"Cheers!"
Surrounding the blazing fire, the adventurers of the Loki Familia were celebrating in a relaxed and cheerful mood.
They were at the passageway leading from the twenty-fourth floor to the twenty-fifth. After a day of travel, the Loki Familia had finally reached this place and was taking a rest.
"How is it? Does it suit everyone's tastes?"
Shirou Emiya asked with a smile as he watched everyone drinking soup.
Since he had had nothing to do as the rear guard during the day and had spent the entire time traveling, Shirou Emiya had gone all out and shown off his cooking skills when preparing the meal.
"Delicious!"
"This is incredible!"
"Shirou's cooking is the best!"
Listening to the many voices of praise coming from all around him, Shirou Emiya's lips curled into a faint smile.
This must be a chef's satisfaction.
Unfortunately, he still had things he wanted to accomplish. Otherwise, he really wanted Distant Timepiece to find him a gourmet world to travel through.
Perhaps he could wait until everything was over.
"Here, Raul!"
Shirou Emiya tossed a fruit he had found in the forest to Raul, who was standing watch. Then he walked over and asked, "How is everything? Still peaceful?"
"Don't worry. I've done this more times than I can remember."
Raul smiled, gave a confident thumbs-up, and patted his chest.
Looking at the damaged walls around Raul, Shirou Emiya couldn't help recalling the knowledge he had learned from the library.
The dungeon was alive.
After hundreds of years of adventurers constantly exploring it, they had more or less figured out some of the dungeon's rules.
For example, repairing damaged walls took priority over spawning monsters.
Therefore, to rest safely at night in a place that was not a safe floor, adventurers had to destroy the surrounding walls and then monitor their repairs.
When the walls were almost fully repaired, they would destroy them again. This effectively hindered the birth of monsters.
That was the watchman's job.
Before Shirou Emiya joined them, Raul had been one of Finn and the others' most trusted second-string members. He often accompanied the Loki Familia on expeditions, and eight years of adventuring had made him thoroughly familiar with every detail of an expedition.
"Starting tomorrow, it'll be a real expedition. You need to get a good rest and recharge your energy!"
A real expedition?
Shirou Emiya nodded slightly.
To the Loki Familia, the uppermost twenty-four floors of the dungeon were practically no different from a picnic.
But only after the twenty-fourth floor did it count as a true expedition.
According to the dungeon's divisions, every twelve floors formed one level.
The first twelve floors were the Upper Floors, the thirteenth through twenty-fourth were the Middle Floors, the twenty-fifth through thirty-sixth were the Lower Floors, the thirty-seventh through forty-eighth were the Deep Floors, and the forty-ninth through sixtieth were the Deeper Floors.
As for the area below the sixtieth floor, it was known as the Unknown Floors.
Every time they entered a new level, the monsters' strength underwent a tremendous increase.
The monsters on the Upper Floors were all Level 1, those on the Middle Floors were all Level 2, and those on the Lower Floors were all Level 3. The monsters on the Deep Floors were Level 4, while those on the Deeper Floors were Level 5.
The monsters beyond the Unknown Floors were all Level 6 or higher.
The number of monsters was constantly replenished. In such a demonic lair, even the Loki Familia would suffer heavy losses if they let their guard down.
According to the Loki Familia's arrangements, once the main force broke through the forty-ninth floor and reached the safe floor on the fiftieth, all further exploration would be carried out in small teams.
The main combatants of these teams were the Loki Familia's Level 5-and-above executives. Everyone else would set up camp on the fiftieth floor and wait for Finn and the others to return from their exploration.
After all, the monsters on the Deeper Floors were all Level 5 monsters.
This showed just how terrifying the dungeon was.
That was why, throughout Orario, only a handful of Familias could reach the Deep Floors on the thirty-seventh floor.
The Loki Familia, the Freya Familia, the Hephaestus Familia, the Ganesha Familia, the Ista Familia, and the Astrea Familia—which had been wiped out and now consisted only of Lyu—were the only six.
Of course, if one went further back, there were also the Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia, but that already belonged to another era.
In the age when Loki and Freya reigned supreme, there were only these six.
"Starting tomorrow, the monsters we face will reach Level 3, and the pressure on us will suddenly increase. Go back and rest early. You'll have your chance to shine tomorrow."
"I understand. You be careful too, Raul!"
After exchanging a few words, Shirou Emiya returned to his tent.
Raul was right. As the monsters grew stronger, the importance of the rear guard would rise sharply.
As a Magic Sword Shooter, he also needed to get a good rest!
Over the next few days, the Loki Familia's party rapidly delved deeper into the dungeon under Finn's command.
As the strength of the surrounding monsters suddenly increased, Shirou Emiya finally got his wish and went all out.
One Illusionary Collapse after another swept through the monster hordes, completely destroying every monster around them.
This made everyone view Shirou Emiya's firepower in a new light.
His endurance in particular was astonishing. He seemed practically unstoppable.
Unlike these mages, Shirou Emiya could project weapons in advance and store them inside Unlimited Blade Works.
As a result, his Illusionary Collapses consumed almost none of his own magic power.
That was why his endurance was so terrifying.
Under the overwhelming strength of the group, they smoothly passed through the Water Labyrinth on the twenty-seventh floor, where the Floor Master Twin-Headed Dragon resided.
During this battle, Shirou Emiya brought out his new weapon for the first time.
A magic sword projected by him.
"Super Illusionary Collapse!"
This was the new name Shirou Emiya had specially given it, to distinguish it from Illusionary Collapse.
As for its power?
Looking at the mushroom cloud rising into the sky, Shirou Emiya couldn't help sighing with emotion.
"This is a real nuclear explosion!"
In terms of destructive power alone, it was probably no weaker than Black Saber's Excalibur.
In short, it possessed the power of an A-rank Anti-City Noble Phantasm.
The Level 5 Floor Master Twin-Headed Dragon was vaporized by a single Super Illusionary Collapse from Shirou Emiya, leaving behind only a huge Magic Stone to testify to its existence.
Now that's magic!
Unfortunately, Shirou Emiya's proud "magic" abilities did not remain triumphant for long. During the assault on the thirty-seventh floor, he received a harsh lesson.
Following the rule that a Floor Master respawned once every ten floors, the battle to subjugate Udaios, the Floor Master of the thirty-seventh floor—the White Palace, the first floor of the Deep Floors—was about to begin.
But before that, an endless army of monsters blocked their path.
It was the Monster Feast.
This was the terrifying part of the dungeon: you never knew when it would suddenly deliver a fatal blow.
A Monster Feast from the thirty-seventh floor.
Endless Level 4 monsters surged toward them, and at that moment, one of the Loki Familia's trump cards revealed itself.
The Elf Squad!
This was an elite unit led by Riveria, one of the Loki Familia's Three Greats and a Level 6.
With the amplification of Riveria's Elf King's Seal, ten elves launched a coordinated magical attack.
Terrifying magical power gathered overhead as the ten elves chanted their spells together.
"Everyone, fall back!"
With Finn's roar, all the vanguard members withdrew, leaving the stage to Riveria's Elf Squad.
The magical baptism began.
"High-Class Excalibur!"
"Volley Fire Javelin!"
"Ice Cone Great Blade!"
"Lightning Light Arrow!"
"."
Endless magical power rampaged across the land, destroying everything within sight.
Watching the elves' magic, the trace of pride that had just risen in Shirou Emiya vanished instantly.
Now this is magic!
Before you continue