(6) Cu Chulainn
Somewhere far from Alexander and his companions, a man is standing on top of a building holding a staff. He saw the entire confrontation between the two groups and he must say, he was impressed. Especially to the Silver-haired young man where his power lies in the ability to summon a barrage of swords and spears and fire them at his enemy.
"Maybe with their help, I could finally leave this damn place." He said to himself.
Making a decision, he slowly follows them from afar to prevent them from noticing his presence, fortunately, or unfortunately, he was long discovered by Alexander after they defeated Lancer. No matter how much he tried to hide from them, with his skill, (instinct), Alexander was able to detect him even from a few kilometers away.
The man follows them even walking for half an hour, making Alexander, annoyed. To satisfy his anger, he fired a golden spear aiming not at the man himself, but at the building he was standing on. He could tell the man is neither an ally nor a foe, at least he didn't release any ill intention...
Being surprised by the sudden attack, the man leaps to a safe place as he watches the building collapse due to the force of the spear. He was thankful that the young man targets the building and not himself. Settling his hand in the air along with his staff...
"Stop! I'm not an enemy. I'm sure you notice that the enemy servants are covered by a black mist, right? Don't worry, I'm not one of them, I have not been corrupted by the grail." The man said as he still keeps both of his hands in the air.
"Why should we trust you?" Still hiding behind Mash, Olga questions the man.
"You sure are distrustful, aren't you young lady?"
"It's only natural to be distrustful to a stranger, especially in a place like this where everything could hurt you and kill you!" Olga argued. Listening to her reasons, Alexander agrees that she had a point. Essentially when that stranger is a servant.
"Alright, you have a point, then what could I do so that you could trust me?"
"Then tell us your true name and noble phantasm,"
To a servant, telling their true name and noble phantasm to someone they just meet is suicide. Since servants are famous historical figures, their strength and weakness come with them when they were summoned. A great example will be Achilles, his strength and especially his weakness is infamous to all. That's why a servant needs to hide their name and noble phantasm to someone they couldn't trust.
But the man was an exception as, without hesitation, he told them his name and noble phantasm.
"Very well. The name's Cu Chulainn, Caster, my noble phantasm is Wicker man, a giant composed of countless tree branches. My giant wears flames on his body and applies intense heat flames damage by rushing on my target and crushing them... And that's it."
"(The child of light, Cu Chulainn?!)"
"Cu Chulainn? Is he the hero from Irish mythology?"
"Yes, senpai, but from what I could remember, the Cu Chulainn from the myth is a hero who is proficient in using weapons especially a spear, not magecraft."
"If only was I summon as a Lancer then I wouldn't be stuck here, struggling..." Cu muttered to himself that only Alexander and Tamamo could hear.
"My teacher taught me rune magic that's why I was been able to summon as a caster,"
"Then why are you following us, Mr. Cu Chulainn?"
"No need to be polite, young lady, I came here to propose an alliance," removing his smug face, turning into his serious mode, Cu gently slams his staff on the ground.
"An alliance you say... very well, let's hear it."
Alexander hates to admit it but right now, they need an ally who could provide them with information about the situation, and Cu Chulainn will be the perfect candidate for that.
"Let's start with our greatest enemy, call her the final boss if you will," he explained deliberately.
"(Her? Our enemy is a female?)"
"Yeah, but I don't recommend treating her as one as she... Is something else..." Remembering his past lost against her, his face becoming grim each second passed by.
"(For the great hero Cu Chulainn to make such a face, our enemy must be extremely strong. Please be careful everyone.)"
"Anyway, it's your guys turn to explain, who are you, people? I'm guessing that you come from a faraway place. And where is the last guy hiding? All I hear is a voice."
Finding her time to shine, Olga volunteers to introduce everyone voicing clearly that Alexander and the others as her subordinates. Alexander doesn't bother arguing with her about this and lets her do whatever she wants. She then introduced them one by one and stop at Tamamo who is gracefully standing by her master's side.
"Now that I think about it, I never got to known your name... I know True names for a servant are very important, but we're allies, so if you don't mind..."
Tamamo once again asked his master for permission, to which he nodded with a smile encouraging her.
She then pinched both sides of her dress as she bowed gracefully making her already exposed breast makes it even more exposed for the world to see. Ritsuka quickly averted his gaze. And as for Cu Chulainn, the "gentleman" that he is, he also averted his gaze. The girls were embarrassed, and as for her master, well, he shamelessly looks with a deadpanned expression.
Noticing her master's behavior, she was pleased.
"I'm Tamamo-no-Mae, Caster, servant of Alexander Lampros, nice to meet you,"
"The pleasures is all mine,"
Ritsuka then changes the subject by asking Cu more information, "A-anyway could provide any more information about our enemies, like their strengths and weaknesses?"
Cu contemplate for a bit before answering, "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Even I don't fully understand their full capabilities as their entire identifies is surrounded by fog, literally."
Alexander already suspects that was the case since his first encounter with them is weird. According to the vivid memories Alaya gave to him, servants are for the most part, human. Although there are some exceptions to that rules as although they have human features, they are far from being one.
At first, he thought of them as berserkers that wield different types of weapons(An: This is pretty common in the Nasuverse like a rider using a sword as their primary weapon, or an archer using dual swords.) but they are far too weak and fragile. Berserkers have a class skill called Mad enhancement which allowed them to have high physical prowess compared to other classes at the cost of their sanity.
The enemy servants he encountered are more similar to a machine than an actual servant. Which is fascinating to him.
"The good news is that I already defeated rider and Assassin. Now that you defeated lancer, the enemies left are Archer, Berserker, and lastly, the strongest of them all, Saber."
"(That's great)" Romani sigh in relief, as fighting fewer enemies is indeed great news for them.
"Let's plan more in the hideout and not in the open field," Alexander suggests to which everyone agrees. They continue on their journey with a new companion accompanying them.
On their way, Cu silently approaches Alexander and walked a few inches behind on his left side(Tamamo on his right). Alexander glance at him with confusion in his eyes. The Irish hero immediately stated his purpose, "Hey, you don't mind me asking a question, right?"
Alexander nodded. "Go on," he patiently said.
"I just want to know, what are you? With the large amount of mana you are releasing, you are definitely not an ordinary human. And I never heard of the name Alexander Lampros so the chance of you being a servant is pretty low..." The hero said seriously.
"...Let's just say that I am a master and a servant in one, a demi-servant if you will."
"A demi-servant? This is my first time hearing about this, and I'm guessing that lady over there is also one?" He said as he pointed at Mash, to which Alexander nodded. Putting his fingers into his chin, the hero thought deeply about this but couldn't find an answer to his questions.
"Well, whatever, it doesn't matter what you are, as long as you guys help deal with this place, I will be more than grateful for it."
"No need to say anything, we have a common goal after all."
Cu just nodded in response and continue walking beside Alexander in silence. The group encountered a few skeletons along the way to which Cu easily destroy to demonstrate his capabilities to the Chaldeans, to which they approved. They are even more determined to fix this singularity, by gaining another strong ally, their confidence and morale grew which is something to be celebrated.
They arrived in the abandoned house after removing the few obstacles on their way. Cu volunteers himself to check if the house has any traps that the enemies may have prepared after they're gone. But after checking every nook and cranny of the abandoned house, he declared to be completely safe. It was better to be safe than sorry.
Entering the house, everyone found their own little space to rest. And as usual pair, Alexander and Tamamo seat beside each other, the same goes for the two juniors, there is also Fou who suddenly appear out of nowhere. As for Olga and Cu, the two seem to have a debate in the kitchen, as for what they are debating for, the two pairs have no intention of knowing.
"Master, you look somewhat exhausted, are you alright, do you need a nap? I could provide my lap as a pillow if you desire," Tamamo quietly asked Alexander. Alexander's eyes widened when he heard her. Alexander contemplated the thought, but he politely refused her suggestion, "Not know, Tamamo. But thank you for worry about me, I'm fine,"
Tamamo was disappointed at first but she quickly realized the deeper meaning behind his word. Now that she thought about it deeply, this is not a good time to be lovey-dovey with her master as she would prefer a more peaceful and quiet place surrounded by flowers not burning buildings.
However, this peaceful interaction was interrupted by Olga's voice in the living room, "Alright, you lovebirds, enough flirting. It's time to talk about the plan how to get out of this place,"
"She's starting to get on my nerves," Tamamo quietly remarks. Alexander was amused, to say the least, seeing her beautiful face with a frown is a new face to him. Alexander pats her head to calm her down to which the fox woman enjoys greatly. "let's go, we can enjoy all the time in the world after we are done with this place,"
The two pairs went to the living room as Olga "requested". After everyone has taken a seat, the young director opens the discussion by asking everyone if they have any suggestions or plans that would help them solve this singularity.
"The one thing we must avoid is for the enemies to group up. They are already troublesome to deal with on their own but if they found themselves having an alliance, this will become 10x harder than it already is." The director said with a frown.
Cu nodded, "If those two monsters worked together then we will have no chance of winning." This sentence of his caught the attention of everyone in the room.
"Now that I think about it, we never knew about the last servant. Do you perhaps any clue who it is, Cu?" Alexander asked.
When Cu heard his question, his smugly face couldn't help but turn sour, "Yes, he is the last servant and second only in strength and power among the seven of us. If we wanted to defeat saber, we must eliminate him first. If he is out of the picture, then the chances of our winning will be 50%."
"50%? that low?" Ritsuka asked with a shocked face. Cu could only shrug his shoulder after hearing the young master's words, "50% is already quite high. That monster is unkillable. Although he is a berserker, my low-level spells barely scratch his skin."
"Why don't you just used high-level spells?" the young master asked in confusion.
Cu smiled wryly. "boy, if your enemy is preparing a high-level spell that is a threat to your life, will just stand there and let them finish?"
Ritsuka's eyes widened, he never thought about that too deeply. Realizing he asked a dumb question, he smiles and scratches his cheek to hide his embarrassment. Olga looked at him and sigh, 'Could we even survive with this group setup? Ugh, why do always disappear when I need you the most, Lev.' Olga mumbles to herself while massaging her head.
"Then do you have any plan? Caster?" Alexander asked, referring to the Irish hero.
"hmmm, that ogre has almost no weakness. His physical parameters [referring to Strength, agility, and endurance.] are off the charts. so beating him with a fist is a stupid idea..."
"Oh! leave that to me!" Tamamo who is being quiet for a while suddenly speaks up, surprising everyone. "My specialty is buff and debuff. I could temporarily restrain him. However, according to Mr. Blue over there that our enemy has a high resistance when it comes to spells. So it will be easier for me if you guys could finish the battle before the debuff becomes useless." she further explained.
"Mr. Blue? Pfttt-" Mash couldn't help but giggle.
In order to save the poor man from further embarrassment, "That would be great if you could do that Tamamo." Alexander said, directing the attention to him.
"So with the debuffs, we could safe to assume that berserker wouldn't be much of a problem for some time. This could be a perfect opportunity to eliminate Archer. Once Archer is eliminated, then we could use all force to finish off Berserker. The question will be is that... who will eliminate Archer?" Olga explain.
"Leave that job to me, he and I have unfinished business," Cu said with a solemn face.
"Then we will leave that to you, please finish your battle quickly," Olga said with the most serious face Alexander has seen on her face.
"I know, missy, I will be back in no time,"