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Chapter 220 Part 2

Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes

I decided to go around the Zodiac Shrines one more time.
But could I make some improvements to my Summon Monster team?
I knew that there were no monsters that were going to attack me in between the 12 Zodiac Shrines.
Having a scout Summon Monster on me wasn’t actually that important.
The distance between the 12 Zodiac Shrines was relatively short too, so I didn’t have to worry about transport either.

I decided to summon Jericho, Bunraku, Gokame, Gengetsu, and Denier.
One of the most troublesome Heroic Spirits would be that one that had poison.
It would be good to have a tough tank in the front.

Well then.
I guess I could try fighting the real guardian of the 13th Zodiac Shrine.

《I know that you are the one who challenged the gods.》

《But do you dare to fight against me? 》
《Yes》《No》

Yep, as expected. I chose《No》.
And…?

《Well then, it is good to go visit the 12 Temples of the Zodiac.》

The world in front of me turned upside-down.
What was happening to me??
When I came to myself, I was standing in front of the Aries Shrine.
Well then.
I guess that meant I could go for another round.

According to Guren’s report, the first round would consist of low-level Heroic Spirits.
But unexpectedly, all Guren wrote on the second round was that the level of the Heroic Spirits would go up and down depending on the party.
What a vague description…
Well, in any case, it didn’t seem like they were going to be too crazy just yet.
But of course, I still strengthened myself with as many spells as I could for the first battle.
I had encountered situations before where monsters dramatically increased in level out of nowhere, after all.

Aries Guard – Hamal　Lv.6
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Wind Resistance

Aries Guard – Sheratan　Lv.5
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Earth Resistance

Red Sheep　Lv.7
Monster　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Fire Resistance

Yep.
There was another Aries Guard…
And three Red Sheep.
It was an upgrade on all fronts.
And of course, as expected, their levels were higher too.
I was glad I used strengthening spells before heading into the fight.

The Aries Guards were both carrying spears.
On my side, there was Jericho, Gokame, and myself in the front.
As expected, I was just 1 person, so I wasn’t really in a situation where I could confidently go against 2 Aries Guards.
I had some of my Summon Monsters join in the attack on the Aries Guards too.

Jericho and Gokame were on my right and left.
With two Summon Monsters guarding with my flanks, it became a lot easier to try some crazy ideas.
I had to separate the two Aries Guards to properly take them down, so I grabbed the spear of the Aries Guard in the front and threw him behind me.
While my Summon Monster kept the other Aries Guard at bay, I quickly took it down.
I took it down with a naked choke, followed by a strike from my Vajra Sword.
I tried to take it down as quickly as I could.

The next monster I dragged into the back lines was a Red Sheep.
Well, I was the one who pulled the Red Sheep back, but I was only able to do that because of the ball of string Denier shot at its legs.
I finished it off with my Vajra Sword too.
Well, if I had to describe how it went…
The fight somehow felt easier than when I first fought the Aries Guards.

The last Aries Guard was taken down by Jericho.
I really wanted to stab it myself with my Vajra Sword to finish it off, but I guess I could let Jericho do the deed too. I had to restrain myself sometimes.
It would be nice to take it easy sometimes too.

What did it leave behind?
It didn’t drop anything.
But I wasn’t about to give up.
It could have the same pattern of item drops as the Twelve Heavenly Generals too.

Taurus Guard – Aldebaran　Lv.6
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Earth Resistance

Taurus Guard – Elnath　Lv.5
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Wind Resistance

Fighting Bull　Lv.7
Monster　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground

So, about the next zodiac shrine…
There were two Taurus Guards.
Accompanying them were three Fighting Bulls.
Yeah.
It looked like a manageable group of enemies.

But the Taurus Guards and the axes they were wielding looked like they were going to be quite troublesome to deal with.
The Fighting Bulls were also quite scary when they were charging.
Jericho and Gokame were certainly very tough, but how many serious charge attacks could they take?
I was still quite worried for them, even though I had already strengthened them with a lot of spells.

Oh well, I had to support them in other ways too.
I used【Pitfall】in the middle of the boss room.
One of the Taurus Guards, and two of the Fighting Bulls fell into the hole in the ground. It would be easier to take care of the enemies outside of the hole first.
Gokame was mostly in charge of the Taurus Guard outside the hole…
But in the fight against that Taurus Guard, Gokame took a solid hit from its axe too.
But right before the next axe strike, a change happened to Gokame.
Suddenly, Gokame’s four limbs and his neck disappeared into Gokame’s shell.
What about the axe blow?
It certainly hit, but the decrease in Gokame’s HP bar was very small.
Although I suppose expecting Gokame to make it through unscathed would be a bit too much to expect.

But in the next moment…
Gokame bit the ankle of the Taurus Guard as it got close to deliver the axe strike.
And afterwards, with incredible force, Gokame threw the Taurus Guard into the Pitfall.
Hey!
What a nice idea!

While the pitfall was effective, I still had to beat the Taurus Guards and Fighting Bulls back into the hole as they tried to climb out of the pitfall.
It was unexpectedly quite fun!
Damaging them became a lot easier too.
No matter how strong the Taurus Guards and Fighting Bulls were, they wouldn’t be able to handle having the terrain turned against them.
It was an overwhelmingly one-sided beatdown from then.
It was only when it became too difficult to even crawl around at the bottom of the pit because of Denier’s webs that the pitfall started to come back up.
The ground went back to its original state.
What was left on the ground were two Heroic Spirits, with their bodies intertwined among sticky webs.
Of course, they were in no situation to fight back.

Jericho and Gokame slowly but surely cut down their HP bars.
Even Bunraku had the freedom to switch from his bow to his sasumata to poke at the Taurus Guards.
Well then… What a convenient situation.
I quickly joined in on the fun with my Summon Monsters.
Yeah.
Fighting in groups was quite nice.

But even after we finished them all off, they still did not drop any items.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
I’m not giving up yet! Not anytime soon!

Gemini Guard – Castor　Lv.5
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Light Resistance

Gemini Guard – Pollux　Lv.5
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Dark Resistance

Gemini Guard – Alhena　Lv.4
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Fire Resistance

Dioscuri Warrior　Lv.1
Heroic Spirit　Enemy Target　Active
Battle Position: Ground　Earth Attribute

Wow… So, about the Gemini Guards.
Weren’t there just one too many of them!?
There were three Gemini Guards I had to deal with.
And it looked like the Dioscuri Servant went through some Class Change to change to a Dioscuri Warrior too.
And the three Dioscuri Warriors were carrying completely different weapons too.
One was carrying a spear, the other a bow, and the last one an axe.
The Gemini Guard – Alhena was carrying a flail.
Wow…
I would definitely have to tackle them by slowly reducing their numbers.

Preferably, I wanted to separate them, so I separated them in half using【Pitfall】.
As expected, it was quite a convenient spell!
I had the advantage of numbers on my side, so I could take it a bit easier too.
I could first focus on throwing all the enemies outside the hole into the pitfall, and then I could damage them all at once.
I especially felt bad for the Gemini Guard that was thrown into the pitfall by Gengetsu.
But no, there would be no sympathy.
Bunraku already had a decent idea of how the fight was going to go, and so fought with his sasumata from the very beginning of the fight.
Yeah.
I did have a feeling that Bunraku was using his bow and arrow against the Aries Guards…
But well, whatever.
It was an effective strategy either way.

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