Chapter 40: -40- Be found from somewhere else
————<Evil Spirit Summoning>.
One of the three mid-level summoning magics that Rozen has learned.
As the name suggests, this magic can summon an evil spirit.
This evil spirit is a type of owl.
In ancient times, owls, which appeared only at night, were often regarded as birds of ill omen, symbolizing bad omens.
It was widely believed that owls were incarnations of death, capable of shuttling between the underworld and the living world, responsible for taking wandering spirits back to the underworld.
The owl summoned by <Evil Spirit Summoning> is precisely this omen of evil.
The abilities of the evil spirit are just as the legends describe, able to send spirits in the living world back to the underworld.
In other words, it can counter spirits by devouring them, separating them from the living world, and dispelling their power in the process.
Upon learning about this, Rozen almost without hesitation designated it as one of the essential magics to master. After spending approximately half a year, he finally completely grasped it. He summoned the owl evil spirit, symbol of ill omen, and inscribed it into his soul's <Seat>, making it wholly under his command.
With this evil spirit, Rozen has a means to deal with Servants.
After all, Servants are essentially spirits.
If he can rely on the evil spirit to separate and devour the Servants in the living world, Rozen would at least have a fighting chance against them.
However, this idea is not feasible.
The summoned evil spirit is at best a mid-level familiar, while most Servants are high-level familiars. Some of them are even outstanding enough to be considered top-level familiars. Their rank as spirits is only second to divine spirits, and mid-level familiars like the owl stand no chance of devouring them.
With his intellect, Rozen naturally understands this and doesn't naively believe that a mere mid-level familiar can defeat all Servants.
Nevertheless, even so, Rozen still considers <Evil Spirit Summoning> as his trump card.
"Even if I can't separate and devour the Servants, it should still have some impact, right?"
After all, evil spirits are specialized in countering spirits. Even if they can't devour the Servants, they should still be able to affect them in some way.
At this moment, this conjecture is proven true.
"Peck!"
Inside Berserker, only Rozen can witness the owl, which is like a woodpecker, sharply pecking at Berserker's spiritual core. The spiritual core trembles as if it were cracking, causing Berserker to emit a faintly painful roar.
While the evil spirit's restraint can't separate a fearsome Servant like Berserker from the living world, it does cause some damage to him.
Whenever the owl inside him forcefully pecks at the spiritual core, Berserker feels a pain from the soul, causing occasional hesitations in his movements.
The hesitations are brief, and even Servants at the level of high-level familiars might not be able to seize such fleeting vulnerabilities.
Including Mash.
However, Mash couldn't grasp these openings, but Rozen could.
Rozen, who controls the evil spirit's attacks, can naturally calculate when the vulnerabilities appear and give precise instructions to Mash to launch her attacks.
"Ha!"
Following Rozen's instructions, Mash forcefully swung her massive shield and struck Berserker.
"Thud—!"
With a heavy impact, Berserker's mighty body was forced back.
"Roar!"
Berserker became even more furious.
To be frank, this Servant could definitely rank among the highest-level familiars.
On the other hand, Mash, who just received the power of a Servant, hasn't fully integrated it and has low combat experience. Her actual strength might be at most at the level of high-level familiars. Her defense allows her to confront Berserker, but it's only a confrontation. Trying to defeat Berserker is still as difficult as reaching the heavens.
However, now, with Rozen's three major supports, Mash has the upper hand.
How can Berserker not be enraged?
Even if he loses his sanity, this overwhelming fury can't be extinguished.
Roaring like a ferocious beast, Berserker ignored the intense pain from his spiritual core and launched a desperate counterattack.
"Clang—!"
Under the sound of the axe-sword heavily striking the shield, sparks flew in all directions.
The force was even stronger than before.
"Ugh...!? "
Mash felt a tremendous force transmitted through her shield, causing her to involuntarily retreat several steps.
"Roar!"
Berserker immediately shot out like a cannonball, approaching and continuously attacking Mash with the axe-sword.
In the clashing sounds of metal, the giant brawny man and the shield-bearing girl were locked in a fierce battle.
"As expected... It's not that easy, huh?"
Behind them, Rozen's body became even more unsteady, as if he could collapse at any moment.
Indeed, with the assistance of <Evil Spirit Summoning>, Rozen was able to interfere with and affect Servants who were invincible against humans. But this came at a price.
Summoning a familiar specialized in countering spirits required a significant amount of magical power consumption.
Combined with the large amount of magical power provided to Mash, strengthening her power, the two factors caused Rozen's originally substantial magical power to be rapidly depleted like flowing water.
This resulted in the enhancement provided to Mash beginning to diminish, and the influence of the summoned evil spirit on Berserker became increasingly negligible.
"It was already less than 10% chance of victory against Berserker initially, even with the assistance of the evil spirit, the chance increased by 10%, and with the reinforcement of the Command Spell, the chance increased by another 10%. It's still less than 30% chance of victory."
In other words, Rozen was well aware that even with his full effort and Mash's strengthened power, the chance of winning was less than half.
It is for this reason...
"The remaining chance of victory can only be found elsewhere."
If there is no chance of victory, then create one.
"Berserker may be strong, but his weakness is quite obvious."
That is his lack of rationality.
Since that's the case...
"Some small tricks might come in handy."
Rozen squeezed out the remaining magical power in his body with all his might.
The situation on the battlefield instantly changed.
"Howl!"
Just as Berserker arrived at a certain position, preparing to deliver a powerful blow to Mash, a gray wolf lying nearby, seemingly lifeless, suddenly opened its eyes wide. It let out a wild howl and leaped from the ground, pouncing in Berserker's direction.
That was the wolf familiar that Rozen had used as a decoy before, already forgotten by everyone.
Thus, just as Berserker, ready to strike a powerful blow against Mash, had yet to swing down his axe-sword, the gray wolf lunged at him, biting his burly arm.
Of course, this wolf was just a low-level familiar and couldn't possibly pierce Berserker's tough skin and flesh.
However, the familiars Rozen controls are not limited to just wolves.
"Boom!"
The ground under Berserker's feet suddenly collapsed.
Several magical ants appeared from somewhere, burrowing through the ground and creating holes where Berserker stood. With their terrifying strength, the ants firmly held onto Berserker's lower body.
Berserker was then forcefully dragged into the ground by these magical ants, disappearing into the depths alongside the rocky ground.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone