Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!
"Hah... hah..."
They came in waves.
"Master, stop healing us, your magic circuits can't take being overused right now, not when you haven't been using magic for long." Gareth called out as she wiped her forehead, jumping back as a zombie slashed at her with a sword. They had been fighting for hours now, but the waves just kept coming and coming. They were completely surrounded, and they weren't able to get close to the water like originally planned.
The defeated zombies would just pull themselves back together eventually and rejoin the battle.
"Summoning Atalanta right now would be a bad idea, not when we don't even have a moment to breath. I can't concentrate on the order like this." Naruto didn't even have a moment to use his command spell to bring Atalanta back early if he wanted to at this point. "Asterios, how you hanging in there!?"
"Whooooo!"
"Good, at least you're still able to fight... but it's time to retreat, we've wasted enough time on enemies that respawn. Gareth, think you can clear a path for us?" Naruto asked Gareth as his back touched hers.
"With my Noble Phantasm, I've charged up more than enough to unleash a few power house attacks. Just give the order."
"I give the order!"
"Alright then!" Gareth shouted as she raised her lance up, she raised her shield as she lowered her lance. She aimed at the largest group of zombies, before she started to run forward. Her shield bashed against several of them. "I'll bring you down! I'm a wolf! My spear is a fang of sure-kill! Let's GO!"
She obliterated each zombie as she bashed her lance against them, with Naruto jumping onto Asterios and grabbing onto his shoulder, raising his free hand up to use magecraft if he needed to.
"Rampaging Maiden Wolf!"
"Whoooo!" Asterious used his axes to slice apart the zombies that she missed, but they kept running forward with Gareth leading the way. The zombies chased after them, but they had trouble keeping up now that Gareth was able to built up adequate speed.
Zombies that didn't get obliterated by her lance, were bashed into the air by her shield, with Asterious chopping them up with strong slashes.
They made a strategic retreat once it became apparent that the enemies numbers weren't going to go down.
-With Atalanta-
A backflip.
Followed by sending 2 arrows at 4 arrows aimed at her, with her arrows piercing through the 4 arrows easily. She couldn't do much to fight back without unleashing her Noble Phantasm, but the second she released it the enemy would become aware of her identity, and they could make a strategy to counter her with her weaknesses.
'Leonidas was summoned to deal with an Archer, but not me exactly. If they had known that I was the enemy, they would have summoned Chiron or Heracles as an Archer. The fact they summoned the hero of Sparta to fight me shows that all the enemy had to go on was the guess that my speed belonged to the Archer class, since I lacked a mount.' Atalanta thought when she saw a rain of arrows come from the enemy army.
Leonidas had urged his men forth, and now an entire army of 300 men strong were chasing after her. If she wanted to take out a number that large, her ONLY option at this point would be to unleash her ultimate attack, but if she failed then she would be defeated before noon.
She ducked behind a rock formation as the arrows pierced everything around her.
"She will lead us to her Master eventually men, keep pushing her! Come Archer, if you wish to win, you should unleash your Noble Phantasm, let us see it's might and crush it with our shields!"
'Damnit, knowing him, I bet he has a Defensive Noble Phantasm, one that can counter mine. He is goading me into unleashing it, so he can defeat it and use the knowledge to figure out who I am.' Atalanta resumed running away from the conflict.
This was a battle of the mind at the moment.
Endurance warfare.
"Surge forth men, hold formation! Keep those shields up high, and let not a single arrow pierce your spirits! She will tire eventually, and when she does, we will be waiting for her!"
'Damnit, he's got a point. I might be a servant, but even a Servant's stamina won't last forever. Evenutally, I will grow tired. I've got to think of something.' Atalanta's speed was her saving grace, in that she could stay far away from them. She had no chance at winning though with only single shot arrows as she had been shooting. "... Got it..." Atalanta smiled as she begins to run backwards.
She took aim.
She fired, and she saw her arrow hit.
"She is no woman, that is Paris!"
'Gotcha.' Atalanta thought as she took aim twice more, and struck two more men in their heels, where they couldn't guard with their shields. With her aim, she could hit the heel no problem. Paris was famous for killing Achilles with a shot fired to the heel, and her opponents were warriors trained by Rome, meaning they were aware of the history of her people as well.
The army stopped and slammed their shields down to the ground, guarding their heels, with Leonidas stopping and face Atalanta.
"Paris, the man who slayed Achilles himself... the man who began the Trojan war. I've always wanted to test my metal against you."
'I know I'm wearing a cloak right now to hide my features, but kind of stings that they confused me for a teenage boy.' Atalanta thought as she stopped and took aim.
It was a stalemate.
If she ran away, they would chase her and be careful about their heels.
If they came at her first, she would shoot them in the heel the second they lifted their shields.
"It seems you are cornered Paris, face me in one on one combat if you wish to escape, my men will not attack you." Leonidas stepped forward and got himself ready to fight her himself.
Archer, Come to Me!
"We'll continue this again later." Atalanta's body glowed red.
She teleported.
-With Naruto-
"Archer, Come to Me!" Naruto shouted as he raised his hand up high.
In a bolt of red light, Atalanta appeared next to him on Asterios' other shoulder.
"Master... you're being chased."
"Is Nero dead!?" Naruto asked quickly, the most important question. Atalanta started to pick off the fastest zombies without needing to be ordered to do that.
"No, but the enemy plans to kill him and destroy Rome like you said. The enemy has summoned Servants and formed the United Roman Empire in order to destroy Rome. Leonidas was summoned by the enemy when they sensed me coming, but they believe I am Paris, so we haven't lost the element of surprise yet." Atalanta gave the short of it all.
"Then the enemy knows we are going to seek an audience with Neo... hey Vinci-"
"Roman here."
"Romani then! I know it will take 3 days to reach Rome in a straight line, but the enemy knows where we are headed, and according to Atalanta they know which direction she came from. She might have fooled Leonidas, but the person who summoned him won't be fooled. We need to take a detour to get to Rome that the Romans won't expect." Naruto heard Romani's voice over the communicator, and he had to force himself to calm down. Things were easier now that Atalanta was able to pick the zombies off from a distance.
"If you travel through the mountains, it will take 5 days instead of 3, but the United Roman Empire shouldn't expect that. But do you have the time to waste taking a detour, when the enemy has servants summoned."
"Yes, it takes 3 days to reach Nero's palace from where we are, and it takes time to mobilize an army. It should take them about 4 or 5 days to reach Nero first... and that is if they don't encounter resistance before then. We'll be cutting it close, but we won't get ambushed before we reach Nero." Naruto explained his need for a detour. "If we don't take breaks, and we run the entire way there, I'm sure we can cut 2 days off of our time anyway!" Naruto shouted out as he raised his fist in victory.
"Right!" Gareth called out with a smile.
"WHOOOOOOOOO!" Asterios picked up his speed and rushed towards the mountains, since his orders were clear.
"You can add 6 hours to the amount of time it will take the United Roman Empire to reach Nero, I led them on a chase before you summoned me." Atalanta stated with a nod to Naruto, and he grinned.
They were forced to retreat from their battles.
That was why he was not going to allow them to lose this war!
Chapter End!
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