Book 2: Chapter 21: The Chen Heng Who Wants to Mouth Off
The first battle Mash and Fujimaru Ritsuka went to was the one between Georgios and Lancelot. Georgios was a Heroic Spirit that focused on defense, so he found fending off Lancelot quite easy. However, his offense appeared to be lacking. Hence, the advantage of two fighting against one was rather clear now that Mash was here.
When Mash joined the battle and took out her shield, she disrupted Lancelotâs offense, and his attacks weakened.
This seemed like a classic scene of domestic violence.
Then there was Merlinâs side. Merlinâs Illusion Arts and the French armyâs support allowed him to reach a draw with Gilles de Rais. However, Merlin wasnât serious, hardly putting in any effort.
As a Grand Caster candidate, he reached a draw with a Heroic Spirit of the same rank. Furthermore, he had support from others. Who would believe he was going all out? Certainly not Chen Heng.
The others did not experience many problems because of Chen Hengâs tripled gravity field. They mostly held the upper hand. The French army could deal with the wyverns and skeleton soldiers. The gravity field prevented the wyverns from flying, and the skeleton soldiersâ movement slowed; they were no threat at all.
The French army Chen Heng had recruited had its uses. At the very least, the Servants on his side did not need to take time out to deal with the riffraff.
Chen Heng initially wanted to help Merlin kill Gilles de Rais since Gilles de Rais was the true culprit. He did not want a situation where Gilles de Rais regained the Holy Grail after he defeated Jeanne dâArc Alter. That would mean having to fight another bossâwhich would be a bit of a hassle.
However, Chen Heng swapped opponents with Jeanne dâArc. After all, Gilles de Rais was already so pitiful, so just let Saint Jeanne dâArc, whom he dreamed about, handle his end.
Now that the enemy had lost momentum and the victory was already set in stone, they could afford to mess around a little.
Chen Heng flew to the battle between Jeanne dâArc and Jeanne dâArc Alter. The two Jeanne dâArcs had just backed off after a clash.
âHey? He Who Knows Fate, why are you here?â Jeanne dâArc found it strange when she saw He Who Knows Fate come over. They had initially agreed on Chen Heng, Mash, and Fujimaru Ritsuka roaming around to assist the other battles after they dealt with Fafnir, maximizing the results, before dealing with the final boss.
Before that, Jeanne dâArc would delay Jeanne dâArc Alter while Merlin restrained Gilles de Rais.
âJeanne dâArc, go work with Merlin to deal with Gilles de Rais. Iâll deal with the Dragon Witch. Simultaneously, Iâm going to see if I can convert her to Chaldeaâs cause,â Chen Heng whispered; Jeanne dâArc Alter did not hear him.
âHey?! Why are you two coming forward? What are you discussing with each other?â The current Jeanne dâArc Alter felt very frustrated because of Jeanne dâArcâs earlier questions. Those questions had made Jeanne dâArc Alter question her life. Now, she wanted to use the battle to numb herself.
With the support of a Holy Grail, Jeanne dâArc Alter only fought to a draw, but this was because she unconsciously held back, so she feared nothing when Chen Heng joined in.
âGot it. Iâll support Merlin, then.â Although Jeanne dâArc did not know why Chen Heng seemed confident of converting Jeanne dâArc Alter to their cause, she trusted him because of his confidence.
âHey, old pal! We meet again! This is our third meeting, right?â Chen Heng greeted Jeanne dâArc Alter after Jeanne dâArc left. Jeanne dâArc Alter did not stop Jeanne dâArc. Rather, she felt quite happy about a solo battle with Chen Heng.
Jeanne dâArc Alter had wanted to beat up Chen Heng long ago. This fellow not only tricked me twice, but he also speaks in an incredibly irritating manner.
Earlier, Jeanne dâArc Alter with a Holy Grail fought a weakened Jeanne dâArc to a draw, purely because Jeanne dâArc Alter did not go all out. However, it was different with Chen Heng. Jeanne dâArc Alter hated Chen Heng a lot in the first place. Furthermore, she believed he killed Fafnir earlier.
Hence, Jeanne dâArc Alter absolutely would not hold back against Chen Heng.
âYou scoundrel, are you here to seek death? This great me is not a dragon like Fafnir. Your Dragonslayer is useless on me!â The only thing that could prevent Jeanne dâArc Alter from attacking Chen Heng was his gravity field. However, he was maintaining his gravity field over a vast area and definitely had no way to raise the gravity further.
A Magus going against me in close combat? Can I even lose? If I do, Iâll eat Fafnir while upside-down!
As Chen Heng was about to sass Jeanne dâArc Alter, she thrust her flagpole. Watching the flagpole, he quickly took out a sword from his spatial space to block. âYou should listen to others first. If you donât let me speak, how am I to mouth off?â
Jeanne dâArc Alter operated unconventionally. Earlier, the two Jeanne dâArcs exchanged ripostes for so long without problems. Yet, when it came to Chen Heng, Jeanne dâArc Alter attacked without letting him speak.
âHow ridiculous! I can listen to you after I kill you!â Ignoring Chen Heng, Jeanne dâArc Alter swept her flagpole across after pulling it back. As a faux Servant based on Jeanne dâArc, created by Gilles de Rais using a Holy Grail, Jeanne dâArc Alterâs combat skills were incredible. Furthermore, she possessed a brute force that Jeanne dâArc lacked.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
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After all, Jeanne dâArc Alterâs original parameters included A-ranked Strength, A-ranked Agility, and A+-ranked Mana. With a Holy Grail supporting her, her excellent parameters became even more excellent.
Jeanne dâArc Alterâs attacks were ferocious and contained substantial force. Chen Heng found them somewhat hard to deal with.
Donât forget Chen Heng only had B-ranked Strength, B-ranked Agility, and A-ranked Mana. His parameters were already inferior to Jeanne dâArc Alterâs, even without a Holy Grail. What more with one now?
However, it was still fine. After all, Chen Heng had practiced the Chen Clan Sword Technique to the peak. Although he did not know why the Servantâs status screen only evaluated the Chen Clan Sword Technique as B-ranked, he felt it was because of a low opinion of him. However, he could use techniques to compensate for his insufficient Strength and Agility.
Jeanne dâArc Alterâs flagpole was similar to a spear. She just needed to furl the flag on the pole, and there was no difference. It was just longer.
The spear was considered the king of cold weapons. It had three primary characteristics: flexibility, great offensive power, and strong penetrative power. Jeanne dâArc Alter brought out these three characteristics to the greatest extent.
[TL Note: Cold weapons refer to weapons that are not firearms or weapons involving fire or explosives. Here is the Wikipedia entry on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_weapon.]
Furthermore, the longer a spear was, the more powerful it was. Jeanne dâArc Alter used her reach advantage to make Chen Heng suffer significantly. Fortunately, the Chen Clan Sword Technique possessed exquisite moves, using speed and strength to offset his weaponâs disadvantage.
Nevertheless, Chen Heng fought purely with the weapon, disdaining to use sword qi or his abilities. Otherwiseâ¦