Left hand, [Skadi of Ice]
Right hand, [Higanbana]
These swords were originally forged by him personally, so the projection efficiency was extremely high.
On the crimson blade, the flame of the magic [Agaris Alvesynth] ignited, the sword body wrapped in blazing fire, radiating intense light.
Emiya launched a surprise attack with a speed too fast for the ear to catch, so fast that even the air trembled.
When the mantis monster tried to block the incoming black and white twin swords with its sharp forelimbs, Emiya's red blade had already slashed fiercely at its metallic shell.
The blade cleaved the air, and the flames instantly spread, burning and spreading along the mantis' metallic exoskeleton.
Although the monster possessed strong magic resistance, the flames still clung to its surface, quickly corroding its defense.
At the moment the flames spread, Emiya spun his body and then slashed the second sword, this time with the left hand's [Skadi of Ice].
Chill air wrapped around the ice sword's blade, slashing down together with the sword edge. Fire and frost simultaneously acted upon the monster's outer shell.
The sudden alternation between extreme heat and cold caused the hard metallic shell to become brittle instantly.
With a crisp cracking sound, the mantis' shell finally couldn't bear the pressure and shattered.
Emiya stepped back, "Anya."
Unlike Lefiya, who had yet to form a skilled coordination, he and Anya had long developed tacit understanding, needing no excessive command transmission.
After all, from the beginning, the one helping Emiya with training was Anya; the number of times their weapons clashed was beyond imagination.
The catgirl switched positions with Emiya, the red tip of her spear flashing, piercing into the gap of the broken metallic shell, Anya stirred her spear.
When she pulled it out again, the blade tip of the spear was wrapped in flesh surrounding the monster's magic stone.
After a sharp, shrill screech, the mantis monster's hard body collapsed with a thud.
After the magic stone was removed, except for one side's forelimb, the other parts of the monster's body began rapidly decaying.
Lefiya and Haruhime, witnessing this scene, widened their eyes and couldn't help exclaiming, "So... so amazing..."
Lunoire: "Nice work, Anya. I thought you'd directly pierce through the magic stone."
Anya lightly twirled her spear. The magic stone emitting an enchanting red glow fell into her hand. She swished her tail, "Cats won't waste like that, nya. This is a rare monster's enhanced species, super valuable stuff, nya. Whether it's the magic stone or the drop items, they'll definitely fetch a high price, nya."
Chloe, hearing this, rubbed her chin and mused, "Speaking of which, this is the first time the 'Crystal Mantis' appeared as an enhanced species, right? The latest illustrated guide the cats read before didn't mention this kind of variant, nya."
Emiya nodded, "That's right, the Crystal Mantis itself is already rare. Though not as rare as a young dragon, encountering an enhanced species of such a monster is indeed not easy."
Anya thought for a moment, "Which means, after we report the intel to the guild, cats can still get an extra bonus, nya."
Being able to encounter such a rare monster on the first dungeon expedition, that luck could be called quite good.
Of course, this was under the condition that their party configuration was enough to easily deal with this mantis, whose subjugation difficulty was Lv.4.
But for those adventurers who previously encountered this mantis, it clearly wasn't such a fortunate thing.
Although Emiya and the others easily took down the enhanced Crystal Mantis, that's because this small team's strength was far beyond the norm.
Especially Emiya, who could completely suppress the mantis' fierce slashes in close combat, and the projected weapons directly countered the monster's ultra-hard shell that had both physical and magical resistance.
High defense, low endurance, this mantis clearly had such characteristics. In gaming terms, it had high armor and magic resistance, but low HP.
Thus, once the metal shell was broken, it became extremely fragile.
And for ordinary adventurers, this kind of high-attack, high-defense enhanced species posed an immense threat.
Fortunately, probably due to the shell being too heavy, its movement speed wasn't that fast. Even with wings, it was hard to take flight quickly. This was likely the mantis monster's greatest shortcoming in terms of ability.
Lunoire looked around and softly asked, "Do you know these adventurers?"
Her voice echoed in the empty room, but there was silence all around, no one answered.
The adventurers' gazes fell upon the several broken corpses in the room, and an overwhelming heaviness rose in their hearts.
Haruhime and Lefiya felt particularly uncomfortable. Such a scene was far too cruel for them.
Anya let out a low sigh, her ears slightly drooping, "So this is what adventurers are..."
Emiya's gaze swept over those remains, and he said quietly, "Gather their belongings and carry them to the safety zone on the 18th Floor. Try to bury them."
He knelt down and separated the fallen adventurers' belongings from their bodies.
Then, the crimson blade in his hand gleamed, and with one swing, flames quickly ignited the corpses. The flickering firelight held a brief funeral for the departed souls.
Emiya turned and walked toward the corner of the room. In that dim corner still huddled a figure. The elven girl who had survived the mantis monster's attack just now.
Her body trembled slightly, her arms tightly hugging her knees, as if only this way could she find a shred of safety. Her fragile and helpless appearance stirred pity.
Emiya slowly approached, lightening his footsteps. He squatted down, lowering his eyes to look at her, and gently asked, "May I ask, what is your name?"
The elven girl lifted her head, her eyes filled with sorrow and fear. The nightmare she had just experienced seemed to still linger in her mind.
After a moment, she finally spoke, her voice weak and trembling, "Filvis... Filvis Challia."

"Filvis Challia," Emiya repeated the name.
He didn't know the elven girl before him. Considering that elves typically had sensitive and wary personalities, Emiya didn't act rashly and instead left the task of negotiation to Lefiya, who was also of elven blood.
Lefiya stepped forward, her tone gentle and concerned, "Miss Filvis, can you move? Do you need help?"
She cautiously reached out her hand, attempting to lightly support Filvis' shoulder. But something unexpected happened.
Pa!
A crisp sound echoed through the air.
Just as Lefiya's hand was about to touch Filvis' shoulder, Filvis suddenly raised her hand and slapped it away without hesitation.
"Eh?", Lefiya froze, her face full of confusion and puzzlement. She had not anticipated such a reaction from Filvis and was momentarily at a loss.
Many elves had severe "cleanliness obsessions," strongly rejecting physical contact with other races, Lefiya knew this well.
After all, within the Loki Familia, there were several elven companions who were psychologically very sensitive to contact with other races.
Because of this, Lefiya's personality seemed a bit unusual among elves.
She didn't possess that kind of proud and strange reserve. Her temperament was gentle and kind, treating all races with friendliness. Some gods even gave her the unofficial title of "the good child of the elves."
And clearly, the elf in front of her also had a "cleanliness obsession," but what confused Lefiya was, 'I am also an elf.
'Could it be that Filvis' condition is so extreme that even a fellow female elf can't touch her?'
"S-sorry...", Filvis apologized softly, her voice carrying a hint of guilt.
"Ah, no, um... it's fine," Lefiya responded a little flusteredly. She understood that Filvis' action was likely not a conscious choice, but a bodily instinct.
Still, being slapped away by a fellow elf was inevitably a bit hurtful.
At this moment, Filvis seemed to have slightly calmed her emotions, barely pulling herself out from the shadow of the monster and the brutal carnage. She propped herself against the wall of the dungeon room, trying to stand up, but—
"Ah!", With a painful scream, Filvis fell back down heavily.
Only then did Lefiya notice, the elven girl's left foot was already severely injured. Her movement was extremely unnatural, and blood was seeping from her white thigh-high boots.
Realizing this, Lefiya's heart tightened. She instinctively wanted to reach out to support her, but remembering the earlier slap, she hesitated.
Lefiya: "Filvis' bones seem to be severely dislocated. In this situation, direct healing magic might not be appropriate…"
Unlike bone cracks or fractures, dislocations of this level, if treated hastily with healing magic, could lead to misaligned connections, and worse outcomes.
Unless it was high-tier healing magic like Airmid's [Dia Fratel], there was no guarantee of proper recovery.
"I'll do it," Emiya's voice broke her hesitation. He knelt down and steadily held Filvis' shoulder.
Surprisingly, Filvis didn't resist this time, not even showing the slightest discomfort.
The elven girl naturally leaned on Emiya's shoulder, as if the boy gave her enough sense of safety.
Lefiya widened her eyes and shouted in disbelief, "Eh? Why?"
Filvis kept her eyes lowered, lost in thought.
———
"Ora—", Lunoire stomped hard on the ground. Using the recoil, she spun once, her left hand's gauntlet swinging like a pendulum.
[Naegling Kai] smashed into the giant Goliath's knee, producing a crisp sound of bones cracking. The giant lost balance and fell to its knees with a thunderous crash.
"Cat's going in!", Chloe shouted loudly. Lunoire knelt on one knee, the sturdy pugilist girl braced firmly.
Chloe agilely stepped on her shoulder. Lunoire then suddenly stood up, and with that force, Chloe lightly leaped onto Goliath's nape.
She swung her dagger, effortlessly slicing the back of Goliath's grey-brown neck.
Next, Chloe did a graceful flip and landed lightly, her posture like a fluttering butterfly.
[Arrow of Release, Bow of the Sacred Tree, I am the Named Hand of the Bow. Strike now! Elven Archer.]
[Penetrate, Arrow That Never Misses!!]
One black, two white, three arcs of light flashed. They were Emiya's thrown [Kanshou and Bakuya], and Lefiya's spirit bow magic arrows.
The single-shot magic that could automatically track and aim at targets went straight for Goliath's exposed wound. The black and white swords cut the giant's brown skin from both sides.
Though also a Goliath, compared to the special black Goliath, this ordinary one had far weaker defenses.
Both sides and the front were slashed by Emiya, and the neck was sniped by the precision-guided magic arrow. The result, the Goliath's head fell off.
Even though the intact magic stone remained inside, its life ended here.
Compared to the desperate battle against the black Goliath last time, this fight against an ordinary Goliath was almost effortless.
And this was even when the trump card, Haruhime, hadn't taken action, and Emiya hadn't done much either. Filvis had been leaning on him the whole time, so he only threw the twin swords at the end.
Having fought the giant head-on, almost cleaving Goliath's body with her spear, Anya stepped forward and slashed open the giant's chest, retrieving the intact magic stone.
"A fully intact Goliath magic stone, such a big one. This thing is probably even rarer than Goliath's drop items," Anya said.
For a large monster like Goliath, the most efficient subjugation method was to directly destroy the magic stone in its chest.
Thus, as the weakest [Lone King of the Dungeon], Goliath magic stone fragments were common, but intact magic stones were not so easy to get.
With this magic stone, plus the enhanced mantis monster's stone and drop items, their first adventure could be considered quite fruitful.
Lefiya carefully placed that massive magic stone, several dozen times larger than a regular one, into her backpack. Filvis quietly watched, still saying nothing.
"Let's go. Next, we head to the town Rivira."
Emiya said. He steadily carried Filvis on his back and led the group toward the safety zone on the 18th Floor.
Unexpectedly, when they reached the 18th Floor entrance, someone was already waiting for them.
Standing there was a tall, muscular man with black hair and blue-green eyes, wearing an eyepatch over his left eye, and a hideous scar barely visible across it.
His appearance was rough and unrestrained, but his eyes showed sharp wit. Upon seeing Emiya's group, the man immediately put on a courteous smile.
"Everyone, thank you for helping defeat the Goliath."
"Senior Bors?", Emiya more or less guessed the man's identity.
Bors Elder, leader of Rivira Town, a Lv.3 human warrior.
Though his strength wasn't outstanding among adventurers of the same level, Bors had remarkable talent in management.
Under his leadership, Rivira Town's economy thrived and flourished.
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