DanMachi: Heroic Epic of Emiya the Great Hero

"Riveria, Emiya, Ais, Bete, Alicia, you are the key to this operation," Finn issued orders to the members standing at the front, "This time's tactic is very special. It's only possible because of Riveria and Emiya. And also, it can only work inside the [Dragon's Vase]."

Gareth: "I'll do my best to assist you in withstanding the first wave of the assault."

Finn swept his gaze over everyone present, "If no one has any objections, then let's depart!"

"From now on, everyone needs to be especially alert. The upcoming battle is a race against time."

Reaching the entrance to the fifty-second floor, at the end of a long, wide stairway, Finn stopped and turned to look at all the squad members.

Though the others didn't fully understand Finn's words, they quickly adjusted their mental states, nerves taut, ready for any scenario.

"We move out," Finn gave the short order, and the team began to swiftly head toward the fifty-second floor.

Inside the black-lead colored labyrinth, which wasn't much different from the fifty-first floor, they maintained an efficient formation, advancing cautiously yet rapidly.

Along the way, the frequency of monster appearances didn't differ much from before; still dominated by [Black Rhinos] and [Deformis Spiders], these monsters continuously leaped out from the darkness in all directions, trying to hinder their advance.

They weaved through the corridors, fending off each monster attack.

Each strike, each sword swing, was a race against time.

Finally, they arrived at a vast and open chamber, and Finn raised his hand to signal the team to stop.

The high ceiling of this massive room loomed overhead, and the smooth, cold walls around them seemed to gaze silently at the adventurers. Phosphorescent glows flickered on the walls, casting the space in a dim and mysterious light.

Finn looked over each member of the squad, "From here on, we need to set up formation. Riveria, Alicia, move quickly. The rest of you, spread out and prepare for the incoming assault."

"The sniping will begin soon," After Riveria said this, she immediately closed her eyes and began focusing her mind to gather magic power.

Alicia acted without hesitation, waving her arms, cold incantations echoing through the air. As magic gathered, a giant Ice Golem suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

The giant wielded two massive ice katanas, eyes like frost, standing silently before them.

At that moment, a low and ominous roar came from deep underground. The sound rumbled like thunder, piercing the ears and sending chills down the spine.

"A dragon… that's a dragon's roar," Raul's expression changed slightly, the echoing roar in his ears making his heart race in fear.

"That's right, they've already located our position," Alicia took a deep breath, her expression growing increasingly grim.

The monsters' roars grew louder, deafening, with an overwhelming sense of threat surging toward them. The oppressive air kept all the adventurers' nerves on edge.

Alicia's eyes turned sharp as blades as she stared into the distance, and the next moment—

BOOM!!!

A deafening explosion erupted as the entire ground blew apart, torrents of fire spewing up from below like blooming crimson lotus flames. The shockwave instantly engulfed Alicia's summoned Ice Golem.

The surrounding adventurers' faces were dyed red in the blaze.

They instinctively held their breath, watching as the fire erupted skyward like a supermassive landmine explosion, the wave of flame crashing against the ceiling as if trying to break through the limits of the fifty-first floor.

Within the lingering flames, the giant Ice Golem's massive body was gradually melting away, the tough ice layers revealing broken ice bones beneath.

However, at the golem's core, no person was there. In their place stood a furnace burning with several high-grade magic stones, enduring the inferno.

As the fiery blast gradually faded, the flames still hadn't completely died out. Just then, chanting could be heard.

[Oh wood spirit— fulfill my wish, garment of the forest— my name is Alf]

Two identical chants echoed through the air. Riveria and Lefiya, who had copied her magic, simultaneously activated the spell [Veil Breath]. Dual layers of veils covered the team members, providing powerful defensive barriers.

Ais, Alicia, Gareth, and Bete, the four adventurers, took the opportunity to leap into the massive hole created by the, aiming for the fifty-third floor.

They didn't go in deep but instead chose to remain on the fifty-third floor to serve as the front line against the bombardment.

At the same time, back on the fifty-first floor, Riveria also began her chant.

[Awaken from the deep slumber, I shall open this hidden realm]

Feeling the suddenly surging magic, Alicia murmured softly, "Her Highness's magic power is just too overwhelming… From now on, this place will undoubtedly become the target of every Valgang Dragon."

"Not just the Valgang Dragons. Probably every monster," Bete said coldly.

"There are nine powerful magic sources I can sense. Be careful, they're coming!", Ais shouted.

[The elven realm of Arthurian legend, light and shadow intertwined, eternal like a dream, the fantasy land sealed in epic tales]

As Riveria continued chanting, Ais, Gareth, and the others tensed their nerves, preparing to face a new wave of bombardment on the fifty-third floor.

Their mission was to intercept the Valgang Dragons before Riveria completed her chant.

Gareth stood at the front and shockingly took a blast head-on with his body.

After testing the power of the Valgang Dragon's bombardment, the dwarven warrior chuckled, "Heh, compared to Balor's Death Ray, this level of attack is still a ways off."

[That land of legend, where no noise of the mortal world is heard, no city of man exists, no majesty is seen, no palace remains, only stillness like a distant song!]

Riveria walked slowly, narrowly dodging a bombardment.

Even with her mastery of parallel chanting, she couldn't run fast while chanting this magic.

At her side, Emiya held her hand, in this state, the chanting proceeded more smoothly.

Alicia, piloting the Ice Golem, charged toward the bombardment, using the giant's huge body to block two powerful attacks. Half of the Golem's body shattered from the impact.

[An isolated isle in a boundless sea, silent like a whisper in the night, endless meadows like rolling green waves stretching far and wide, streams trickling through valleys, interwoven like silver threads across the earth, towering ancient trees atop hills, grand and mighty, their leaves like umbrellas covering the sky]

Bete held a magic spiral sword and precisely countered the incoming bombardment. The spinning blade pierced the flames, colliding with the energy shot with tremendous destructive power, nearly pushing the blast back.

[Formed in the realm of the heart, a place beyond mortal legend]

The long and poetic chant echoed above the battlefield, the elven princess's beautiful voice seemingly able to dispel all noise and fear.

However, in the face of such a lengthy chant, Bete's patience had clearly reached its limit.

"This chant… is way too long!", He muttered a curse under his breath, a flash of resolve in his eyes.

Without further hesitation, Bete suddenly gritted his teeth and leapt into a massive hole blasted by the bombardment, charging straight for the depths of the fifty-eighth floor.

Landing atop a Valgang Dragon preparing to fire, Bete raised his right leg without hesitation and kicked its hideous head with force.

The dragon's head twisted to the side, and the energy blast being prepared deviated from its original path, slamming instead into a nearby monster horde.

[In that dream of emerald and glass, all things find their place]

At that moment, Ais activated her [Ariel] to the fullest extent. A storm encircled her, boosting her attack, speed, and defense to the maximum.

Simultaneously, monsters surged at them from all directions — not just the fifty-second floor but even from the fifty-third floor — their numbers growing.

However, the monsters from the [Dragon's Vase] were all dragon species. As the highest-ranked of all monster types, even the Zeus and Hera Familia considered these monsters stronger than those on the fifty-ninth floor.

Yet in front of the [Avenger], their dragon lineage became their greatest weakness. Ais, with her anti-dragon abilities, made each attack increasingly deadly, taking down these once-dreaded dragon monsters one by one.

Back on the fifty-second floor, under Finn's command, Raul and the others raised their magic swords. The stored power within them burst forth, and fierce beams of light fired at the oncoming monsters.

Thanks to Riveria drawing all the Valgang Dragons' attention, they didn't even need to dodge, fully unleashing their magical attacks to clear the enemy.

[No worries, no loneliness, standing alone beneath the moonlit tree, gazing at the ocean and night sky's border, one can still feel the longing and call of a distant homeland, the toll of a faraway bell, echoing in the night, becomes the deepest silence in the world]

After what seemed like an eternity, Riveria finally completed her ultra-long chant.

Absolute defense magic— [World Beyond the World].

As her soft chant ended, a transparent barrier spread out around her, instantly enveloping all the team members as if completely isolating them from the outside world.

The moment the barrier formed, the Valgang Dragon's beam struck the spot beneath Riveria and Emiya's feet.

Blazing flames exploded outward, but when they collided with the barrier, it was as if nothing had happened, not even a ripple appeared.

That was the terror of [World Beyond the World]: no matter how powerful the enemy's attack, the defense would not be weakened.

The continuous bombardment from the dragons was like stones sinking into the sea, utterly unable to break through this absolute barrier.

As the intensity of the bombardment grew, the opening widened. With a thought from Riveria, the magic barrier carried all the protected adventurers downward in freefall.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One blast after another struck the barrier, but without exception, every attack vanished like mud sinking into water, causing no damage at all.

They weren't resisted, they were simply ignored.

As they fell to the fifty-eighth floor, Riveria's face had turned pale, but she still maintained the barrier.

Meanwhile, the Valgang Dragons continued their frenzied attacks on the barrier, expending all their magic in a mindless rage.

Ais and the others fell together with the barrier, arriving just in time to support Bete, who was nearly overwhelmed.

At this point, almost every Valgang Dragon had fired over a dozen times and entered their weakest state.

The light of the barrier gradually faded as Riveria canceled the magic.

The entire expedition team of the Loki Familia had successfully bypassed the hellish [Dragon's Vase] and reached the fifty-eighth floor.

The Amazon sisters and other adventurers now wore bloodthirsty smiles.

"EVERYONE, FULL ASSAULT!", Finn's voice echoed across the battlefield. With that command, everyone launched a ferocious attack on the weakened Valgang Dragons.

The dragon-slaying magic sword [Balmung], which hadn't been used in previous hunts, was finally drawn once more.

Emiya drew the blade imbued with dragon-slaying power and began to chant, "True Ether, full release."

"Phantasmal Greatsword, maximum output."

"Awaken from the golden dream..."

"Release yourself from its cradle."

"The evil dragon must be destroyed."

"Phantasmal Greatsword, Felling of the Sky Demon: BALMUNG!"

The expanding wave of destruction surged forth like a massive tidal wave, carrying overwhelming power that swept ahead, engulfing all dragon-type monsters in its path, including two Valgang Dragons.

The sight left everyone stunned. Even Ais, usually so composed, wore a shocked expression, her mouth agape.

———

Although it was the [Phantasmal Greatsword Felling of the Sky Demon (Balmung)], which had extremely high special attack effects against dragon types, Emiya's level was, after all, only Lv.3, and he could not clear out all dragon monsters with potential abilities above Lv.5 in one strike.

However, after that strike, the surviving dragon monsters had almost all lost the ability to resist, either they were injured all over, or had directly lost the will to fight.

[Dragon's Vase], this hellish area, its most terrifying aspect was the Valgangs that ignored floor boundaries.

These bombardments not only greatly reduced the adventurers' stamina, but could also destroy their important equipment and supplies.

Even someone as strong as the Hera Familia's [Empress] couldn't help but complain in the information she left behind, saying that the bombardment from the cannon dragons burned their food. In a fit of rage, the [Empress] jumped straight into the hole and personally took care of all the cannon dragons.

However, when the adventurers truly broke into the fifty-eighth floor, the situation fundamentally changed.

Aside from magic power, the potential abilities of the cannon dragons were not as terrifying as the strong dragons. [Heavy Champion] Gareth, relying on the top physique and abilities of the dwarf race, could easily single out one cannon dragon alone.

The strong members of the Loki Familia charged one after another toward the monsters making a last-ditch resistance, taking down the powerful dragon types one by one.

When the final cannon dragon collapsed with a boom, only the slightly tired yet incomparably excited figures of the adventurers remained on the battlefield.

They had made history.

In this expedition, no one died, and not even anyone was seriously injured, even the injuries Gareth sustained from taking a cannon dragon's attack could recover quickly.

And most importantly, their supplies were not destroyed in the [Dragon's Vase], which could be called a miracle in deep-floor adventures.

Up to now in the adventure, the greatest loss was merely wear and tear on their equipment, yet even that was not worth worrying about, because in their ranks was the city's most outstanding blacksmith.

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