"This wasn't satisfying at all—not one bit!"
As she walked through the narrow cavern with her hands clasped behind her head, Tiona complained nonstop.
Having listened to her complaints the entire way, Tione grew increasingly irritated.
"You're so annoying! Could you tone it down already?"
Tione gazed irritably at her younger sister, Tiona, and tried helplessly to console her.
"There was nothing anyone could do about the New Species attack. The Dungeon has never let adventurers explore as they please. How are we supposed to fight without supplies?"
"Don't forget that your Great Double Blades are gone. What you're using now is a weapon projected by Shirou!"
Hearing the Amazon Sisters' conversation, Shirou Emiya chimed in teasingly.
"That's right, that was a pair of Great Double Blades worth 120 million Valis! Tiona, do you have enough Valis to forge another pair?"
Hearing Shirou Emiya's teasing, Tiona was overcome with fresh grief.
"Could you stop bringing up my Great Double Blades? I'm already miserable enough!"
"Hahahaha!"
Hearing Tiona's wail, everyone burst out laughing.
Bete laughed the hardest of all. He was already clutching his stomach and could barely stand.
"Bete, you bastard!"
Seeing Bete mock her so mercilessly, Tiona charged at him in a fit of rage.
"Bastard! You stupid woman!"
"You're the bastard, you foul-mouthed werewolf!"
Listening to them argue, Shirou Emiya couldn't help smiling knowingly.
Several days had passed since the New Species attack. After spending a day cutting their losses, the Loki Familia had successfully begun their return to the surface.
Thanks to those measures, the Loki Familia's expedition had ultimately avoided a loss.
However, it was worth mentioning that when Shirou Emiya and the others went to the 51st Floor to fight, they encountered traces of the New Species again.
This time, Shirou Emiya didn't use Unlimited Blade Works. Relying on his increasingly refined archery, he was still able to suppress the New Species' assault.
During that battle, the others also refused to be outdone and slaughtered their way through the enemy.
Tiona was especially impressive. Ignoring the pain caused by the corrosive fluid, she plunged her hand straight into a monster's body and tore out its Magic Stone. The sight was truly astonishing.
Her savage appearance made Shirou Emiya and the others click their tongues in alarm.
That Magic Stone also became the Loki Familia's only harvest related to the New Species.
"What a strange color!"
"Exactly! It really is strange!"
After glancing at the Magic Stone in Tione's hand, Shirou Emiya couldn't help falling into thought.
What he had experienced on the 50th Floor this time differed far too greatly from the anime version of Sword Princess's Holy Tale.
If this continued, even more unexpected events might occur in the future. Therefore, he could only treat his knowledge of future events as a reference, not as a trump card.
Otherwise, he wouldn't even know how he died.
After all, who knew how many plot points the anime production team had deleted?
Just as Shirou Emiya was thinking about future events, the Loki Familia entered a cavern chamber and suddenly encountered an Abnormal Situation.
"Look, it's an Abnormal Situation!"
"Oh! It's a Minotaur!"
"There are quite a lot of them. Are we surrounded?"
On the 17th Floor of the Dungeon, the Loki Familia encountered a group of Minotaurs on their way back to Orario, but the members of the Loki Familia remained completely calm.
After all, this was only the 17th Floor.
Facing monsters whose strength was merely Level 2, the elites of the Loki Familia naturally had no reason to show surprise.
They weren't those monsters from the New Species.
"Since we've run into them, let's finish this quickly!"
"I've been ready for a while. I'm just waiting for Finn's order."
After hearing Finn's command, Tiona and the others, who had long since been holding themselves back, charged into the group of Minotaurs and began slaughtering them.
Before long, more than half the Minotaurs had been wiped out.
At that moment, perhaps faced with overwhelming power, the Minotaurs actually felt fear. One of them turned around and fled when confronted by Ais.
Using that as a spark, panic spread among the Minotaurs, and the remaining monsters began fleeing as well.
"Whaaat?"
"Hey, aren't you monsters?"
Faced with this sight, both Tiona and Bete were stunned.
The monsters fled the cavern chamber in a surging tide, scrambling over one another before disappearing deep into the passageway.
Everyone was left utterly astonished by the scene.
"After them! That passage leads to the 16th Floor!"
Hearing Finn's order, everyone instantly understood how dangerous the situation was.
Given the Minotaurs' strength, if they accidentally entered the upper floors, they would become unstoppable killing machines.
If anyone died because a Minotaur reached the upper floors, the members of the Loki Familia would regret it for the rest of their lives.
Without the slightest hesitation, everyone charged out.
Shirou Emiya followed among them, sprinting rapidly toward the upper floor.
Although the Minotaurs' appearance had been somewhat sudden, Shirou Emiya quickly accepted their presence.
They had stayed an extra day on the 50th Floor, but thanks to the support of his weapons, the Loki Familia should have made the return journey somewhat faster than in the original story.
Even so, encountering Minotaurs capable of fleeing was an extremely rare occurrence.
Shirou Emiya had known from the start that the Minotaurs would flee, so he had no intention of stopping them.
This was connected to the birth of the original story's protagonist.
Bell Cranel, the true protagonist, was born during this battle.
Shirou Emiya was filled with admiration for Bell Cranel. He could truly be called a hero.
Like Shirou Emiya, he was someone who would risk his own life to save others.
Shirou Emiya had far too many reasons to help bring about the birth of Bell Cranel, the true protagonist.
Looking at the immediate future, without Bell's existence, Shirou Emiya's understanding of this world would fall apart, and he would lose his advantage.
Another reason was to have Bell shoulder Freya's attention in his place.
Although she hadn't taken any action yet, Shirou Emiya could often feel the gaze coming from above the Tower of Babel.
To be honest, he found that gaze somewhat unbearable.
So he urgently needed someone to share the burden.
However, Bell couldn't attract Freya without experiencing this event. Even Zeus, the great god who had raised Bell, had previously judged him to be a child without talent.
Therefore, Shirou Emiya absolutely supported this matter.
Looking farther ahead, Bell would eventually possess something Shirou Emiya needed.
A dagger forged personally by the goddess Hephaestus, possessing divine craftsmanship despite having no divine power: Hestia's Blade.
That knife was extremely important to Shirou Emiya.
Beyond that came responsibility.
Shirou Emiya was not from this world. He had someone he wanted to save: Miyu Shizuki.
Therefore, to increase his strength, he needed to train in different worlds and couldn't remain in one world for long.
No one knew when he would return the next time, or what this world would look like then.
That was why this world needed that person to exist.
Before you continue