The Floor Master Udaios of the Thirty-Seventh Floor died without any drama.
Provoked by the Elf Squad, Shirou Emiya also gave an outstanding performance. The destructive power unleashed by three Super Illusionary Collapses nearly swept up his own allies as well.
For that, Shirou Emiya received a thorough scolding from Finn.
Of course, Shirou Emiya himself regretted it quite a bit.
He had been too competitive and aggressive. Somehow, he felt unlike his former self.
It was probably the influence of his surroundings. After all, a person's character was greatly affected by the environment around them.
But no matter what, that could not become an excuse for ignoring his teammates.
In the battles that followed, Shirou Emiya focused on close-quarters combat, and Finn, who understood him, did not demand too much of him as a rear-line attacker.
Even Shirou Emiya struggled somewhat against monsters whose strength had reached Level 4.
Although he had reached his limit at every level, the boost brought by leveling up was truly enormous.
Of course, the greatest pressure still came from the sheer number of monsters. There were simply too many.
But Shirou Emiya loved this kind of battle. This life-and-death struggle where every blade drew blood made his heart burn with passion.
Under the immense pressure, all of Shirou Emiya's attributes were also rising rapidly.
This was the self-tempering power of Hundred Refinements.
The more difficult the battle, the greater the improvement after overcoming it.
It was as if all external pressure existed to forge him, to forge the strongest sword—the strongest sword known as Shirou Emiya.
Deeper, ever deeper.
Although the obstacles ahead grew stronger and stronger, they still could not stop the Loki Familia's advance.
It was not until the Great Wasteland on the Forty-Ninth Floor that the Loki Familia truly ran into trouble.
As the first floor of the deep levels, every monster on the Forty-Ninth Floor possessed Level 5 abilities.
When they faced hordes of Formor, the previously unstoppable vanguard was breached the moment they let their guard down. Their overwhelming abilities made the situation extremely dangerous, even with Finn's superb command.
In the end, however, with the executives providing support everywhere, the magic squad unleashing a barrage of firepower, and Shirou Emiya continuously providing arrow support and Illusionary Collapse, they finally stabilized the situation.
The Fiftieth Floor of the Dungeon, the Safe Floor.
The Loki Familia, which had finally arrived there, soon began setting up camp and resting. After all, their target was the Fifty-Ninth Floor!
At that moment, Shirou Emiya, who had been assigned to search for ingredients, was engaged in a wonderful bout of slacking off.
"Is this the Fiftieth Floor? What a peaceful sight! No matter how many times I see a Safe Floor like this, it never stops being astonishing."
Lying beside the edge of a steep cliff, Shirou Emiya rested his head on his arm as he enjoyed the soothing breeze.
"So, next comes the exploration of the deep levels."
Although reaching the Fiftieth Floor was very gratifying, something still caused Shirou Emiya some concern.
On the Fifty-Ninth Floor, when hordes of Formor broke through the vanguard formation, Ais annihilated them all before ignoring Finn's orders and charging alone into the army of Formor that had yet to be attacked.
Of course, what worried Shirou Emiya was not Ais's disobedience. As a problem child, she often did things like that.
Whenever she got carried away in battle, she became like this.
What concerned Shirou Emiya was that this incident most likely represented the beginning of the main storyline of the DanMachi world.
They were about to encounter an attack from a new species, after which the destruction of their equipment would bring this expedition to an end.
And this was the first act of Sword Princess's Holy Tale.
"I'm worried. There's no way to stop something like this in advance. After all, I'm only a newcomer. Where would I get information about the deep levels?"
"Forget it. I won't worry about this anymore. No one was injured, so I'll just let things take their natural course! Besides, I've already obtained what I need."
Thinking of what he had gained, Shirou Emiya felt immensely pleased.
He already had enough high-level experience to level up to Level 4.
After defeating two Floor Masters in succession, Shirou Emiya, as a main combatant whose basic attributes had all reached A rank, could level up at any time.
But his goal was to have every attribute reach SSS!
How could he possibly level up now?
However, he already had enough Great Deeds for leveling up. He only needed to wait until his basic attributes reached their limits before he could level up.
The speed of this improvement was incredibly satisfying!
"Brother, where are you? It's time to go back!"
Hearing Lefia's voice, who had come out to gather ingredients with him, Shirou Emiya quickly stood up and called back.
"I'm here. I've finished gathering them too. Let's go back!"
"Mm!"
"Cheers!"
"Although all we're drinking is soup, we still have to set the mood."
Because they had finally reached the Fiftieth Floor, the members of the Loki Familia, who had breathed a sigh of relief, were all in much better spirits.
With their strength, things had already become extremely difficult after the Fortieth Floor.
However, relying on Finn's command, they had always managed to turn danger into safety and overcome one difficulty after another. That was precisely Finn's importance.
But after reaching the Forty-Ninth Floor, they continued to encounter danger even with Finn's command. It was not that Finn's orders were wrong; rather, the strength of the Loki Familia's members could no longer keep up.
Unlike other familias, which had already begun focusing on elite forces after reaching the deep levels and used teams made entirely of Level 4 adventurers to break through, the Loki Familia had Finn.
Relying on his command, even Level 2 adventurers had managed to reach this place with the Loki Familia.
Only after the Fiftieth Floor did the Loki Familia begin concentrating its elites for the breakthrough.
It could be said that the Loki Familia's rise was closely tied to Finn. With him there, who knew how many members had rapidly grown stronger during expeditions?
The strength of the Freya Familia depended on the special ability of Goddess Freya. She could always find valuable gems among countless overlooked treasures.
That was how they had obtained one Level 7, four Level 6s, and four Level 5s as their top-level combat power.
But what about the Loki Familia?
Although the Loki Familia currently had only three Level 6s and four Level 5s, after the upcoming battle to defeat the Fallen Elf's clone, the Loki Familia would possess seven Level 6s.
Although increasing one's level was related to individual talent and effort, one's environment was even more important.
Under Finn's leadership, these people had a better environment in which to grow, and that was why they could improve so quickly.
And that was Finn—the captain of the Loki Familia, the irreplaceable prum hero.
Within the Familia, Finn was the perfect leader whom everyone trusted completely.
Thus, what these relieved familia members felt fortunate about was not that they no longer had to continue risking their lives, but that they finally no longer had to hold Finn and the others back.
They knew that their strength had reached its limit, and from then on, they could only rely on Finn and the others to explore further.
Perhaps they would never see that unknown realm, but the Loki Familia could.
As long as one member of the Loki Familia saw it, that glory belonged to the Loki Familia.
And that was the united Loki Familia, one of the strongest powers in Orario.
"Everyone, being able to reach this place was the result of all our efforts and struggles. Let us take pride in ourselves!"
"Let's cheer for ourselves!"
"Or!"
Before you continue