DanMachi: Heroic Epic of Emiya the Great Hero

Some adventurers, when encountering monsters they cannot handle and are forced to flee, will deliberately head towards the locations of other adventurers, using them as a shield to divert the monsters' attention. This is known as [Pass Parade].

In general, [Pass Parade] is a desperate act for survival.

If that were the case, adventurers like those from the Loki Familia wouldn't mind lending a hand.

However, sometimes, some despicable adventurers intentionally use this method to harm others.

There are even those who make a living out of this, entering the dungeon not to kill monsters, but to plunder the inheritance of other adventurers.

[Pass Parade] is precisely the trick these people are most skilled at.

"Hehe, little beauties, these gifts are for you. Work hard to protect us...",A man shouted as he rushed towards them.

"Wait, boss, that elf is from the Loki Familia, [Pristine Garden], and [Gale]..."

"What, [Gale]? Damn it, run—",The leader's face turned pale, his fear visibly apparent.

'As expected.',This was the shared thought of the three besides the elf girl, Lefiya.

Emiya sighed softly, feeling no anger or irritation, only a deep sorrow.

"Freeze, Chains of Winter."

"Projection, begin [Trace, on]."

CLANG!

This was the sound of Ryuu drawing her sword, but she then sheathed it again.

The three male adventurers, from their knees down to their feet, were completely buried in solid ice. The leader, before being frozen, had his knee pierced by an arrow.

Alicia's ice magic actually helped stop his bleeding.

"It hurts, damn it, what are you doing!"

"Why, why are you doing this?"

"No, let me go, I don't want to die!"

"You elf bitch, let me go, no, I was wrong, I was wrong, I promise I won't do it again, ah—"

The Silverback Ape that caught up slapped one adventurer into a pulp.

"It hurts, it hurts, you damn bitches, I curse you to die horribly—",Another man had his abdomen pierced by the claws of a Labyrinth Goblin. He screamed while bleeding profusely, his face resembling a demon.

"Whoosh!",An arrow pierced his forehead, and Emiya ended his suffering prematurely.

After all, he once had the dream of being a [Hero of Justice]. Although the dream has changed, Emiya is still inherently kind-hearted and dislikes seeing people suffer.

Alicia looked at the boy with an incredulous gaze. She was already surprised by his earlier act of shooting the adventurer at the knee, and this arrow was even more shocking.

"At least it can lessen his pain.",Emiya said softly.

"Quite decisive... too decisive for a child...",Alicia said, her tone unsure whether it was surprise or admiration.

The last man also fell into the hands of the Silverback Ape. Compared to the Labyrinth Goblin, the Silverback Ape had this advantage: a punch to the head, and at least there would be no more suffering.

"Why... why...",A trembling voice came from the middle of the group. It was Lefiya, protected in the center by Emiya and Alicia in front, and Ryuu behind.

"Why... did you kill them...",Lefiya asked in disbelief.

"The smell was off.",answered Alicia, a veteran adventurer and officer of the Loki Familia's Elf Mage Corps.

"Their emotions were off.",answered Emiya Shirou, a survivor of the apocalypse.

"The people were off.",answered Ryuu, a first-class wanted criminal and the [Gale] of the Dark Faction.

"Having been a hunter back home, I'm very sensitive to the smell of 'beast blood.' They had bloody meat on them, and that bloody smell attracts monsters the most.",Alicia explained.

"When encountering high-level adventurers, their first emotion wasn't relief at escaping death, but frustration at their plan failing, and the panic of a guilty conscience.",Emiya said while projecting twin swords,"It should be said that from the beginning, their malice was too obvious."

"Moreover, their smell was indeed off. It's likely not just bloody meat."

"Besides the smell of blood, there was also the smell of alcohol and herbs used to attract monsters. I've seen these people before; they're adventurers from the Soma Familia.",Ryuu said coldly,"The Soma Familia isn't part of the Dark Faction, but they're not far off."

In dealing with the Dark Faction, Ryuu is the true expert. She knows the Soma Familia all too well.

The Soma Familia is the faction of the wine god Soma. Soma is a shut-in god who completely neglects managing his familia, focusing solely on brewing wine. The members of the Soma Familia, true to their god's role, are a bunch of drunken good-for-nothings.

Since the god doesn't manage the familia, the actual leadership falls to the Lv.2 captain and the familia's strongest member, Zanis Lustra. Under his leadership, the Soma Familia has expanded to a size that ranks within Orario. However, there are only two Lv.2 members, and the rest are all Lv.1 lower-tier adventurers, almost all of whom are despicable drunkards.

Although recognized as a legal familia by the Guild, their reputation in Orario is as foul as the wind for three miles. Petty thieves, shady merchants, and local thugs—the Soma Familia has the most of them.

However, even during the Dark Faction's peak, the Soma Familia never openly joined them. Plus, with the profits from selling wine, they pay the Guild generously, so their status as a legal familia has never been shaken.

In Ryuu's eyes, aside from the fact that Soma isn't an evil god, the only reason the Soma Familia hasn't joined the Dark Faction is probably this: watching a stud farm drool—are you even worthy?

Not to mention that the core of the Dark Faction is mainly apocalyptic cults, at the very least, they're at the level of terrorists. Would a bunch of local thugs from the Soma Familia lower their standards? A familia with so many members, upon closer inspection, only has two Lv.2 members, weaker than the farming Demeter Familia and the fishing Njord Familia. Why would the Dark Faction bother with them?

It's better to treat the Soma Familia as livestock for regular harvest. During the chaotic times in Orario, whether intentionally or unintentionally, whether truly robbed or through tacit understanding, the Soma Familia has often provided funds to the Dark Faction. Entire warehouses of fine wine have been stolen by the Dark Faction and sold outside Orario, converted into funds for the Dark Faction.

The reason Ryuu hasn't conveniently wiped out Soma Familia is because of two reasons: first, while the Soma Familia is disgusting, there's no concrete evidence of them committing any major evils, and in principle, they are still victims; second, this familia is indeed too weak to be of any interest.

It's just unexpected that the Soma Familia's business has expanded to framing others in the dungeon, and they happened to run into them.

But before she could act, her fellow elf and the boy had already taken the initiative.

Alicia, this fellow elf, has personally experienced the dark ages. Ryuu has seen her blood-soaked figure battling in the Dark Faction's stronghold.

In fact, there have been rumors within the Orario elf community: during the "Great Struggle," Alicia, as an officer of the Loki Familia's Elf Mage Corps, made many controversial decisions behind Lady Riveria's back.

For example, ignoring hostages used as bait, she organized mages to flatten a Dark Faction stronghold set with traps and ambushes.

Whether these stories are true or not is impossible to verify. Regardless, Alicia's resolve as an adventurer is beyond question.

In contrast, Emiya's decisiveness completely exceeded Ryuu's expectations.

While she was surprised by this, she also felt a bit of worry and heartache.

'Shirou, is it because of your past experiences that you have such resolve...',Ryuu never forgot that she initially rescued the boy from a Dark Faction stronghold.

Actually, considering his age, the reaction of the elf girl named Lefiya is more normal.

"Why... why did you do that...",Lefiya looked at Shirou and Alicia with disbelief,Even if they brought monsters, they couldn't threaten us..."

"Monsters are coming, stop talking nonsense.",Alicia directly interrupted her words, "Either hide quickly or pick up your staff and fight."

She gave Lefiya a calm look, but it was ten thousand times scarier than when the girl mentioned her age.

'How could I possibly have the mindset to fight in this situation...',Lefiya didn't dare to say this out loud.

The usually gentle elf sister, when switching to combat mode, became so strict. This huge contrast left Lefiya at a loss.

"Emiya-kun, will you take the lead?",Alicia's tone softened when addressing Emiya, who wasn't of the same race.

"Yes, such a group of monsters is a rare and valuable 'experience' for me. Alicia-senpai, please cover me."

The elf woman nodded,"No problem... Shirou-kun, you can call me Alicia-nee."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Alicia-nee."

Emiya raised his twin swords and charged towards the monster group.

"Lefiya, if you feel like vomiting, just do it. This is your first time seeing corpses killed by humans, right?",Alicia sighed softly after glancing at Lefiya.

In fact, before Alicia spoke, Lefiya hadn't clearly realized anything, only feeling a vague discomfort in her stomach. But after hearing Alicia's words, she instantly felt something surge up with a sense of dizziness.

"Ugh..."

Alicia in front, Ryuu behind, these two elves who personally survived Orario's dark period allowed the young elf girl to kneel and dry heave.

All they did was protect the girl keep a distance of half step, and watch the boy charging into the monster group.

When the first sword struck the Silverback Ape's arm, only slightly piercing the white ape's fur and muscles, Emiya knew his battle wouldn't be easy.

He could rely on archery to easily pierce the Silverback Ape's eyes, and his projected magic swords could break through its tough fur. But using ordinary swords in close combat, Emiya had to face the problem of having received the gods' blessings for too short a time and having low basic ability values.

The racial gap between monsters and humans was clearly showing, especially now, as Emiya used his weakest [Strength] and [Agility] to challenge the [Defense] and [Endurance] of one of the strongest Lv.1 monsters.

If it weren't for the two Lv.4 second-tier adventurers behind him, Emiya wouldn't have taken such a risk, using such a dangerous battle to temper himself.

Dodging the Silverback Ape's furious strike, he threw the sword in his left hand, piercing a charging goblin.

Swinging the sword in his right hand, the blade smoothly cut through the Silverback Ape's arm.

The blade cut into the tough fur but was stuck by the resilient muscles and bones.

The Silverback Ape roared in pain, but its instincts made it feel joy, as the adventurer before it was forced to abandon his weapon.

Common sense dictates that an adventurer who loses their weapon suffers a significant drop in combat power.

Emiya's expression remained calm. He didn't let go but instead twisted hard.

The sword shattered, and the fragments were completely lodged in the ape monster's tendons and bones.

Abandoning two weapons at once—this is a wasteful tactic only he, a [Projection] mage, can use.

'In close combat, it's harder to hit vital points than with a bow...'

The Labyrinth Goblins weren't a problem. These group monsters have limited individual combat power and low defense. They excel at using their numbers and individual sacrifices to besieged the vanguard, but they fear tactical style swordsman like Emiya the most.

But to kill a Silverback Ape in close combat, he needed a more powerful weapon.

Projecting two more swords, Emiya began chanting while dodging the Silverback Ape.

Simultaneously fighting and chanting, the "advanced technique" of "parallel chanting" was naturally used by him.

"Identify creation concept."

Parrying a goblin's attack, he thrust back.

"Imagine basic structure."

Swinging both swords, they formed a silver ring, cutting down bat monsters trying to approach.

"Replicate composition material,

Imitate production technique,

Share growth experience."

Using the injured arm of the Silverback Ape, whose threat level had significantly decreased, to block another attack.

"Reproduce accumulated years,

Surpass, complete numerous projects───

At this moment, complete the sword creation───"

Emiya swung out a dim black sword light, and dark red blood flowers bloomed with the monster's howl.

This time, his slash severed the Silverback Ape's sturdy arm.

It was a wildly shaped and magnificent sword, full of power and sharpness, over one and a half meters long. The entire sword seemed to exude a demonic madness.

[Fake·Hrunting (Hrunting Ⅱ)] [1], projection successful.

'Right now, I can only project an empty shell of a Noble Phantasm,' Emiya swung the sword, but the blood on it wasn't flying off. Instead, it was being absorbed, making the sword emit a faint dark red light.

'But for these monsters, even an empty shell lacking content is more than enough.'

The owner of [Hrunting] is Beowulf, the protagonist of the oldest English epic poem, "Beowulf."

Beowulf is one of the most famous monster hunters and dragon slayers in mythological legends.

BOOM!

Emiya's heart directly throbbed once.

"That feeling, it's back—"

Only once before, when he first projected [Fake • Ariadne'sThread (Ariádnē Apólito Adis Ⅱ)], had this peculiar feeling appeared. No matter how much he tried afterward, he couldn't replicate it.

「Skill [??????（Roadless Valhalla）] effect activated.」

「Temporarily acquired development ability [Hunter] I」

「Temporarily acquired development ability [Berserk] I」

「Temporarily acquired skill [Fake·Dragon Slayer (Dragon Slayer Ⅱ)]」

His entire body's blood accelerated, and the fatigue from massive consumption of magic power was replaced by the excitement of battle. Emiya exhaled a steaming breath.

[[1] Hrunting: Hound of the Red Plains is one of Beowulf's magical swords]

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