DanMachi: The Epic of the Heroic Spirits of Emiya Shirou

“I’m actually better at swordsmanship.” Shirou knew that the projection magic of Unlimited Blade Works couldn’t be hidden, so he simply said frankly, “But I have a spell that can project weapons, so I’ve also practiced archery.”

He looked at Lefia: "I will guard the rear of the team and will not let any enemy get close to you."

The elven girl paused for a moment, then said, "Um, thank you..."

Emiya's statement was sound and within the bounds of his tactical position, but considering the difference in their levels, Lefia was actually somewhat skeptical.

The little man Connie gaped, "I was stunned for a moment. Okay, you're a mage with super-powerful firepower, an archer with infinite arrows, and you... we're from the same clan."

"Ah, I'm just ordinary." The Minotaur girl, Nilan, said somewhat shyly, "I just have an exceptionally high endurance stat, and I have a skill that increases my attributes after being injured, as well as a skill that restores my stamina and heals my injuries."

"..."

It's really ordinary... just kidding. Skills that increase attributes when injured, such as [Rage] and [Recovery], are indeed relatively common, but when put together, it's not as simple as one plus one, especially since this girl's race is the Minotaur, known for its strong physique, high health, and high defense.

“...Okay, I understand.” Connie thought for a moment: “My only magic can only be used in cities or streets. It consumes a lot of magic power and briefly grants a superior perspective from the sky. Although this magic cannot be used in dungeons, I have trained and am very confident in my spatial awareness and command abilities. If possible, I would like to take command.”

His admiration for Finn is genuine and is the driving force behind his becoming an adventurer. Besides being a Lv.6 [Hero], Finn is also known as the most outstanding legion commander in the Labyrinth City.

Lefia quipped, "Strategic-level magic beyond vision, I can only say you're not simple either... Is this the true value of being a top-performing deliveryman?"

Given this, everyone agrees that Koni is the most suitable person to lead the team.

While everyone was exchanging information, one person was seriously injured—that was Raul, who had initiated the conversation.

Raul: Please, stop showing off!

This group of newcomers has a total of eight hundred skills and spells, while Raul, as a dignified Lv.4, doesn't even have a single spell or skill!

"I'll quit, I absolutely will. I'll never go to the pleasure district again. I'll save up to buy a magic book..." Raul made up his mind, but whether he could actually do it was another matter.

"Watch out, enemies!" Connie suddenly shouted, startling Lefia so much that she almost dropped her wand.

Nilan immediately raised his sword and shield, followed by the sound of a bowstring twanging and the whooshing of air.

In the distance, a goblin that pounced from around the corner remained in an attack stance, only to have an arrow pierce its neck.

Then came the continuous sounds of bowstrings twanging, the whistling of arrows cutting through the air, the piercing of arrows into flesh, and the crashing of monsters.

The first wave of enemies the newbie squad encountered were three goblins, which were wiped out instantly.

Chapter Fourteen: Emiya's Fighting Style

In his previous life, Shirou Emiya and his adoptive father, Kiritsugu Emiya, traveled the world for a long time in search of a way to save it.

Their world, with its core source dried up, is on the verge of destruction, and the entire world is gradually descending into mad chaos.

Drug lords, warlords, cults, terrorists, and other "heroes" from all walks of life "joined forces" around the world, and there were even many top-tier valuables with four identities.

These people are obstacles on the path of Emiya and his son to "save the world".

Therefore, Shirou Emiya witnessed his adoptive father firing a submachine gun at a cult gathering when he was very young, and he also personally used a rocket to shoot down the passenger plane carrying a major drug lord.

He didn't feel anything about taking other people's lives. It might have affected many innocent people, but it didn't matter. After each mission, Shirou Emiya could only feel a faint emptiness mixed with joy.

It seems unbelievable, but this is probably one aspect of the Dharma-ending Age.

In his previous life, through his travels and battles, Shirou Emiya developed his own fighting philosophy.

Swords are essential; some special, mystical beings can only be dealt with using swords.

However, if it is not necessary to use swords, some methods are more direct than close combat.

If a pistol can solve the problem, there's no need to use a knife; if a sniper rifle can take it out, there's no need to risk getting close.

High-powered explosions are an effective means of breaching defenses, and the skillful use of heavy vehicles can often produce remarkable results.

Therefore, swords and guns must be used; only then can the system be considered complete.

The same applies to dungeon adventures.

Enemys who can be shot are killed with a single arrow; if an enemy charges close, he draws his sword to maximize his damage output. This is Shirou Emiya's fighting style.

"That's...it?" The dwarf spearman was a little stunned as he looked at the several goblin corpses in front of him.

Goblins are monsters that spawn in the upper levels of dungeons, and they are also the weakest creatures in the dungeons with the lowest stats.

The humanoid monster, resembling an ugly dwarf, is even weaker than a strong adult male without any favors. Its threat mainly comes from being surrounded, ambushed, and the psychological impact of its ugly appearance on novice adventurers.

Even the weakest monsters, when they attack in hordes, can be quite dangerous for novice adventurers. Of course, for a well-organized team like theirs, a few goblins are nothing to fear.

However, the feeling of being killed by a vanguard warrior's heavy sword or a spearman's stab after a battle is completely different from being dealt with so casually in a few strokes before the battle even begins.

Even Raul, at level 4, couldn't help but be amazed. Although he could kill hundreds of goblins charging at him, the unique beauty of Emiya's battle still surprised him.

"The goblin's magic stone fragments are not worth collecting. Let's crush them or leave them to the scavengers. Let's move on."

After a brief moment of surprise, Connie, in command, gave the order.

Goblins, being monsters, don't even have complete magic stones inside; they only have very small magic stone fragments. Breaking open a corpse to dig out magic stone fragments is too inefficient.

In the upper levels of the dungeon, there are "scavengers" who specialize in picking up goblin corpses that others don't want and mining magic stone fragments. These people are mostly low-level adventurers who lack the courage and ability to fight, such as the drunkards in the Familia of the god of wine, Soma.

The party continued forward, following the path marked by the guild towards the second level. During this time, they encountered another goblin attack, with the same result.

The goblins didn't even get close to the vanguard before the battle ended with the sound of bowstrings.

"Archery has an overwhelming advantage in the upper levels of the dungeon, especially on the first to fourth floors, against monsters like goblins and kobolds," Shirou explained casually, putting down his longbow.

"Because the monsters at this stage have very low defense."

Goblins are monsters that farmers can kill by teaming up with pitchforks and spears. Even a novice adventurer at level 1 can easily defeat a goblin with a single heavy blow.

At this stage, the adventurer's attack power is overflowing, so the drawback of bows and arrows, where "power decreases with distance," is not a problem.

However, as you venture deeper into the lower levels, encountering monsters with strong bodies and tough defenses, such as pig-headed men and minotaurs, the disadvantages of bows and arrows will become apparent.

To deal with that kind of monster, you still need to rely on powerful slashes and magic.

"No, even in the upper levels, most adventurers couldn't do that!" Lefia couldn't help but exclaim, "The frequency and accuracy of your shooting are just too abnormal!"

In this world, the bow and arrow is often associated with elves. Elves, who are naturally gifted with excellent physical qualities, strong sense of balance and dexterity, can easily become excellent archers.

This weapon, capable of killing distant enemies with a single blow, is also regarded by the elves as an "elegant" fighting style, in line with the noble aesthetics of the children of the forest.

Therefore, when a human claimed to be an archer, Lefia showed no outward reaction, but inwardly she was somewhat dismissive.

Although she herself was not an archer, she couldn't help but feel that the most skilled archers must come from the Elven race.

This human is probably the type who picks up a bow and fires a few arrows randomly, then picks up a sword and slashes at the target.

However, Emiya's archery skills far exceeded her expectations.

“He must have archery skills!” the elven girl concluded.

If Emiya knew what the girl was thinking, he would probably just think, how could the archery skills of an elf compare to those of a Heroic Spirit?

Emiya merely inherited the skills of an Archer-class Servant.

The third wave of enemies the squad encountered were kobolds, which, as the name suggests, are humanoid monsters with dog heads. They also have no special abilities or strengths and are the lowest-ranking monsters, on par with goblins.

Emiya shot an arrow through the eye socket of the last kobold, ending the battle.

"Be careful to finish them off; shooting them in the eyes might not kill them instantly," Emiya warned.

“Understood.” The dwarf spearman immediately thrust a spear into the neck of the kobold corpse: “Unfortunately, still no ‘drops’.”

In addition to obtaining magic stones, defeating monsters in dungeons also has a chance to drop loot.

Goblins drop "Goblin Fangs," while kobolds drop "Kobold Claws."

"The value of the dropped items is much higher than that of magic stone fragments, but the chance of them appearing is also low," Raul said regretfully.

The kobold's magic stone fragments were also not worth mining, so the team continued forward and soon arrived at the entrance to the second level.

-

P.S. The original work doesn't explicitly state what Emiya did during his travels with Kiritsugu. This is an expansion and secondary creation based on Emiya's proficiency with firearms and his normal mindset in the manga.

Chapter Fifteen: The Lost Lefia

"I used to think that the greatest significance of 'projection' was an inexhaustible supply of arrows, but now it seems that my understanding was too shallow."

Raul watched the newcomers' battle from the rear and began to speak.

"Eliminating the need to retrieve arrows increases shooting efficiency by at least two times."

At this point, they had arrived at the fourth floor. The first to fourth floors can be called the "newbie zone". The monsters in this area do not have much ability or threat.

However, compared to the first floor, the increase in the number of monsters is obvious. At least, Emiya can no longer eliminate all the monsters before engaging in battle.

A horde of ten goblins charged forward, but Emiya dealt with five of them along the way, while the vanguard warriors and spearmen handled the rest.

The Minotaur female warriors are also very efficient at killing enemies; they can cleave two or three enemies in one go with their greatswords, while the Tiny spearmen take the opportunity to finish them off.

Once he enters close combat, Emiya immediately switches to sword mode, but he will not rush forward to kill the enemy. Instead, he will protect the important mages closely.

Even though Lefia is a Level 2, one level higher than him, Emiya will carry out his mission meticulously since protecting mages is his duty.

After killing the monster, rest on the spot and pick up the dropped items. This time, "Goblin Fang" will drop, which will be collected by the supporter Raul.

The arrows that had been shot dead began to dissipate from the bodies of the goblins.

Shirou was able to reduce the time he maintained the projection, thus reducing magic consumption. The arrows he projected were also designed and crafted by himself, and because of his high understanding of their structure, the consumption was further reduced.

"Everyone is so amazing."

At this moment, the team's defender, the mage Lefia, couldn't help but think.

I originally thought that I, at level 2 and possessing powerful magic, would be the core, but so far, she has had no room to make a difference.

The kill rate was so high that she didn't even have time to finish chanting before the battle was over.

Minotaur warriors, relying on their physical strength and racial advantages, possess endurance and attack power that subtly surpass those of their peers. Dwarves, limited by racial disadvantages, have very low base attributes, but they work extremely hard, memorizing all available information about monsters and dungeons. While their spear skills lack the flair of a genius, they are very solid and steady.

As for Emiya, his superb archery skills greatly impressed Lefia.

"I've done absolutely nothing..."

Lefia gradually felt a sense of loss.

"Let's rest here for a bit, then head to the fifth floor." Raul found an empty room that could serve as a temporary resting place by moderately damaging the dungeon walls to prevent monster spawning.

Starting from the fifth floor, the dungeon walls turn light green, and the dungeon's structure begins to change. Stronger monsters, such as Shadow Warriors and Killer Ants, appear, and their spawn rate is also faster, which is why these floors are where many novice adventurers begin to die. It is recommended that level 1 adventurers have at least a G-level basic ability to explore these floors.

After the previous battles, apart from Lefia who hadn't yet made a move, all the team members demonstrated reliable combat strength. The one with the highest stats was probably Nilan, whose abilities were already at the point where she could be upgraded, but she lacked the necessary achievement for that upgrade.

"Speaking of which, is Lefia also a new adventurer? Lefia is Lv.2, right?" Emiya asked.

"Because I graduated from the [School District] and then joined the Loki Familia, I leveled up to Lv.2 while I was in the [School District]," Lefia explained.

The [School District] is an institution focused on cultivating young talent. In addition to adventure families, production families, business families, and so on, there is a special type of family called the Academy Family. These families are concentrated in the [School District].

"The [Academy District] is built on a huge sea fortress. It usually travels around the world and returns to the labyrinth city of Orario every three years to dock for a year for maintenance. At the same time, students are allowed to be recruited by various Familias of Orario. I just joined the Loki Familia not long ago."

I see. No wonder Lefia, at level 2, still needs to learn dungeon strategies from these newbies.

“During their travels around the world, the [School District] accepts commissions from various countries to deal with monsters and various crises on the ground. Lefia must have accumulated great achievements and completed her upgrade in the process,” Nilan said. “I am also from the [School District]. Lefia probably doesn’t know me, but I know Lefia.”

"Huh? Nilan too? No wonder, Nilan's stats don't seem like those of a newbie..." Lefia was a little surprised, and also a little embarrassed, because she really didn't know Nilan.

“Lefia is quite a famous person, you know. She’s a well-known troublemaker in the school district, nicknamed ‘Magic Idiot,’” Nilan said with a smile.

"Ugh, please, don't talk about this!" Lefia clutched her head. "I'm desperately trying to get rid of this title!"

Shirou laughed and said, "I think it's a very impressive title."

Clearly, the hidden meaning behind this title is that Lefia possesses exaggerated magical power, as she herself says, terrifying firepower spanning two levels.

"Don't laugh at me." Lefia gently tapped Shirou's shoulder.

"Huh?" Shirou was taken aback.

Lefia: "What's wrong?"

"Lefia's reaction to physical contact..."

“Ah, some elves are like that, a bit ‘clean’ when it comes to contact with other races, but not everyone is like that. I don’t have that habit,” Lefia said.

"Lefia, what a good girl."

"No way... Besides, you're younger than me, aren't you, Emiya-kun?"