DanMachi: Heroic Epic of Emiya the Great Hero

"I'm actually more skilled in swordsmanship.",Shirou knew that the projection magic of [Unlimited Blade Works] couldn't be hidden, so he admitted frankly,"But I have a magic that can project weapons, so I've practiced archery as well."

He looked at Lefiya,"I'll protect the rear of the team, and won't let any enemies get close to you."

The elf girl was momentarily stunned,"Um, thank you..."

Emiya's statement was logical and aligned with his tactical position, but considering the difference in their levels, Lefiya actually felt a bit dismissive inside.

The dwarf, Conny, opened his mouth wide, stunned for a moment,"Alright, a mage with super-area firepower, an archer with unlimited arrows, and you... we're from the same familia."

"Ah, I'm just ordinary.",the minotaur Niran said somewhat embarrassedly,"I just have particularly high endurance stats, a skill that increases attributes after being injured, and a skill that restores stamina and heals wounds."

"..."

Indeed, very ordinary... not really. Skills like [Rage] that increase attributes after injury and [Recovery] skills are relatively common, but having them together isn't as simple as one plus one, especially since this girl is from the minotaur tribe, known for their strong bodies, high health, and defense.

"...Alright, I understand.",Conny thought for a moment,"My only magic can only be used in cities or streets, consumes a lot of mana, and briefly grants a transcendent view from the sky. Although this magic can't be used in the dungeon, I've trained myself to have confidence in my spatial sense and command abilities. If possible, I'd like to take command."

His admiration for Finn was genuine and the driving force behind him becoming an adventurer. Besides being Lv.6 [Brave], Finn was also famously known as the best legion commander in the labyrinth city.

Lefiya quipped,"A strategic-level magic with a transcendent view, I can only say you're not simple either... Is this the value of being the top delivery guy?"

Given this, everyone had no objections to Conny taking command; he was indeed the most suitable.

While everyone was exchanging information, one person was severely hurt, and that was Raul, who had started this conversation.

Raul: 'Please, stop showing off!'

These newcomers had a combined total of eight hundred skills and magics, while Raul, as a dignified Lv.4, didn't even have a single magic or skill.

"I must quit, definitely quit, no more going to the pleasure street, save money to buy a magic book...",Raul made up his mind, though whether he could do it was another matter.

"Watch out, enemies!",Conny suddenly shouted, startling Lefiya, who almost dropped her wand.

Niran immediately raised her sword and shield, followed by the sound of a bowstring twanging and the whistle of an arrow.

In the distance, a goblin that had pounced from around the corner was frozen in its attacking posture, with an arrow piercing its neck.

Then came continuous sounds of bowstrings twanging, arrows whistling, arrowheads piercing flesh, and monsters falling.

The first wave of enemies encountered by the rookie team, three goblins, were instantly wiped out.

———

In his previous life, Emiya Shirou had traveled the world with his foster father, Emiya Kiritsugu, for a long time, searching for a way to save the world.

Their world, with its core source depleted, was on the brink of destruction, and the entire world was gradually descending into chaotic madness.

Drug lords, warlords, cults, terrorists, and so on, various "heroes" were contributing worldwide, even including some top-tier scum with quadruple identities.

These people were obstacles on the Emiya Shirou's path to "saving the world."

Therefore, at a young age, Emiya Shirou had seen his foster father wielding a submachine gun to mow down a cult gathering, and had personally used a rocket launcher to shoot down a passenger plane carrying a major drug lord.

He didn't feel much about taking lives, and while many innocents might have been affected, it didn't matter. After each mission, Emiya Shirou only felt a faint, mixed sense of joy and emptiness.

It might seem unbelievable, but this was probably one aspect of the end times.

During his travels and battles in his previous life, Emiya Shirou developed his own combat philosophy.

Swords were necessary; some special, mystically related entities could only be dealt with using swords.

But if swords weren't necessary, some methods were more direct than close combat.

If a problem could be solved with a handgun, there was no need for a sword; if a sniper rifle could take someone out, there was no need to risk getting close.

High-powered explosions were effective means of breaking through defenses, and making good use of heavy vehicles often yielded surprising results.

Therefore, both swords and guns were to be used; only then could it be considered sound.

The same applied to dungeon adventures.

Enemies that could be shot should be killed with arrows; if enemies closed in, then draw the sword, maximizing output—this was Emiya Shirou's combat style.

"Just... like this?",Looking at the few goblin corpses before him, the dwarf spearman was a bit stunned.

Goblins, monsters generated in the upper levels of the dungeon, were also the weakest, lowest stat creatures in the dungeon.

Humanoid monsters resembling ugly dwarves, their strength was even lower than that of a strong adult male without blessings. Their threat mainly came from swarming, ambushes, and the psychological impact their ugly appearance had on novice adventurers.

But even the weakest monsters, attacking in groups, posed a significant danger to novice adventurers. Of course, for a well-configured team like theirs, a few goblins were no threat at all.

However, the perception was entirely different between having a vanguard warrior crush them with a greatsword or a spearman stab them to death after a fight, and dispatching them so effortlessly before the fight even began.

Even Lv.4 Raul couldn't help but be amazed. Although he could cut down hundreds of goblins if they charged at him, the unique beauty of Emiya's combat still left him somewhat astonished.

"Goblin magic stone fragments aren't worth collecting, crush them or leave them for scavengers, let's move on.",After a brief moment of surprise, Conny, as the commander, gave the order.

Goblins, as magical creatures, didn't even have complete magic stones inside them, only very small fragments. The cost-effectiveness of digging out magic stone fragments from their corpses was too low.

In the upper levels of the dungeon, there were "scavengers" who specifically collected unwanted goblin corpses to dig out magic stone fragments. These were mostly bottom-tier adventurers who lacked the courage and ability to fight, such as the drunken fools from the Soma Familia.

The team continued forward, following the path marked by the guild towards the second level, encountering another goblin attack along the way, with the same result.

The goblins didn't even manage to reach the vanguard before the battle ended with the twang of bowstrings.

"Bows have an overwhelming advantage in the upper levels of the dungeon, especially from the first to the fourth levels, against monsters like goblins and kobolds.",Shirou explained casually as he put down his longbow.

"Because the defense of monsters at this stage is too low."

Goblins are monsters that farmers can kill with pitchforks and spears in groups. Even a Lv.1 novice adventurer can easily take down a goblin with a single heavy hit.

At this stage, the attack power of adventurers is excessive, so the drawback of bows, where "power decreases with distance," isn't an issue.

But as you go deeper into the lower levels, against monsters like orcs and minotaurs with strong bodies and tough defenses, the disadvantage of bows will start to show.

Against such monsters, powerful slashes and magic are still needed.

"No, even in the upper levels, ordinary adventurers can't do this, right.",Lefiya couldn't help but shout,"Your shooting frequency and accuracy are just too abnormal."

Bows, in this world, are often associated with the elf race. Elves, born with excellent physical qualities, strong balance, and agility, easily become excellent archers.

This weapon, capable of killing distant enemies with a single shot, is also seen by elves as an "elegant" way of fighting, fitting the noble aesthetics of the children of the forest.

Therefore, when a human claimed to be an archer, Lefiya showed no reaction on the surface, but inside she was somewhat dismissive.

Although she herself wasn't an archer, she couldn't help but feel that the best archers must come from the elf race.

This human was probably the type to pick up a bow, shoot a few random arrows, then grab a sword and charge in.

But Emiya's archery skills far exceeded her expectations.

'He must have a skill related to archer.',the elf girl judged.

If Emiya knew the girl's thoughts, he would probably just think, 'how could elven archery compare to that of a heroic spirit?'

Emiya had merely inherited the skills of an Archer-class heroic spirit.

The third wave of enemies the team encountered were kobolds, literally dog-headed humanoid monsters, also without any strengths or special abilities, the lowest-tier monsters on par with goblins.

Emiya shot an arrow through the eye socket of the last kobold, ending the battle.

"Make sure to finish them off; shooting them in the eye doesn't necessarily mean instant death.",Emiya reminded.

"Understood!",the dwarf spearman immediately stabbed the kobold corpse in the neck,"Too bad, still no 'drops.'"

Killing dungeon monsters, besides obtaining magic stones, also has a chance to yield drops.

Goblin drops are "Goblin Fangs," while kobold drops are "Kobold Claws."

"The value of drops is much higher than magic stone fragments, but the chance of them appearing is also low.",Raul lamented.

Kobold magic stone fragments also weren't worth digging out, so the team continued forward, soon reaching the entrance to the second level.

"I originally thought the greatest significance of 'projection' was the endless supply of arrows, but now it seems my understanding was shallow.",Raul, watching the newcomers' battle from the rear, spoke up.

"Eliminating the action of drawing arrows increases shooting efficiency by at least two times."

By now, they had reached the fourth level. The first to fourth levels could be considered the "newbie zone," where the monsters didn't have high stats or threat levels.

However, compared to the first level, the increase in monster numbers was noticeable. At least, Emiya couldn't wipe out all the monsters before engaging in combat.

A group of ten goblins charged forward, with Emiya taking out five on the approach, leaving the rest for the vanguard warrior and spearman to handle.

The minotaur warrior's efficiency in killing enemies was also high, her greatsword able to cleave through two or three enemies at once, while the dwarf spearman finished off the stragglers.

Once close combat began, Emiya immediately switched to sword mode, but he wouldn't recklessly charge in to kill enemies. Instead, he stayed close to protect the important mage.

Even though Lefiya was a Lv.2, one level higher than him, since protecting the mage was his task, Emiya would execute it meticulously.

After killing the monsters, they rested briefly, collecting drops. This time, "Goblin Fangs" dropped, which supporter Raul was responsible for collecting.

The arrows remaining in the bodies of the shot goblins began to dissipate.

Shirou had reduced the duration of his projections to conserve mana. The arrows he projected were also designed and crafted by himself, and because of his high understanding of their structure, the mana consumption was further reduced.

'Everyone is so amazing.',At this moment, the team's rearguard mage, Lefiya, couldn't help but think.

Originally, she thought that as a Lv.2 with powerful magic, she would be the core of the team. But now, there was no room for her to perform.

The efficiency of killing was so high that she didn't even have time to finish chanting before the battle was over.

The minotaur warrior, leveraging her body and racial advantages, had endurance and attack power that slightly surpassed her level. The dwarf, limited by racial disadvantages, had low base stats, but he worked hard, memorizing all available information on monsters and the dungeon. His spearmanship lacked genius inspiration but was very solid and steady.

As for Emiya, his god-like archery skills left Lefiya greatly shocked.

'Only I haven't been of any use at all...'

Lefiya gradually felt a sense of disappointment.

"Let's rest here, then head to the fifth level.",Raul found an empty room. By moderately damaging the dungeon walls to hinder monster generation, it could serve as a temporary rest area.

From the fifth level onwards, the dungeon walls turned light green, and the structure of the labyrinth began to change. War Shadows, Killer Ants, and other stronger monsters appeared, and monster spawn times became faster. This was why these levels were where many novice adventurers began to die. It was recommended that Lv.1 adventurers have at least a G in one basic ability before exploring these levels.

After the previous battles, except for Lefiya who hadn't taken action, all team members had demonstrated reliable combat prowess. The highest stats likely belonged to the minotaur Niran, whose stats had reached the point where she could level up, only lacking the necessary feat for advancement.

"Speaking of which, is Lefiya also a novice adventurer? Lefiya is Lv.2, right?",Emiya asked.

"Because I graduated from the [School District] and then joined the Loki Familia, I leveled up to Lv.2 while in the [School District].",Lefiya explained.

The [School District] is an institution focused on cultivating young talents. Besides adventurer familias, production familias, commercial familias, etc., there is also a special type of academy-based familia, concentrated in the [School District].

"The [School District] is built on a massive sea fortress, usually traveling around the world, returning to the labyrinth city Orario every three years for a year of maintenance, during which students are allowed to accept recruitment from various familias in Orario. I just recently joined the Loki Familia."

So that's why Lefiya, a Lv.2, needed to learn dungeon strategies with these novices.

"While traveling the world, the [School District] accepts commissions from various countries to deal with monsters and crises on the surface. Lefiya must have accumulated feats during this process to level up.",Niran said,"I'm also from the [School District], Lefiya probably doesn't know me, but I know Lefiya."

"Eh? Niran is too? No wonder, Niran's stats don't seem like a novice..." Lefiya was somewhat surprised, and also a bit embarrassed, as she really didn't know Niran.

"Lefiya is quite famous, known in the school district as the 'Mana Idiot' troublemaker.",Niran said with a laugh.

"Ahhh, please, don't bring that up.",Lefiya covered her head,"I'm desperately trying to get rid of that title now!"

Shirou smiled,"I think it's a pretty impressive title."

Clearly, the hidden meaning of the title was that Lefiya possessed an exaggerated amount of mana, as she had mentioned, terrifying firepower across two Lvls.

"Don't laugh at me.",Lefiya lightly tapped Shirou's shoulder.

"Huh?" Shirou was momentarily stunned.

Lefiya: "What's wrong?"

"Lefiya, about physical contact..."

"Ah, some elves are like that, having a 'cleanliness' issue with touching other races, but not everyone is like that. I don't have that habit.",Lefiya said.

"Lefiya, you're such a good kid."

"Not really... and, you're younger than me, right, Emiya-kun?"

[A/N: What Emiya did while traveling with Kiritsugu wasn't explicitly stated in the original work. Here, based on the manga's depiction of Emiya's proficiency and casual attitude towards using firearms, some expansion and secondary creation have been done.]

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