On the city wall, Ophis was watching as Jeanne d'Arc led her troops in a charge towards the monsters. Ishtar, who had just been asking the soldiers for money and valuables, appeared beside her.
"Do you really think that big, dark creature can hold off Kingu?" Ishtar asked.
"Of course not," Ophis replied without even turning her head. "I'm outmatched and restrained, so my chances of winning are zero... But as long as I can hold them off, that'll be enough."
Ishtar looked unconvinced. "Even so, I don't think that big guy can hold out for long. Not only that, even if the three of them—Big Black Skin, Black Skin, and Little Black Skin—were to join forces, they still wouldn't stand a chance against Kingu. Although I hate to admit it, Kingu inherited Enkidu's power... and has even surpassed him. Those three won't be able to protect themselves, let alone hold her off."
Ophis remained silent for a moment before responding, "I'm gambling..."
Ishtar frowned. "I see... That little black-haired girl does possess some power that even I fear. But if she could really use it, even just the possibility of using it, you wouldn't be taking such a conservative approach, right?"
"There's no need for her to actually use it. There's no need for it to even be a possibility," Ophis said calmly. "As long as Kingu believes she can use it."
"Bait? If that's the case, then winning this bet means all you need to do is protect yourself. But it seems like even that might be difficult, don't you think?" Ishtar recalled the golden spear that had fallen from the sky just a few days ago. She was still secretly grateful she hadn't pushed Enkidu too far. If she had been hit by that attack, she wouldn't have had a chance to even see the Father again.
"No..." Ophis smiled slightly. "That's enough."
Seeing this, Ishtar could only curl her lips. Although Ophis usually seemed quite stoic, whenever she showed this "final boss" expression, Ishtar had never seen her make a mistake.
She curled her lips because that "everything is under control" expression was incredibly annoying.
In reality, the current situation was far beyond Ophis's control. The sudden attack by the Beast Goddess and the monster siege that followed were completely unexpected.
The latter was a consequence of the former—a preemptive strike to prevent Uruk from launching a counterattack. That wasn't too surprising. But the sudden assault by the Beast Goddess? Ophis still couldn't figure it out.
Why attack me when everything seemed fine? And without even knowing the enemy's strength? Wasn't that goddess being reckless? Ophis thought.
Kingu likely knew that Ophis wouldn't actually kill the Beast Goddess, but the Beast Goddess herself didn't seem to know that. Unable to understand the reasoning behind the attack, Ophis could only chalk it up to "I don't understand the mind of a goddess." But as a result, Uruk's morale took a severe hit, and the subsequent monster siege became the deciding factor that led Ophis to resolve to eliminate the Beast Goddess.
Though this was likely part of Kingu's plan, if they didn't act now, it would be too late once the north wall's defenses collapsed. Perhaps the sudden madness of the Beast Goddess was also guided by Kingu.
However, while the situation had accelerated much faster than expected, it wasn't entirely hopeless.
Ophis couldn't do it alone, so now, they had to place their bets on Chaldea and the Servants.
As the distance between Uruk's forces and the monsters shrank to less than 300 meters, Ophis raised her hand.
"By my order, ready the arrows!
Use my treasures to show them the power that protects Uruk!
My resolve shall flood the earth!
Melammu Dingir!"
As Ophis waved her hand downward, a deafening roar erupted from the city wall. Along with it came hundreds of golden beams of light. Weapons, wrapped in a golden glow, were fired from the turrets atop the walls. The golden rain of light fell precisely on the front ranks of the charging monsters, triggering a series of explosions.
The weapon fired by Dingir was designed to explode on impact. For regular soldiers, achieving such accuracy would be impossible, but with Ophis in control, the turrets locked onto their targets automatically.
The explosions rippled outwards, almost entirely wiping out the first row of monsters just before they could engage Jeanne d'Arc's forces. The monsters in the back also suffered significant damage, creating chaos among their ranks. Ophis had calculated the aftermath to stay within a range that wouldn't affect Jeanne.
With their momentum broken, the monsters were unable to regroup in time. Jeanne's spear pierced through the first monster in her path with ease, and her horse collided with a lion-like beast, which was then crushed underfoot as Jeanne pushed forward.
Under Ritsuka's watchful eye, using magic to observe the battle, the monsters were directly trampled by the cavalry. Due to their size, the cavalry couldn't knock them down and overrun them as they might with infantry, but the monsters couldn't hinder the cavalry's advance. The beasts were either knocked aside or pushed along for a few meters before being speared or cut down by swords.
Some monsters tried to retreat, only to be torn apart by their own kind in the frenzy. Most of them, however, continued their assault, teeth and claws bared. But Jeanne, along with the knights behind her, easily withstood their attacks. The horses, protected by armor and their special bloodlines, were nearly immune to any physical or magical attacks from monsters of this level.
All in all, the cavalry treated the monsters as little more than fodder, trampling them with ease.
From Ritsuka's perspective, it was clear that the specially-bred horses might not be able to knock down an elephant running at full speed—size was still a factor—but they could certainly knock it aside. Although the monsters had strength disproportionate to their size, they weren't much stronger than elephants.
As Jeanne and her troops successfully broke through the monsters' ranks, Ophis looked to Commander Billy, who was standing beside her.
"Reload Dingir, fire continuously, aim at the rear of the monsters, and try to target the path the cavalry will take."
"Yes!"
"Arjuna, take command. The rest is up to you."
Ophis nodded and then turned to Ishtar. "Ishtar, come with me."
Ophis transformed into a purple light and vanished, while Ishtar shrugged, mounted her sky boat, and departed.
Not too far from Jeanne, Lily's forces also plunged into the horde of monsters. Hundreds of cavalrymen surrounded the carriage, advancing with little difficulty.
The monsters lacked the intelligence to quickly close the gap Jeanne's team had created, so the pressure on Lily's side was significantly less than on Jeanne's.
"We're also lucky..." Merlin chuckled as he sat in the carriage with Ritsuka. "Perhaps the womb of the Beast Goddess isn't large enough. It seems she can't give birth to super-giant monsters like siege beasts... Not only does this ease the pressure on the front line, but it also means we don't have to worry too much about encountering an unbreakable enemy."
Before Merlin could finish his sentence, his expression suddenly changed as a terrifying pressure loomed over them.