Chapter 112: Monster Mother Goddess · Gorgon

"The King! King Gilgamesh has awakened!"

Inside the Ziggurat of Uruk, accompanied by the excited shouts of the priests, the Hero King, who had died of overwork on his throne, suddenly snapped his eyes open.

In those ruby-sharp eyes, not a trace of exhaustion remained; in its place was a surging fighting spirit sufficient to burn everything to ash.

"Hmph, mongrels of Chaldea, it seems your movements underground haven't been too slow."

Gilgamesh sat up from the stone bed, casually draped on his magnificent king's robe, and strode toward the throne, looking down at the main party and Belle below.

"Since this King has returned from the abyss, it means it is time to put an end to this boring game with the gods!"

Gilgamesh swung his arm forcefully, pointing toward the north.

"Soldiers of Uruk! Sound the horn for the counterattack! All forces advance, target—the Northern Blood Temple!"

"Today, this King shall pin that Monster Mother Goddess to the wilderness of Mesopotamia once and for all!"

"Oooooh—!!!"

Accompanied by a deafening battle cry, the entire city-state of Uruk transformed into a roaring war machine.

Rendered by FGO's unreserved holographic engine, Belle stood on the city wall, looking down at the endless phalanxes of soldiers, the battle flags fluttering in the wind, and the massive warships circling in the sky.

An epic sense of tragic determination for the final battle instantly rushed to her head.

"Family! It's the final battle! This is definitely the final battle of the Seventh Singularity!"

Belle shouted excitedly in the stream, even waving her fists. "We've recruited Quetzalcoatl and saved Gilgamesh—now we have an all-star lineup! This wave is definitely a clean sweep!"

The bullet chat was also filled with blood-pumping cheers:

"Go go go! Crush that Monster Mother Goddess, and this Seventh Singularity is as good as cleared!"

"Led by the oldest Hero King himself, the prestige is maxed out! Old Thief Kirito's cinematic direction never disappoints me!"

"We've been suppressed for so long, beaten down by monsters—today we can finally hold our heads high! All Servants, prepare to receive the guest!"

With the conviction of certain victory, the army of players set out in a grand procession.

However, when Belle and the others truly stepped onto the land known as the "Blood Temple" in the north, their originally high morale was forced to a halt by the sight before them, which looked like a gateway to hell.

There was no normal soil here; the ground was covered in a layer of dark red, eerie substance resembling biological viscera.

The air was thick with a nauseating smell of blood, and the sky was completely shrouded by heavy, blood-colored clouds.

"Ah... have you finally come, lowly humans and those disgusting Heroic Spirits?"

Accompanied by a violent tremor of the earth, a figure so massive it was suffocating slowly straightened up from the depths of the Blood Temple.

It was a Gorgon as huge as a mountain.

Her lower body was a thick, winding snake tail, while her upper body was a female form where bewitching beauty and horror coexisted.

Countless giant venomous snakes flicking their tongues made up her long hair, each one as thick as a city wall.

Monster Mother Goddess · Gorgon!

Looking up from the VR perspective, the oppressive sense of such a sky-blotting size caused all the players who were just shouting about a "clean sweep" to fall into a collective daze.

*Gulp...*

Belle swallowed hard, her legs beginning to tremble uncontrollably. "S-such a huge Boss... can our attacks even break her defense?"

Before she could think further, the epic CG before her eyes shattered instantly, transforming into a dark red tactical holographic sandbox!

The system's piercing red light flashed frantically across her retinas:

[Main Story Stage (?): Face the Monster Mother Goddess — Gorgon!]

[Boss Mechanic ①: Mystic Eyes of Petrification! Every 20 seconds, Gorgon will lock onto the last two deployed Servants to petrify. Petrified Servants will fall into a Stun state, unable to attack or use skills.]

[Boss Mechanic ②: Mother Goddess's Poison Blood! Every time Gorgon is attacked by one of our melee Servants, highly corrosive 'Poison Blood' will splash onto the tile being attacked. Servants standing on Poison Blood tiles will lose 10% of their maximum HP every second!]

The moment these two ridiculous Boss mechanics popped up, the bullet chat in the entire stream exploded.

"WTF?! What kind of carbon-based lifeform could come up with such hellish mechanics?!"

"Hit her once and the ground turns into a poison pool? Losing 10% HP per second means a melee Servant will melt on the spot in ten seconds at most!"

"Old Thief Kirito, you bastard! Is this letting us fight a Boss or telling us to commit suicide?!"

Belle was also stunned, but the monster army was already surging from the front of the sandbox like a tide.

"Whatever! Block the entrance first!"

Belle hurriedly deployed Mash at the most critical chokepoint in the front, then placed her main damage dealer, "Gilgamesh (Caster)," on the high ground in the rear.

Seeing Mash's health begin to drop under the siege of minor mobs, Belle quickly played a medical card: "Madam! Quick, heal her!"

The Caster Servant [Irisviel], dressed in a pure white gown, descended onto the high platform, her staff waving as white light poured down.

Next, to share Mash's blocking pressure, Belle deployed the Saber [Bedivere] on the ground beside Mash, preparing to intercept the slowly advancing Boss, Gorgon.

The instant Bedivere landed, Gorgon's massive eyes suddenly erupted with an eerie purple light!

*Hum—*

On the tactical sandbox, the recently deployed Irisviel and Bedivere were instantly covered in a grayish-white petrified shell!

Their attack and healing actions came to a screeching halt!

"It's over, it's over! My Madam and Bedivere are CC'd!"

Losing the healing, Mash's health bar became critical.

What was even more despairing was that because the petrified Bedivere had struck Gorgon with a sword earlier, the ground beneath his feet was already covered in splashed purple-black poison blood!

"-10%!"

"-10%!"

"-10%!"

Because the flustered Belle didn't have time to manually retreat him, the full-health Bedivere was like a leaking bucket in the poison pool; in just a few seconds, he was completely melted by the poison blood and retreated as motes of light!

"Old Thief Kirito, you bastard, this is simply impossible to play!"

Belle's defensive line collapsed instantly, and the stream was filled with her mental breakdown wails.

...

While many ordinary players like Belle were being tortured to death by this "Petrification + Poison Blood" combo, in the stream of the lore-expert Charles, an incredibly calm post-game analysis was taking place.

"Don't panic, don't be intimidated by this massive size. Look closely at the red text of the system prompts!"

Charles circled a few spots on the tactical sandbox and said to the viewers in front of the screen:

"The mechanic is written very clearly: [Lock onto the last two deployed Servants]!"

"This isn't random targeting; it's an aggro control mechanic!"

"If you deploy your precious healers and main damage dealers last, they'll be sitting ducks!"

"The poison blood mechanic is to limit melee DPS uptime, while the Mystic Eyes of Petrification are to disrupt your high-ground defense. Old Thief Kirito is forcing us to perform extreme micro-management!"

Following Charles's analysis, in the stream of another skill-based streamer—White Night—an astonishing tactical tutorial had already begun.

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