There was also an unusually large Frog Shooter. After swallowing and killing three adventurers, the giant frog was lured by the other adventurers into swallowing a large amount of powerful explosives and was blown up from the inside.
Then there was a Raider Fish. The Guild commissioned Tiona of [Great Cleave], who had underwater breathing ability, to slay it at the bottom of the twenty-fifth floor.
"And today, there's another report of sightings of a black-purple Firebird…"
These enhanced species were not only abnormal in number and frequency of appearance, but also in variety.
In past reports of enhanced species sightings, the types of monsters were relatively concentrated and commonly fell within certain categories, but this time was different.
Insect-type, animal, amphibian, fish, bird…
This situation was as if someone was conducting some kind of experiment, testing the strength of different types of enhanced species.
Because the method to spawn enhanced species is actually simple: just feed a large amount of magic stones to a powerful individual among the monsters.
But the question is, what exactly is the purpose of doing this? Is it for the drop items from enhanced species? But the efficiency is far too low. The amount of magic stones consumed to raise one enhanced species far exceeds the potential value of the drop.
As for using the combat strength of the enhanced species… controlling these more violent-than-normal monsters is no easy task.
"To be honest, if someone really is doing this, making their objective so blatant is all the more unsettling."
'If someone truly is creating enhanced species, they should have the ability to hide it.'
Emiya thought, 'Yet in reality, not only are these monsters not hidden, all kinds of enhanced species are appearing one after another.'
Of course, it could also be that this is all just a coincidence, and the birth of enhanced species is entirely a natural phenomenon resulting from the earlier Dungeon rampage.
But Emiya would not indulge in wishful thinking. With the situation developing to this point, he would treat it as a man-made incident no matter what. The cost of being overly cautious in such a case is far less than that of underestimating the situation.
Emiya turned to Bors, "Bors, have all of you evacuate from the nineteenth floor. I'll take care of the Firebird."
Bors let out a sigh of relief, nodded heavily, his tone filled with gratitude, "Yes! I'll go immediately!"
After speaking, he turned and left in a hurry.
Watching Bors run off, Emiya took a deep breath, then turned to the team members, "Let's move out."
[Magic [Unlimited Blade Works] effect activated]
[Projected weapon [Nine Lives]—bow form]
[Skill [Roadless Valhalla] effect activated]
[Temporarily obtained development ability [Archer] G]
[Temporarily obtained development ability [Swift Foot] H]
[Temporarily obtained skill [Mind's Eye]]
[Temporarily obtained skill [Heavenly Bow of the Twelve Glories Slaying the Stymphalian birds (King's Order SixthOrder)]]
———
Nineteenth floor. Three figures advanced at high speed, Emiya and two cat-people adventurers: Anya and Chloe.
This time, Emiya did not bring the entire team, only Lv.4 Anya and Chloe came along.
Lunoire, although also Lv.4, did not join them.
The polite explanation was that Lunoire was staying behind to protect Haruhime and the others.
The more direct reason was that as a pugilist, she couldn't contribute much in aerial combat, and her agility stat was only at D rank. She simply couldn't keep up with the full speed of Emiya and the others.
Anya and Chloe both had A-rank agility. Emiya's agility was the lowest among his stats, but even so, his potential in it had already reached SS rank.
Moreover, Emiya had other means to compensate for stat shortcomings.
Floors 19 to 24 are called the [Large Tree Labryinth,] because the walls, floors, and ceilings of these levels are made of wooden structures, looking like the interior of a massive tree.
The floor was covered with radiant moss, glowing blue light different from ordinary phosphorescence. These floors contained many unexplored areas and various insect and plant-type monsters.
The monsters of the Large Tree Labryinth released toxins, and their base stats were even stronger than minotaurs. Therefore, even a large team composed of Lv.2 adventurers would find it hard to explore this area deeply.
The twenty-fourth floor is the largest area within the Large Tree Labryinth, at least half the size of the labyrinth city Orario.
Here grow rare trees whose trunks produce precious natural gems, protected by the most powerful monster of the floor, the Tree Dragon.
By the time they reached the Large Tree Labryinth, the Dungeon's scale had already become vast. However, this time, Emiya and team's target was unusually conspicuous.
In the depths of the dense forest, a large burning area was clearly visible, like a beacon in the night, that was the location of the purple Firebird.
One reason Firebirds were so rare was because they easily set forests on fire, and were then hunted down by other monsters residing in the Large Tree Labryinth.
"Shirou, are we going in now?" Anya asked with a frown.
A burning forest was clearly an extremely unfavorable combat environment for them. Even if each of them was equipped with fire-spirit cloth capable of resisting Lv.2 fire attacks, high temperatures and lack of oxygen were still significant threats.
"No need. We'll do it from here. Lure them over," Emiya replied.
The three of them temporarily stopped on a thick tree branch. Chloe swung her dagger and swiftly cut down a vine monster trying to entangle them. Anya wielded her spear and pierced through a pouncing owl-like monster.
Emiya raised the longbow in his hand.
"Ah, at such a distance, are you going to directly…?" Chloe said in surprise.
From where they stood, they could only vaguely see the silhouettes of the Firebirds. But before the girl could finish speaking, Emiya had already fired an arrow.
[Heavenly Bow of the Twelve Glories that Drives Away the Crows (King's Order SixthOrder)]
Derived from one of the great hero Heracles' deeds—"Slaying the Stymphalian Birds."
Increases strength, greatly boosts dexterity, improves bow accuracy, enhances vision, increases attack power against flying targets, and provides extra damage to bird-type monsters.
You're right, but this is Heracles—Heroic Spirit of strongest strength, strongest endurance, strongest martial prowess. Can fight from a distance, close range, act alone. Can revive—twelve times—with each revival stronger than before, and can even unlock [Twelve Glories] and also has a divine equipment set. When the wind blows…
When in doubt—[Nine Lives]. You can always trust Heracles.
In truth, to fight "Firebird," the most effective weapon should be the divine bow used by the Eastern hero Hou Yi to shoot down the Golden Crows.
Unfortunately, Emiya's [Unlimited Blade Works] did not contain the model of that weapon.
Emiya rained arrows at incredible speed, the arrow trails forming a stream of light, precisely shooting at the distant flock of Firebirds.
The Firebirds, sensing danger, panicked and took flight, circling in the air, but their speed and agility were powerless before Emiya's arrows.
In just a short time, several Firebirds were shot down one after another, falling to the ground, magic stones shattered, turning into blazing fireballs.
The remaining birds, realizing that staying in the air only made them targets, screeched and dove toward Emiya and his group's location.
"They're coming," Anya gripped her spear tightly, ready for battle.
Chloe held her dagger across her body, eyes sharply fixed on the incoming Firebirds. Her legs bent slightly, ready to take the brunt of the charge.
Emiya quickly drew his bow again during a brief interval, firing arrows that took down the lead Firebird. But more were closing in, the air filled with scorching stench and waves of heat.
The Firebirds shrieked as they charged in, their wings burning with intense flames. During their dives, they seemed like fire meteors, charging straight at the trio.
Anya struck first. She leapt up, her spear stabbing like a venomous snake into a Firebird, the tip precisely piercing its body.
On the other side, Chloe dodged a Firebird's dive, retaliated swiftly, her dagger slicing across the bird's wing, making it cry in pain and fall.
Emiya kept drawing his bow, arrows pouring like rain. Each arrow pierced a Firebird, turning them into flaming, bloody fragments mid-air.
Finally, a massive purple-black Firebird charged in. It opened its beak and spewed dark-colored flames. Emiya and team jumped and evaded immediately.
The purple flame, like a maggot clinging to bones, clung to the tree trunk, burning wherever it touched, causing the entire tree to rapidly decay.
Clearly, this giant bird had consumed large amounts of magic stones from poison-type monsters, of which there were plenty in the Large Tree Labryinth.
"If it wasn't Shirou fighting it, this Firebird would definitely be ranked Lv.5 and above in difficulty!", Anya shouted while running.
In terms of offense and defense, the purple-black Firebird's stats might not surpass the previous mantis, but its flying ability was just too troublesome.
Emiya fired again, but this time the arrow passed through the Firebird's body without causing damage.
"Elementalization…", Emiya muttered.
Although called Firebird, normally these monsters were just bird-type creatures that could control fire.
But this one seemed to have surpassed its original attribute, its very nature had changed.
"Shirou, should I use magic?", Anya shouted while running.
"No, no time. Use magic swords. Buy me some time," Emiya responded quickly and projected two long-sword-shaped magic swords, tossing them to Anya.
Anya caught them, saw the snowflake crest engraved on them, and instantly understood. She swung the magic sword.
A blizzard roared out from the blade, clashing fiercely with the purple flames. Fire and snow interwove mid-air, booming violently.
Chloe struck from another side. She swung her longsword, and lightning burst from the blade, precisely hitting the Firebird and causing a brief slowdown.
The girl also threw a short sword, aiming straight at the Firebird's magic stone. However, the short sword passed through the elementalized body without dealing any damage.
"Ugh, missed the magic stone, nya," Chloe clicked her tongue.
She secretly regretted not using the short sword with "anti-magic" properties. But that one was too expensive, and she couldn't bring herself to use it right away.
At that moment, Emiya's voice rang out, "Done!"
After finishing the chant, he projected a brand-new sword, Futsu-no-Mitama.
His gaze locked onto the airborne Firebird, then he placed the sword on the bowstring and fired it like an arrow.
The longsword tore through the sky and suddenly exploded, spreading black lightning, electricity curling around the purple-black Firebird like snakes.
At the same time, Futsu-no-Mitama's power activated, an explosive gravity surge like an invisible giant hand crushed down on the Firebird. Under the force, its body twisted unnaturally.
The Firebird let out a shrill wail, lost balance, and crashed to the ground.
Anya shouted and immediately jumped after the falling bird, her spear gleaming with cold light, stabbing into the bird's chest and piercing the magic stone.
"You've got to be kidding…", In a corner of the nineteenth floor, a male cat-people was watching the distant battlefield through a magic tool, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
That monster, he had painstakingly raised it to be a perfect creation. Though on paper its potential was just lower Lv.4, it had the most troublesome combination of powers. Flight, monster summoning, toxic flames, elementalization…
Without sufficient intel, even a top-tier adventurer might be defeated in a first encounter with its special abilities.
'But that man, what the hell is his strength? Is he a [Saber], or an [Archer]?'
'You already have a title like that. Just fight with a sword properly! Why the hell are you using a bow?''
The cat-man glared angrily at the image of the red-haired man in the magic eyeball device, heart filled with resentment and rage.
But at that moment, the man on screen seemed to sense something, suddenly turned his head, and stared directly in his direction.
"Wait, no way, at this distance… This is the limit of the magic device's signal range!"
Through the crystal eyeball, the cat-man saw those deep, blurry eyes, and a chill ran down his spine, like plunging into an ice cellar.
The next instant, an arrow flew at high speed.
"C-can't move…", The cat-man froze in place, eyes wide, watching the arrow flying straight at his face.
At the moment it was about to strike, a hand suddenly reached out and firmly caught the arrow.
A masked figure stood beside the cat-man. She let out a muffled grunt, and the hand holding the arrow trembled slightly.
"Haha… HAHAHA…", She suddenly laughed maniacally, broke the arrow, looked at the bleeding cut in her palm, and her eyes sparkled with fanatical light.
"This is it, this kind of pain!"
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