Shinji Matou At Your Service - Chapter 479: Red and Black Showdown · Suggestion

That familiar voice, that tone that loves to call itself “teacher”—Jeanne instantly recognized the owner and couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief.

“Black Assassin! You’re here just in time. Help me deal with Red Berserker.”

As the saying goes, “Two fists are no match for four hands,” let alone eight hands, each possessing EX-level strength, with some even wielded like whips. Even a powerful Servant like Jeanne felt immense pressure. If someone could help hold him back, it would greatly reduce the burden.

Yes, just hold him back. From the beginning, Jeanne never considered letting Shinji confront Spartacus while she seized the opportunity to escape.

Spartacus’s strength had now reached an abnormal level. Even someone like Vlad III or Karna might not be able to face him head-on (not defeat, just confront), let alone Shinji. Since they had already formed an alliance, Jeanne couldn’t possibly put Shinji in danger for her benefit.

Of course, this was also because Jeanne didn’t know Shinji had a flying Noble Phantasm. If she knew, she would have made a different request—take her to the Hanging Gardens.

But no matter which it was, Shinji wouldn’t agree, because he had his plans.

“Sorry, I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

Shinji had already prepared an answer to this question.

“Because I have my enemies to deal with. Although it wouldn’t be difficult for me to leave, I can’t ignore the enemy. If they regroup with their allies and attack our Servants or directly invade Millennia Castle, it’d be troublesome.”

“Then how about helping…”

“I can give you a suggestion. This guy was specifically brought here by the Red faction to deal with you. The reason, I don’t have to say, you know it. So, the next step is simple—”

“You mean…”

“If the Red faction can lure him here, can’t you lure him back?”

“Th-this…”

While Jeanne was pondering, Spartacus didn’t remain idle. His eight arms alternated, launching a storm-like assault on Jeanne.

This time, Jeanne had learned her lesson, not confronting Spartacus directly but maneuvering among the Dragon Tooth Warriors, using them as shields to reduce the impact of the attacks.

Seeing Jeanne not respond, Shinji knew she was hesitant and persuaded, “This isn’t asking you to intervene in the battle but to undo the effect. If you hadn’t appeared, Spartacus would still be confronting the Hanging Gardens. Luring Spartacus back means restoring the original situation. At the same time, you achieve your goal of approaching the Hanging Gardens—it’s a win-win. How about it? Not a bad idea, right?”

“It’s not bad. But I feel you have other plans.”

Shinji didn’t hide it and admitted frankly, “Haha, as expected of you. I do have other plans, but you can’t deny the feasibility of my suggestion—so, are you in or not?”

Perhaps annoyed by Jeanne’s evasive strategy and the obstructive minions around, Spartacus struck the ground with all eight arms simultaneously, producing a deafening roar.

The shattered ground, like shrapnel, assaulted Jeanne, while also reducing the surrounding Dragon Tooth Warriors to fragments.

“Ugh…ah!”

Rocks and debris cut Jeanne’s skin, even damaging parts of her armor.

If it were just simple stones, a Servant wouldn’t be injured. However, Spartacus’s punches were infused with overflowing magical energy, tainting even the shattered stones and debris. This was an unprecedented experience for Jeanne, albeit a very unpleasant one.

Suffering a second injury, Jeanne knew that dragging things out any longer was not a solution.

“Let’s do as you say!”

With a wave of her holy flag, she blocked the sweeping whip-like arms.

As expected, she was sent flying. However, this time Jeanne was prepared; the sweep not only didn’t harm her but also served as a force to accelerate her movement.

She flew towards the place where fire and iron, light and darkness clashed.

Seeing that the conspicuous mass of flesh was gradually moving away, Shinji breathed a sigh of relief and turned his gaze to a girl dressed in verdant green.

“Oh my, oh my, it seems that your plan has failed.”

The girl snorted coldly and responded with an arrow. She was, of course, the Red Archer.

After successfully luring Spartacus and trapping Jeanne, she followed the orders of Commander Shirou to retreat.

But she hadn’t gotten far when a sudden javelin destroyed her foothold, forcing her to stop.

Renowned for her sharp instincts, the legendary huntress immediately changed direction, drawing her bow to retaliate, just as she had always done.

This was her specialty—using her unmatched speed to traverse mountains and plains combined with divine archery, Atalanta’s tactics were nearly unbeatable, unless she encountered an equally skilled long-range fighter like Chiron or a special existence like Achilles who was faster and possessed invulnerability.

The newcomer didn’t have these traits, so Atalanta didn’t take him seriously. In her view, there were only two possible outcomes: the enemy would be kited to death or, if not killed, would be harassed to no end.

However, she soon realized she was gravely mistaken. The enemy was neither kited to death nor harassed; instead, he disrupted her proud kiting strategy, closing into a dangerously close distance for an archer.

Shinji completely ignored her divine archery—not because he suddenly gained invulnerability, but because his equipment was outrageously shameless. In his left hand, the Shield of Athena, and in his right, the Scepter of the Goddess, one for physical defense, the other for magical defense, and both with healing abilities. He was like a turtle hiding in its shell, leaving Atalanta with no openings.

Additionally, the surface of the Aegis was covered with a piece of animal hide to obscure the highly recognizable face of Medusa, preventing it from being identified.

If that were all, it would still be manageable. After all, there was also the precedent of Siegfried; if she couldn’t break through his defense, she could just run. With Agility A+, combined with Crossing Arcadia and Aesthetics of the Last Spurt, she could challenge him to catch her if he could.

However, her swift legs had no chance to shine.

The Spear of Ishtar caused earthquakes, disrupting the terrain. Although Atalanta wasn’t afraid of obstacles, she still needed solid ground to stand on. With the ground unstable, even the fastest legs would be affected.

The Divine Thunder Barrier covered a wide area, occasionally causing paralysis. Achilles’s experience had already shown how disastrous paralysis could be for someone running at full speed. Unfortunately, Achilles, being proud, hadn’t shared this embarrassing incident with his beloved older sister, leading directly to Atalanta’s predicament.

A sudden acceleration led to a chaotic tumble, nearly causing her to stab herself with an arrow. By the time she managed to get up, Shinji had already arrived in mid-air.

Mid-air—that was another shameless aspect of Shinji. While Atalanta struggled with the shaking ground, Shinji had no such concerns in the air.

Atalanta had neither a flying Noble Phantasm nor something like Achilles’ Noble Phantasm to break through the barrier.

Thus, Atalanta found herself in a terrible situation where she couldn’t win the fight or escape.