Swish swish swish.
Heroic Spirit Emiya fired three arrows at Taotie's eyes and forehead.
"Roar!"
Taotie's massive maw opened, nearly as wide as its entire face, and swallowed all three arrows.
"I see, that giant mouth is both an attack that devours everything and your strongest defense."
Heroic Spirit Emiya found he had lost all sense of the arrows he had just fired, rendering him unable to use Imaginary Destruction on them.
Taotie bit down on the spot where Heroic Spirit Emiya had been standing.
Heroic Spirit Emiya leaped up just in time, successfully dodging the attack. Taotie only managed to consume a large amount of earth and stone.
"Now you can't eat that."
Mid-air, Heroic Spirit Emiya fired more arrows at Taotie.
This time, the arrows directly struck Taotie's eyes.
Taotie only had time to close its eyes.
Unfortunately, eyelids typically only defend against wind and sand blowing into the eyes, offering little protection against powerful attacks.
"Imaginary Destruction."
"Roar."
Taotie let out a pained roar.
A large amount of Cursed Energy gathered in Taotie's mouth. Blinded, Taotie began to launch indiscriminate attacks in all directions.
The first target of these indiscriminate attacks was the spot in Taotie's mind where Heroic Spirit Emiya had just been.
"Traceon."
Unable to fly, Heroic Spirit Emiya used projected weapons as stepping stones to move through the air.
Taotie's attack missed.
Heroic Spirit Emiya began moving through the forest, firing arrows at Taotie while dodging its attacks.
"Are normal arrows not enough? As expected, I'll need a Noble Phantasm to defeat it."
Heroic Spirit Emiya nocked a pure white arrow onto his bow.
This time, it was an attack with the attribute of Demon Slaying.
Just as Shirou Emiya had thought, the arrow imbued with Demon Slaying caused significant damage to Taotie.
Just as Heroic Spirit Emiya was preparing to continue attacking with Demon Slaying arrows.
Taotie made a new move.
With its eye injuries healed, Taotie no longer attacked Heroic Spirit Emiya.
Instead, it gathered its strength and slammed directly into the ground.
Boom.
The earth shattered, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Rumble rumble.
Taotie, with its mouth half-open, burrowed into the ground, swallowing countless rocks, trees, and earth.
Like a bulldozer, Taotie began to charge headlong at Heroic Spirit Emiya.
"Trying to use the dust to interfere with my vision? How troublesome."
He shot a few more arrows, and the next moment, Heroic Spirit Emiya lost all sense of them.
Due to the pervasive dust, Heroic Spirit Emiya could discern Taotie's general location, but he could no longer make his arrows precisely avoid Taotie's giant mouth as before.
Heroic Spirit Emiya nocked another arrow onto his bow and shot it.
The arrow stirred up a gale as it left the string, blowing away a large area of dust.
The next moment, Taotie swallowed the arrow, then generated another massive cloud of dust.
"Buying time? Or..."
The constant dust storms Taotie stirred up were indeed troublesome, but the dust only obscured Heroic Spirit Emiya's vision; it couldn't harm him.
After all, Heroic Spirit Emiya wasn't a stationary archer. As long as he kept moving, he could avoid being enveloped by the dust.
And for Taotie to attack Heroic Spirit Emiya, it had to leave the large dust clouds that provided it cover.
If it were to use Cursed Energy bombardment, Heroic Spirit Emiya would surely notice, and the bombardment would also disperse the dust.
The next moment, Taotie swallowed the swirling dust into its mouth and then spewed it out towards Heroic Spirit Emiya's direction.
"Cough, cough. I see, so that's the method."
Taotie's sudden action forced Heroic Spirit Emiya to raise his hand to shield his eyes. Being suddenly enveloped by a large amount of dust caused Heroic Spirit Emiya to accidentally inhale some of it.
"It seems I'll have to resort to close combat. Coincidentally, I'm not entirely unfamiliar with that either."
In the world of Type-Moon, while Archer's archery skills might not be top-tier, their close-combat ability is definitely not lacking.
That's why Heroic Spirit Emiya naturally wasn't afraid of engaging in close-quarters combat with Taotie.
His longbow dispersed, and one black and one white Gan Jiang Mo Ye appeared in Heroic Spirit Emiya's hands.
Heroic Spirit Emiya closed his eyes, beginning to sense and predict Taotie's movements.
Heroic Spirit Emiya was a Heroic Spirit who possessed Clairvoyance (True), possessing a 1% chance to reverse even a desperate situation.
Not to mention, the current situation was far from desperate.
It's worth mentioning that Heroic Spirit Emiya's Clairvoyance wasn't innate; he wasn't one of those great heroes favored by the heavens.
Heroic Spirit Emiya's Clairvoyance was based on his own information and experience, a danger-avoidance ability gained by predicting the opponent's actions.
This was a Clairvoyance supported by overwhelming combat experience, a mortal's weapon honed by Heroic Spirit Emiya through countless battlefields.
Taotie's previous position, the time elapsed since it spewed dust, and the distance it could have moved in that time, its most likely attack location is...
Behind.
Heroic Spirit Emiya turned and threw his twin swords behind him.
A massive figure appeared behind Heroic Spirit Emiya.
"Crane Wing, Falling Blossom."
Gan Jiang Mo Ye drew a perfect arc in the air.
The blades left two long gashes on Taotie's body.
Projecting Gan Jiang Mo Ye again, Heroic Spirit Emiya launched an attack in coordination with the twin swords flying back.
"Mind Skill, Mount Tai Arrives."
The first Mo Ye flew back, striking Taotie.
Heroic Spirit Emiya also swung the second Gan Jiang towards Taotie's body.
"Mind Skill, Yellow River Crossing."
As the first Gan Jiang flew back, Heroic Spirit Emiya wielded the second Mo Ye in his hand.
All four attacks landed on Taotie.
Taotie let out an enraged roar, opening its massive maw to swallow the small bug that had somehow appeared at its side.
"True Name, Heavenly Gate."
For the third time, he projected Gan Jiang Mo Ye and Heroic Spirit Emiya once again launched a slashing attack at Taotie with extreme speed.
"Two Heroes, Shared Fate."
Before Taotie's attack could land.
Heroic Spirit Emiya swung the Gan Jiang Mo Ye in his hand, slashing out simultaneously to the left and right.
This strike inflicted a wound on Taotie that nearly cut it in half.
"Imaginary Destruction."
Boom boom boom boom.
The four Gan Jiang Mo Ye still embedded in Taotie's body detonated violently.
Its body, almost severed in two, was blown to pieces by Imaginary Destruction.
"Still breathing. Want to eat it?"
Heroic Spirit Emiya turned to look behind him.
Suguru Geto had just arrived there.
Having spent so much time together, Heroic Spirit Emiya naturally knew the capabilities of Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
Therefore, after noticing Suguru Geto rapidly approaching, Heroic Spirit Emiya only detonated the four Gan Jiang Mo Ye with Imaginary Destruction, not detonating the two in his hands that were still on Taotie.
The result was that Taotie was left barely alive.
Cursed Spirits had incredibly tenacious vitality.
Jogo was left with only its head and wasn't dead, even being used as a soccer ball, and its body recovered quickly later.
"Mm, thanks."
Suguru Geto didn't stand on ceremony and directly used Cursed Spirit Manipulation to turn Taotie into a Cursed Spirit Jade and absorb it.
Heroic Spirit Emiya, meanwhile, quickly found a new vantage point and began observing the battle at Eiji's location.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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