahead six squares.]
Seeing that he'd rolled a great success, Eikou let out a small sigh of relief.
Thank Nasu, rolling a 6 finally helped narrow the gap a little with the progress of the other teams.
Landing on a random event square, it was time for another Luck check.
[Result is E, great success!]
[Congratulations, you have drawn a beneficial random event]
[You have drawn a summoning talisman from the group of friendship and love, and can now immediately summon a Servant with a fated connection to you both, to cheer on and assist your love!]
"What the… two consecutive great successes?"
Eikou was instantly stunned.
Since when had he become this lucky?
Not only that, the rewards kept getting better—now even a Servant Summoning appeared.
Gripping the Servant summoning talisman tightly, he finally let out a long breath of relief.
This was touching—what their team lacked most right now was Servant combat power.
And now, with just one more Servant joining the team, their situation would surely change dramatically!
Without hesitation he used the talisman.
[You have used a Servant summoning talisman.]
[Summoning a Servant with a fated connection to you…]
[Please perform a Luck check. The more successful the result, the more compatible the summoned Servant will be with you.]
A die fell.
Watching the Servant summoning circle appear, Eikou quickly clasped his hands together and prayed earnestly:
"Please, give me another great success! I really need a strong Servant right now. Gawain my brother, come and cheer for my love!"
[Result is EX, great failure!]
Thud!
Seeing the dice result, Eikou smacked the floor hard.
"I knew it, I knew it—how could my life possibly go so smoothly!"
Looking at the glowing summoning circle, he felt a mix of helplessness and confusion.
"Although I could use an encouragement die to alter the result, forget it..."
Eikou thought, at Chaldea Academy I have such good relationships, how could there be a Servant incompatible with me?
If there really is, I actually want to see it.
[Because it's a great failure, your Servant summoning has experienced a small mishap.]
[Your summoning talisman triggered a chain summoning, simultaneously calling forth three Servants connected to you.]
[Class Rider, Queen Medb]
[Class Berserker, Kriemhild]
[Class Lancer, Brynhildr]
Why are these the three wives from Love Sleeping 2—how did you all manage to come here!
What on earth is this situation, a wives' party or what!
And first to appear before him was a beauty in a simple black mourning dress, pale hair neatly tied back, skin like ice and snow, radiating a somber elegance.
"Servant Kriemhild, responding to the summoning… oh, is it you?"
Those cold eyes swept toward him.
"So it's you, the scumbag who murdered Siegfried-sama! Take a sword strike from me!"
"Why, why do you still remember the events of Love Sleeping 2?!"
Eikou screamed in despair.
It was over—sure enough, this was a Servant utterly incompatible with him!