Chapter 197: Strike Back

[B: Huang Feihu, Class: Rider.]

[King Wucheng of the Shang Dynasty, who served as a guardian of the Shang Dynasty during the Shang-Zhou transition period, fled to King Wu of Zhou in Xiqi with his entire family after his wife and sister were murdered by Daji. During his escape, he fought off pursuing enemies, broke through five passes, and successfully joined the troops of Xiqi. He became part of the army that attacked King Zhou and was named the founding King Wucheng.]

[Later, near Chao Ge in Mianchi County, he was killed by the magical weapons of Zhang Kui and Gao Lanying.]

[The vengeance for his wife and sister was avenged by his comrades. After his death, Huang Feihu's soul was deified by Jiang Taigong and granted the title "Dongyue Taishan Tianqi Rensheng Emperor (Dongyue Emperor)," the ruler of the underworld.]

[It is said that he rides a mythical beast called the Five-Colored Divine Bull. He has an unusual passion for cattle and is known to eagerly approach anyone who also rides a cow, initiating discussions to exchange experiences about raising livestock.]

The First Emperor: "Oh, so he's from that era?"

Tohsaka Rin: "I don't know much about Huang Feihu, but after reading this, he seems very powerful."

She was familiar with stories from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, but Investiture of the Gods was outside her area of expertise.

Waver: "The Shang and Zhou Dynasties date back to around 1000 BC."

El-Melloi II: "Yeah, that was an absolutely insane time."

Zhang Jiao: "I see you've picked up a lot from Zhuge Liang."

Iskandar: "So this guy loves cows? Then he and I have something in common!"

Chihiro: "And you'd take the chance to recruit him into your army, right?"

Iskandar: "Hahaha! You really get me."

Caules: "It's a shame. They have mounts but rarely show them off."

Achilles: "Who said Riders must use mounts in battle? Take me, for example, I hardly ever use my chariot in combat."

[C: Eliza the Nine-Tattooed Dragon, Class: Pretender.]

[Elizabeth Bathory, a hybrid spirit created from the fusion of her own spirit core with that of Nine-Tattooed Dragon Shi Jin, one of the heroes of Liangshan from Water Margin.]

[Using the identity of Shi Jin, the first hero of Liangshan to appear in Water Margin, Nine-Tattooed Dragon Eliza successfully usurped several unique abilities belonging only to Song Jiang and Chao Gai, the two leaders of Liangshan.]

Group Members: "???"

Waver: "Pretender? A class that plays a role? Another new class title I've never heard of."

Caules: "My goodness, how many classes are there beyond the standard seven?"

Tohsaka Rin: "We know Elizabeth, but what exactly is this Nine-Tattooed Dragon?"

Chihiro: "Haven't you read Water Margin? He's one of the heroes of Liangshan."

Waver: "Well, I've heard of the book, but I've never actually read it."

Kayneth: "Ahem, neither have I."

Tohsaka Rin: "I've read Water Margin, but there are so many characters in it that I don't remember them all."

Chihiro: "Water Margin tells the story of a group of rebels who gathered at Liangshan Marsh to rise up against the ruling class. Eventually, they accepted an imperial decree, went on campaigns across the land, and ultimately suffered heavy losses before disbanding."

Chihiro: "There are 108 heroes in total, known as the 108 Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends. Not all of them are virtuous, some are outright villains who kill without hesitation."

Chihiro: "Nine-Tattooed Dragon Shi Jin is the first of the 108 heroes to appear in the story. However, he isn't the protagonist. He later becomes a supporting character. Despite this, his martial skills are formidable, and he ranks 23rd among the 108."

Kotomine Shirou: "Ah, I see. While he isn't the protagonist, being the first to appear gives him a certain narrative prominence."

Achilles: "What do you mean?"

Kotomine Shirou: "Readers naturally perceive the first character to appear in a story as significant, almost as if they carry a pseudo-protagonist halo. Shi Jin has this effect, even if it isn't the true protagonist's aura."

Semiramis: "So, by exploiting this fake halo, she stole abilities from the real protagonists?"

Caules: "Is something like that even possible?"

Sisigou: "So she's able to do this? As expected of the legendary witch Elizabeth, her magical skills are truly extraordinary."

Waver: "Haha! How could you pick up the Holy Grail if you weren't extraordinary?"

---

[D: Jiang Ziya, Class: Rider.]

[Jiang Ziya, born with the surname Jiang and the given name Shang, courtesy name Ziya, and alias Feixiong, was also known as Taigong Wang.]

[A military strategist during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and a disciple of the immortal Yuanshi Tianzun, Jiang Ziya played a central role in the Investiture of the Gods. This grand campaign involved numerous rituals and battles during the twilight years of the Yin Dynasty.]

[He aided King Wen and King Wu of Zhou in overthrowing the Shang Dynasty. After conferring titles to the gods, he disappeared from public life. It is said the royal family of Qi descended from him.]

[Jiang Ziya is considered a candidate for both the Grand Rider and Grand Caster positions. He can control Divine Beast-level creatures with ease, though for some reason, he is unable to command dragons.]

Tohsaka Rin: "Yes, this is the Taigong mentioned earlier!"

The First Emperor: "The legendary Jiang Ziya..."

Waver: "If I remember correctly, Jiang Ziya was already 80 years old when he started his career. Why does he look so young here?"

Iskandar: "Heroic Spirits can manifest at any age. That's not unusual."

Tohsaka Tokiomi: "As expected of the renowned Taigong Wang, he's qualified for dual Grand positions."

Zhang Jue: "That means this person has reached the peak of two distinct fields, correct?"

Waver: "Even if this isn't a true Grand position, the qualifications are just as impressive."

---

[The correct answers are B and D.]

[Congratulations to Waver, Chihiro, Gilgamesh, Artoria, Iskandar, Diarmuid, Hassan of the Hundred Faces, Emiya Kiritsugu, Tohsaka Sakura, El-Melloi II, The First Emperor, Kotomine Shirou, Fiore, Atalanta, Semiramis, and Chiron for selecting the correct answers. Each has received 5 Saint Quartz.]

It appears other teams spread their guesses to ensure at least one correct selection, allowing a few members to score.

[Among the participants, Chihiro achieved the highest accuracy rate, followed by Kotomine Shirou. Waver, Gilgamesh, Artoria, Iskandar, and the others tied for third place. They will each receive gold, silver, and bronze treasure chests, respectively.]

[Today's quiz session ends here and will resume tomorrow.]

---

The treasure chests were distributed with a flash of light.

In Chihiro's group, everyone received bronze chests except for Chihiro, who claimed the gold.

Upon opening the bronze chests, the results were… mediocre.

Artoria, the First Emperor, Gilgamesh, Iskandar, Diarmuid, and Hassan received six bottles of potions. These included two recovery potions, two healing potions, one strength potion, and one mana potion.

"Better than nothing," Chihiro muttered. At least they weren't useless magical trinkets.

Chihiro opened the golden treasure chest and found something instantly recognizable.

Magical Gift: Samadhi Fire.

It had two abilities. First, it could amplify the power of fire-based magic, transforming ordinary flames into true Samadhi Fire.

For someone like Chihiro, who had already mastered flame-based magecraft (Ars Ignis), this gift exponentially boosted his power.

Second, it could summon the image of "Red Boy," an iconic character from Journey to the West, to attack.

"Why does Red Boy look so angry?" Chihiro wondered aloud, before realizing that the character depicted was based on Modred.

"I can't wait to see Modred's reaction to this," Chihiro said with a smirk.

---

"Alright, let's discuss tonight's plan."

After the unboxing session, Chihiro addressed his Servants with a serious expression.

Iskandar laughed heartily. "Hahaha! Looks like you're ready to strike back."

"Of course," Chihiro said firmly. "If someone hits you, you hit back."

Artoria nodded. "So, who will we target tonight?"

The Red and Black factions' strongholds had been exposed, but attacking both at once would stretch their forces too thin.

"Tonight, we attack the Black faction first and deal with the traitor Bluebeard," Chihiro declared, his eyes gleaming coldly as a faint smirk tugged at his lips.

Meanwhile, in the castle of Yggdmillennia...

"Ah, how disappointing—no children's corpses today."

Standing amidst a pile of discarded homunculi, Bluebeard chanted incantations from the Prelati's Spellbook, sacrificing the homunculi to summon sea monsters.

Darnic knew that Chihiro wouldn't let last night's events slide. The Black faction's forces had been exposed and were the weakest. They had no choice but to bolster their numbers by any means necessary.

The Yggdmillennia clan had an abundance of homunculi, so Darnic decided to put the deceased to one final use.