Chapter 235. Full-Scale Confrontation (3)
Let’s take stock of the current battle.
On Merlin’s side were the ‘Greatest Hero’ Heracles, the ‘Invincible Hero’ Achilles, the ‘Monster-Slaying Hero’ Perseus, the ‘Hound Warrior’ Cú Chulainn, the ‘Dragon-Slaying Immortal’ Siegfried, the ‘Hero King of Monstrous Strength’ Beowulf, and one more Constellation who had apparently replaced Hector.
All of them were probably S-rank Constellations.
As for their Contractors, there was Christina, Siegfried’s Contractor and one of the Vessels, Sylvia, Beowulf’s Contractor, and Alexandros, Heracles’s Contractor.
There might be other forces as well.
Meanwhile, our side had Arjuna, Odysseus, Finn Mac Cool, Orpheus, and Theseus among the S-rank Constellations.
Below them were the Knights of the Round Table, including Mordred, Lancelot, Gawain, Tristan, and Galahad, Charlemagne’s Twelve Paladins such as Bradamante, Renaud, and Astolfo, Greek Constellations like Jason and Atalanta, and Chinese Constellations such as Princess Longji.
As for Contractors, we had Kang Yujin, Seok Taejun, Lee Jukheon, Joo Minha, Lee Hyeonje, Cheon Sangwoon, and the other members of the Golden Ram Order.
If you only counted heads, we had more people.
But unlike Merlin’s side, where every single Constellation possessed top-class combat power, only a handful of our S-rank Constellations could directly match them.
Arjuna, one of the representative heroes of Indian mythology.
Finn Mac Cool, a Celtic hero comparable to Cú Chulainn.
And Theseus, whom Jason had newly recruited.
That was about it.
Which meant the matchups were crucial.
Who fought whom would decide everything.
That was why I had already worked out the best strategy possible together with Odysseus and the others who excelled at tactics.
“Nameless King, are you injured anywhere?”
Arjuna spoke while protecting Astolfo and me.
“We should keep widening the distance.”
“Let’s regroup once we’re beyond the range of Cú Chulainn’s throwing spear.”
Arjuna was capable of powerful long-range attacks like Brahmastra, and he was our strongest combatant.
That was why our strategy had been built around him.
“Arjuna, Finn Mac Cool is waiting nearby.”
“Let’s join him and take down Cú Chulainn together.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Finn Mac Cool, a veteran member of the Committee, was one of Celtic mythology’s greatest heroes, standing alongside Cú Chulainn.
If he teamed up with Arjuna, they should be able to defeat Cú Chulainn.
But then...
"...!"
Arjuna abruptly stopped and raised his bow.
Then he immediately unleashed Brahmastra.
BOOOOM!
A massive explosion erupted in the sky.
“Aaagh!”
Astolfo screamed and curled up.
That was how enormous the blast had been.
“Arjuna, what happened?!”
“It was Brahmastra.”
“What?”
“A Brahmastra was coming toward us, so I intercepted it with one of my own.”
Arjuna was glaring toward the direction he had fired.
A man was approaching from there.
“A pleasure to meet you, Nameless King.”
The man wore a black cloak.
Beneath it gleamed golden armor.
And like Arjuna, he carried an unusual bow.
“My Constellation title is the ‘Golden Hero.’”
“My true name is Karna.”
“Karna...!”
Karna.
Arjuna’s nemesis in the Mahabharata.
He was also Arjuna’s half-brother.
The golden armor he wore had been bestowed upon him at birth by the sun god Surya and fused with his body.
It was said to have made him invulnerable.
So the Constellation recruited to replace Hector was Karna...!
Then Arjuna’s stiff voice reached me.
“Nameless King.”
“Arjuna...”
“I apologize, but I believe you’ll have to leave Cú Chulainn to Finn Mac Cool.”
Arjuna, who normally maintained a calm demeanor no matter what happened...
was now glaring at Karna with open hostility, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.
Karna and Arjuna fought countless times as rivals in the myths.
Merlin recruited Karna specifically to neutralize Arjuna, our strongest fighter!
Realizing Merlin’s intent, I sucked in a breath.
“Karna. Let’s move somewhere far enough away that no one else gets caught up in our battle.”
“Will that be acceptable?”
“Agreed, Arjuna.”
“I have no desire to allow others to interfere in our fight, nor to inconvenience anyone else.”
“Your bow, Vijaya, hasn’t rusted, has it?”
“I trust you’ve maintained Gandiva just as carefully.”
After exchanging those few words, Arjuna and Karna left together.
The fighting spirit radiating from their backs made one thing absolutely clear.
They would not tolerate anyone else interfering.
If I tried to step between them...
I would probably get attacked by both at once.
“W-What do we do, Your Majesty?”
"..."
In the end, only Astolfo and I were left.
I bit my lip as Astolfo looked at me in panic.
Then, at that exact moment...
BOOOOM!
A spear tore through the wind and embedded itself in a nearby building.
The impact brought the entire structure crashing down.
Astolfo and I hurriedly moved away to avoid being caught in the collapse.
“You’ve got a lot of leisure!”
A man with war paint on his face rushed toward us.
It was Cú Chulainn.
The same man who had destroyed Astolfo’s Hippogriff earlier.
“You should be running for your life, yet here you are standing around chatting!”
“Ghk!”
Astolfo hurriedly drew his sword.
I drew Joyeuse as well.
But Cú Chulainn ignored me and attacked Astolfo first.
With no weapon in hand, he knocked Astolfo’s sword away barehanded...
then planted a kick into his chest.
“Ghk!”
Astolfo went rolling across the ground.
Cú Chulainn retrieved the spear he had thrown earlier and immediately charged toward me.
CLANG!
At that exact moment, a blond man burst from between the buildings and stopped him.
Two spears collided.
Sparks scattered.
“Finn Mac Cool!”
“Cú Chulainn!”
The S-rank Constellation ‘Golden-Haired Knight Commander,’ Finn Mac Cool, who had been waiting nearby, had intercepted him.
“Your Contractor lost to mine in Korea before, didn’t he?”
“You mean Narukami Kaoru of Japan losing to Shin Minyu of Korea?”
During the battle between the Eight Guardians and the Four Heavenly Kings of the Tenka Restoration Association in Kaesong, Narukami Kaoru, the second strongest of the Four Heavenly Kings, had been defeated by Shin Minyu of the Eight Guardians.
“Let’s recreate that result here, junior.”
Killing intent poured from Cú Chulainn.
Dozens of barbs sprouted from his spear, Gáe Bolg, turning it into a vicious weapon.
As he fought Cú Chulainn, Finn Mac Cool shouted.
“Regroup, Nameless King!”
“Finn Mac Cool...!”
“The moment Arjuna broke away on his own, our original plan collapsed!”
Finn continued while cleverly deflecting Cú Chulainn’s furious attacks.
“There’s only one thing left to do!”
“Gather every force you can and take down Merlin!”
"...!"
“Haven’t you used that tactic plenty of times with Kang Yujin?”
“Cut off the enemy’s head and end it!”
That was exactly right.
“I’ll keep Cú Chulainn occupied!”
“So you hurry and...!”
“You talk too damn much! Focus on the fight!”
Watching the two heroes clash violently, I bit my lip.
“Astolfo, let’s go!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Astolfo and I left the area.
We needed to join the Constellations scattered throughout Kolkata.
“We should join the Nameless King.”
Inside a small building in northern Kolkata, Odysseus finally spoke after thinking it through.
“It looks like all of Pandemonium’s demons have already been eliminated.”
“From what I can tell, the only ones fighting in this city now are Constellations and their Contractors.”
“Then we don’t need to stay scattered around the city in preparation for another demon attack.”
“Constellations aren’t going to start attacking civilians.”
Jason nodded and looked around.
“You all heard him, right?”
“Move.”
“Understood.”
“Stop talking like you’re the commander, Jason.”
Orpheus and Atalanta, both former members of the Argonaut expedition, replied as they stood.
The other Constellations with them did the same.
Everyone gathered here was from Greek mythology.
Along with Orpheus and Atalanta, who had participated in the Maginot Line battle, several Constellations Jason had newly recruited had also joined them.
“Jason, it looks like the Knights of the Round Table are holding Heracles off to the west.”
“Those guys are pretty capable themselves, so they won’t get broken through easily.”
“Then we can join the Nameless King without worrying.”
Jason raised his fist energetically.
“We can deal with the biggest headache, Heracles, later!”
But at that exact moment...
BOOM!
The wall of the building collapsed.
A man leaped inside.
“Who did you just call the biggest headache, huh?”
The man who entered with that rough voice was broad and powerfully built, with his hair swept back.
He wore ornate armor and carried a spear and shield.
“Who the hell are you?!”
