Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

The gods all nodded in approval.

Facing an attack by hundreds of people alone, even a level 4 would find it incredibly difficult, and might not even be able to win, let alone inflict mere superficial injuries on those adventurers.

After all, it was people, not monsters, who came to besiege them. The reason why humans were able to win despite such a large numerical disadvantage against monsters was not only due to strength, but also largely due to intelligence.

This is not a simple calculation problem where 1+1 equals 2.

To be able to defeat an army of hundreds of adventurers, including some level 2 and 3 adventurers, Shirou Emiya must have paid a heavy price.

It's possible that there's not a single intact part of its body, and it might already be on the verge of death.

The thoughts of the gods who had not witnessed firsthand what was happening within the Soma Familia were racing.

Some people were also looking at Soma who was present.

He simply nodded, seemingly oblivious.

Because Hermes had told him that when the divine assembly was held, he should simply nod when others looked at him.

After all, he hadn't attended a divine gathering for a very long time, and spent his days in his room making divine wine.

"Hermes!!!! You're lying!!!! I was there, Shirou Emiya wasn't injured at all!"

Apollo's face was contorted in disbelief; he hadn't expected that something so certain would be ruined by Hermes.

"When did I say that Shirou Emiya was injured? I was just putting myself in his shoes. How much would an adventurer who only made it to the sixteenth floor without any special abilities have to pay to win against a legion of hundreds of adventurers!"

"If surviving a legion alone doesn't qualify as self-defense, then I don't know what constitutes self-defense."

Hermes glanced at Apollo, lowered the brim of his hat slightly, and then slowly sat down.

No matter what Apollo said afterward, the gods' answer was always negative.

The final verdict was consistent with the guild's ruling—self-defense.

Most of the gods were unaware of what happened last night; only a few gods witnessed everything from beginning to end.

The gods were more inclined to believe everything Hermes said than Apollo.

Hermes did not lie at all from beginning to end.

It was naturally very difficult for Shirou Emiya to defeat an army of several hundred men.

At least in Hermes' eyes, it was quite difficult to defeat an army of several hundred men in nearly half an hour.

If he could use his divine power, he could wipe out an army of hundreds in less than a second.

For Shirou Emiya, winning was indeed a difficult task.

Chapter 456 Abnormal Underground Exploration

"Why are there so many monsters?!"

Inside the dungeon, a girl named Lily was frantically picking up the magic crystals that had fallen to the ground.

It wasn't because she had never seen so many monsters before.

emmmm, actually it's just that she had never seen so many monsters before.

As a level 1 adventurer, Lily has always acted as a supporter, but because she is a dwarf, she looks quite weak.

Few adventurers are willing to take Lily to the dungeon.

On the one hand, lower-level adventurers make up more than half of all adventurers, making the competition extremely fierce.

Another aspect is that most adventurers' first choice is naturally the supporters of their own clan. Only when there are not enough supporters within their own clan will they choose adventurers from other clans.

However, such cases are still rare, and lower-level adventurers make up the vast majority of the members of the clans.

There is a third aspect: many senior adventurers look down on junior adventurers, and senior adventurers often take away the magic crystals that supporters should rightfully receive.

As a result, Lily had no desire to team up with those adventurers.

Surprisingly, when she asked Shirou Emiya on a whim, he agreed to let her become a support member of the team.

However, Lily never imagined that this would be the beginning of a nightmare.

She had never encountered so many monsters on the third floor before.

The first four underground floors can be considered a friend to newlyweds.

Because monsters usually appear one at a time, emerging from the walls or the ground.

Even if four or five appear at once, a novice adventurer can easily deal with them.

But the surrounding situation made Lily barely dare to breathe, and she could only keep collecting the magic crystals that had fallen to the ground, her hands and feet too busy to keep up.

The quantity was so unusual that even Lily didn't know what was happening.

But Shirou Emiya, like a madman, gripped his twin pistols and kept firing at the surging monsters.

One monster after another turned to ashes and vanished into the early morning sky.

What Shirou Emiya considers "normal" may be very different from what adventurers consider normal.

His initial confusion stemmed from the fact that he hadn't encountered a single monster on his journey from the first floor to the tenth floor.

Therefore, it felt very unusual.

But afterwards, he will basically continue to fight monsters in front of Emiya Shirou as usual.

As for the quantity, Shirou Emiya has never explored dungeons like a normal adventurer.

Naturally, one should consider the number of monsters encountered on their first dungeon run as normal.

In fact, Shirou Emiya had some doubts at first.

But Shirou Emiya remembered that Eina had said that the dungeon was a place that swallowed people whole.

It is filled with countless dangers, and adventurers can die in the dungeon if they are not careful.

The number of people who die in the underground city each year is recorded in the thousands.

This is enough to illustrate how dangerous the underground city is.

Given how dangerous it is, the frequency of monster appearances makes sense.

Anyway, that's what Emiya Shirou was thinking.

Emiya Shirou believes this is a normal phenomenon in the dungeon.

Because he had never teamed up before, he didn't know what kind of situation a normal adventurer would encounter.

As for why Shirou Emiya only gets about twice as many magic crystals as a normal LV2 adventurer, despite encountering so many monsters every time he goes into a dungeon.

After all, the drop rate of magic crystals is not fixed, which only proves that Shirou Emiya's luck is not high.

From the perspective of a Heroic Spirit, Shirou Emiya's Luck stat is probably only E.

The increased drop rate this time is not because Shirou Emiya's luck suddenly increased.

That's because Ryu defeated some of the monsters.

The drop rates for monsters that Ryu dealt with were much more normal.

Although Emiya Shirou, who kept shooting, accounted for the majority of the kills, Ryu also killed quite a few monsters.

Ryu felt exhausted even on the third floor.

These monsters are appearing far too frequently and in far too large numbers.

If the same number of monsters continue to appear as you go further down, then even your own stamina will soon be exhausted.

The reason is that they've been fighting constantly since the second level.

They barely stopped moving from the moment they entered the underground city.

The monsters emerged frantically from the surrounding walls.

Lily's hands were sore from picking up so many magic crystals that she was panting as she followed behind Shirou Emiya and Ryu.

The only respite is the lull that occurs after a certain number of monsters have been cleared.

However, this gap period will not last long.

Because after clearing out the monsters on this floor, there are still monsters on the next floor constantly advancing towards your location.

The reason he had free time was that, without monsters constantly spawning from the surrounding walls, Shirou Emiya could suppress the hordes of monsters in front of him all by himself.

This is also the only free time that Lily and Ryu have to rest.

Compared to them, Shirou Emiya was more like an iron man, never taking a break from beginning to end.

The strange weapon with a blade in hand can sometimes be used for long-range shooting support, and sometimes to tear monsters to shreds at close range.

As for bullets, Hephaestus's clan has forged box after box of them.

Emiya Shirou packed everything into his night hat.

If you only keep the same type of item inside the hood, Shirou Emiya won't touch the wrong thing.

Because he was afraid of any unforeseen circumstances, Shirou Emiya was very frugal and rarely used magic in battle.

He kept using up the bullets in his night hat.

"Tenth floor!"

Looking at the misty space before him, Shirou Emiya couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing feelings, thoughts, and reflection).

This was the place where he first came to fight in the dungeon.

Lily followed behind Shirou Emiya and Ryu, panting heavily.

"It's true that exploring with more people makes it faster."

After casually dispatching a monster with his dual pistols, Shirou Emiya couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

Without having to collect the dropped items himself, Shirou Emiya can focus entirely on dealing with the monsters.

Eliminate all the monsters that appear in your field of vision.

After Lily finished collecting the magic crystals and materials, she proceeded to the next level.