Chapter 94: The War God Kali Appears! Shirou Faces Off Against Two Lv.6!
"Leveled up again..."
After absorbing the liquid from the golden magic stone, Shirou felt his own rank had once again risen.
However, Shirou couldn't observe the blessings on himself directly, so even if there was a change in level, he couldn't be sure.
He would have to return and let Hestia examine him.
Therefore, for the moment, he ignored the possibility of having leveled up and turned his attention to the corpse of the mutated plant before him.
As expected, this huge mutated plant was extremely similar to the mutated plants on the 20th floor of the dungeon—perhaps it was even the same species of mutant.
According to the clues Shirou had gathered so far, these mutated plants were derivatives created by the Dark Faction using captured Spirits, extracting their essence power from within.
Although it was unknown exactly how the Dark Faction captured the Spirit, it was assumed they had the means to do so.
According to Apollo's previous explanation, the Spirits captured by the Dark Faction were located in the deep layers of the dungeon.
The Dark Faction continuously performed various experiments with the goal of summoning Spirit avatars on the surface, thereby completely destroying Orario.
However, the Dark Faction's experiments were limited; they had so far only been able to summon Spirit avatars in the dungeon's deep layers, and had to continuously try and experiment to gradually summon them closer to the surface.
Shirou had thought the 20th floor was their limit, but now it seemed he had completely underestimated the Dark Faction's progress.
At least, the mutated plant before Shirou was already underground in Orario, just one step away from the surface.
Moreover, Shirou suspected the Dark Faction might already have the ability to summon Spirit avatars on the surface.
As for why they hadn't summoned on the surface yet, it might be because they were still unprepared, or waiting for a more suitable time.
For example, when the Loki and Freya factions were both absent from Orario and the surface was unguarded, the Dark Faction could launch these terrifying monsters all at once, bringing huge casualties to Orario.
In short, after witnessing the existence of this underground Orario and the mutated plants, Shirou no longer dared to underestimate the Dark Faction.
However, Shirou quickly became puzzled.
Why would the Dark Faction so blatantly reveal that they could summon mutated plants in the shallow layers near the surface?
If they hadn't exposed this, Shirou might have continued to believe that the enemy couldn't summon corrupted Spirit avatars near the surface.
But now the enemy recklessly summoned corrupted Spirit avatars here, even exposing their trump card.
Was this all just to attack the goddesses Ishtar and Freya?
Did the Dark Faction really think they could pull off something like that?
It should be known that the entire Freya faction was gathered in the Wind Moon Street area, so supporting them wasn't difficult.
Plus, both goddesses Ishtar and Freya possessed powers of charm and allure, meaning ordinary assassination tactics would be useless.
Therefore, it was highly likely the Dark Faction knew they couldn't successfully attack these two goddesses.
But then, their actions became even more incomprehensible.
Why? What exactly was the Dark Faction's real goal in setting this trap?
What was the prey they wanted to catch...?
At that moment, the answer suddenly flashed in Shirou's mind.
It was himself.
The Dark Faction went through so much trouble and laid so many plans, but the most likely target of their attack was not Ishtar and Freya.
More than those two goddesses, what they truly wanted to crush was Shirou Emiya himself!
Shirou saw through the Dark Faction's intention, but he was a bit slow to realize it.
Before he could attempt to escape the underground Orario, several figures slowly emerged from the distant shadows.
"Oh, so you're Shirou Emiya?"
"Who are you?"
Not far from Shirou, three uniquely appearing women appeared.
They had brown skin, wore revealing clothing, and were presumably Amazonian female warriors.
Two of the women were tall, covering the lower half of their faces with black veils.
The remaining one was short, roughly the same size as Hestia, with blood-red hair, adorned with fake skull jewelry, and wearing a mask with fangs.
Most notably, this little girl radiated an obviously non-human aura, a terrifying oppressive presence like a rolling divine wrath.
There was no doubt she was a deity from the heavens!
As Shirou warily eyed the suddenly appearing unfamiliar goddess, the red-haired little goddess smiled warmly and slowly said:
"Impressive aura. You really are an exciting prey for me."
"Which goddess are you?"
"Kali. Have you heard of that name?"
"Kali? You're a goddess working with Ishtar?"
"Exactly, that's me."
The goddess Kali openly admitted her identity.
Shirou had already learned about the Kali faction from Phryne's information and had done some research, so he knew a bit.
In short, the Kali faction was one of the few divine factions with a base located outside Orario.
Their base was in a country called the "Fighting Nation" Telskyura.
Telskyura was a peninsula country far southeast of Orario, inhabited entirely by Amazon female warriors.
Men were banned from entering the country, and if any were present, they were treated as slaves or merely tools for reproduction.
After Kali descended upon this country, like most gods, she selected suitable candidates to grant blessings and provide the possibility of leveling up.
However, unlike the factions in Orario who generally level up by clearing dungeons, the Kali faction had no dungeons to fight in within Telskyura, and the surface monsters were also limited.
Therefore, the Kali faction adopted a special method to increase their members' strength: having the members kill each other.
The citizens of Tierskura engage daily in combat within the arena, fighting captured monsters or other Amazons.
This fierce combat has made Tierskura one of the few countries outside Orario with outstanding military strength, but exactly how strong they are is unknown to outsiders.
Shirou did not know how powerful the Kali faction truly was, but since Ishtar was willing to cooperate with them, it was clear their strength was not to be underestimated.
"Why?" After confirming that it was indeed the Kali faction before him, Shirou could not help but show a suspicious expression. "Goddess Kali, you cooperate with Goddess Ishtar to fight against the Freya faction, right? So why are you here, appearing before me?"
"It's simple, because someone provided me with your information," Kali laughed openly. "I've ruled Telskyura for countless years and honestly grew bored with the usual fights.
That's why I agreed to Ishtar's invitation to join forces against the legendary strongest faction, Freya's.
But Ishtar seems to have failed to keep her promise to me—before she could use her trump card, Freya's faction completely destroyed her. How boring.
Having said that, I'm already in this labyrinth city Orario, so it would be too embarrassing to just leave without doing anything.
My original plan was to directly lead my subordinates in a surprise attack on Goddess Freya.
But I heard that goddess has the power of charm, and no matter how many of us go, it would be useless. When I felt cornered, someone came to me and provided your information.
He said you are the human that Goddess Freya cares about most in this labyrinth city, and if you were taken out, it could pose a considerable threat to Freya, even force her to bow down.
Although I don't really believe it, since it's the only way to attack Freya, I have to give it a try."
Goddess Kali candidly revealed her purpose.
From Kali's words, Shirou immediately knew the one who gave her the information must have been someone from the Dark Faction.
The Dark Faction likely targeted Shirou after Apollo's faction was destroyed by him, choosing to use the Kali faction to kill with a borrowed knife—to take Shirou down.
Shirou was very confused by the Dark Faction's indirect approach and their unwillingness to confront him head-on.
Because he didn't think the Dark Faction knew his true strength.
He had always separated himself from his 'Sword Demon' persona, and hardly ever displayed any special combat power in his true form.
The Dark Faction shouldn't know his actual ability.
Besides that, there was likely only one reason why the Dark Faction was unwilling to attack him:
They currently had no time to deal with him.
Whether the Dark Faction was busy with some other plan or due to some unknown reason unable to attack Shirou actively, this was why they did not send someone directly but instead used the Kali faction to attack.
Shirou was undoubtedly disappointed by the Dark Faction's tactics.
This time, he had specifically brought goddesses Ishtar and Freya to the underground Daedalus Street to lure the Dark Faction into attacking.
Since the Dark Faction did not know his true strength, Shirou was even prepared to counter-kill them, at least take down one of their executives.
That way, he could obtain a lot of information about the Dark Faction in one stroke.
But unexpectedly, the Dark Faction took no direct action, instead calling in the unrelated Kali faction.
This accident caused Shirou's plan to fail.
"Just to threaten Freya, you chose to attack me?" Shirou looked at goddess Kali before him. "I think Freya probably doesn't care about me that much. If you want to attack her, going straight for her is faster than attacking me."
"That's what I originally thought too. But after seeing the battle just now, I changed my mind," Kali smiled at him.
"You saw it?"
Shirou frowned.
He hadn't expected the Kali faction to witness his battle with the mutated plant, which meant they now knew his true strength.
To prevent this information from leaking to the Dark Faction, Shirou definitely couldn't let the Kali faction leave easily.
At least, he needed to find a way to silence them.
"Oh, your aura has changed!" Seeing Shirou unwilling to hide and start showing his true strength, Kali's expression was not nervous but even more excited. "I was wondering why Freya valued you so much, but now I completely understand. Even I'm starting to want you!"
Regarding Kali's attitude, Shirou's expression did not change.
He silently observed the foreign goddess before speaking coldly, "If I want you to bury everything you saw today in your heart and tell no one, what should I do?"
"Oh? Trying to threaten me?" Kali smiled at Shirou's expression. "Hmm, let me think. How about you first defeat my two followers? I might give you a chance then."
"Followers?"
Shirou looked at the two women standing beside Kali.
They had been silent since appearing, giving off an almost doll-like impression.
But Shirou, upon careful observation, clearly sensed an unusual aura from these two Amazon warriors.
"Lv. 5? No, Lv. 6!"
Based on their auras, Shirou judged their levels.
This caused the two Amazon warriors to show surprised expressions, seemingly not expecting their levels to be seen through so easily.
"Indeed extraordinary, Emiya Shirou," Kali grew more interested in Shirou's reaction. "How about a match with my two followers? If you win, I will give you a chance to make me keep quiet."
"You don't have to say it, I was going to do that anyway."
Shirou was already determined to take down the Kali faction here.
Since Kali and the others had seen the power he displayed in defeating the mutated plant, if this news reached the Dark Faction, it would mean his previously hidden strength was meaningless. The Dark Faction would become more cautious, making him harder to deal with.
So, no matter Kali's attitude, Shirou could not let this foreign goddess go easily today!
"Hehe, you're an interesting man," Kali said, growing more intrigued by Shirou's response. She waved her hand. "Go! Argana, Bache, show this man from Orario the might of women from Telskyura!"
"Yes, Lady Kali!"
"Understood, Great Goddess!"
Upon Kali's orders, the two Amazon warriors stepped forward.
Seeing their beast-like expressions directed at him, Shirou's expression did not waver.
He just glanced at goddess Kali and quietly said, "Are you sure about this?"
"What do you mean?"
"If I accidentally kill them, won't you, as a goddess, feel sad?"
Kali had apparently never expected to hear such words from Shirou.
She then couldn't help but clutch her stomach and laugh loudly, uncontrollably saying, "Interesting! You really are interesting! Regardless of whether you can really defeat my two children, even if you really kill them, it doesn't matter.
My goal is just to witness struggle and slaughter.
If my children cannot achieve this goal, then it means their potential is just so-so. Worthless things dying is fine, I won't feel pity."
"...I see."
Hearing Kali's attitude, Shirou quietly nodded.
He said no more, merely summoning the twin swords Kanshou and Bakuya, and spoke: "It seems you are a wicked god, goddess Kali. If that's who you are, then I won't hold back. I will use my swords to completely crush you and your followers!"
"Dream on!"
At Shirou's words, the two followers of Kali showed angry expressions.
They were already quite displeased with Shirou's attitude before, and now absolutely could not tolerate such disdain.
The two Lv. 6 Amazon warriors suddenly charged forward, exuding a terrifying pressure that shook the underground space itself!