Chapter 15. Pass Parade?
The Dungeon, Floor 13, the "Labyrinth of Rocks."
From this floor onward, it is defined as the "Middle Levels." This is not only because the strength of the monsters increases significantly, but also because the terrain becomes extremely complex. Dim passageways wind like a maze, irregular rock domes hang overhead, and the air is thick with a suffocating, earthy smell.
"Emiya-sama, the 'Grand Corridor' is ahead. Monsters usually congregate there in large numbers. Should we take a detour?"
Lili asked cautiously, looking at the map in her hands. Despite her new equipment, her cautious instincts as a Supporter still made her lean toward avoiding danger.
"It's fine, let's head straight through," Shirou Emiya walked in front, his expression relaxed.
"It's a good chance to test out some new tactics."
However, just as the two were about to step into the corridor:
Rumble—!
A dull vibration traveled from ahead, and pebbles on the ground began to dance. This was followed by the sound of chaotic running and human shouting.
"Run! Don't look back!"
"Dammit! There are too many of them!"
An adventurer party of about five people burst around the corner of the corridor. Their faces were etched with terror, and their armor was battered; they were clearly being pursued by something.
Seeing Shirou and Lili ahead, a ruthless light flashed in the leader's eyes.
"Hey! You two up front! Out of the way!"
He shouted this, but his actions were the exact opposite. He pulled a bottle filled with red liquid from his vest and smashed it violently at Shirou and Lili's feet!
Smash!
The bottle shattered, and an intensely pungent, sickly sweet scent instantly filled the air.
"Is that... Monster Lure?!" Lili's face turned pale. "Emiya-sama! They're trying to perform a 'Pass Parade' on us!"
A "Pass Parade" is a filthy, despicable tactic in the Dungeon. It involves leading a massive horde of monsters and then using items or positioning to forcibly transfer the aggro to an innocent party, allowing the perpetrators to escape.
"Sorry, kids! Hold them off for us!"
The group of adventurers brushed past Shirou, faces contorted with schadenfreude. In their eyes, this young man and woman—newcomers who didn't look particularly strong—would surely become monster fodder.
"ROAR—!!!" "HISS—!!!"
The next second, the gates of hell opened.
A red tide flooded the passageway. Hellhounds, Orcs, Al-miraj... at least thirty or forty monsters, driven mad by the sickly sweet scent, charged toward Shirou and Lili with bloodshot eyes. This was no longer a battle; it was a tsunami.
"E-Emiya-sama! Retreat, now!" Lili shrieked in terror. "With these numbers... there's no way to block them!"
"Retreat?"
Shirou stood his ground. Watching those malicious adventurers disappear into the distance, his amber eyes turned as cold as ice.
"To be thrown away like trash and then run away with my tail between my legs... that's not my style."
He took a deep breath, not retreating a single step.
"Steel is my body."
Hum—!
Emerald-green Magic Circuits flashed beneath his skin as the concept of his flesh was replaced by steel. Facing the oncoming monster tsunami, Shirou simply raised his right hand.
"Trace—On."
Mana converged in his palm. This time, it was no ordinary shortsword. A pitch-black, screw-like longsword appeared in his hand.
[Pseudo-Caladbolg II].
"Since they sent us such a big gift... I suppose I'll accept all of it."
Shirou rested the screw-sword against his left arm, taking a stance as if drawing a bow. Though he had no bow, he compressed his mana to the absolute limit.
"Broken Phantasm!"
BOOM—!!!
The screw-sword transformed into a red meteor, detonating right in the center of the monster horde.
The violent explosion triggered a chain reaction within the narrow passageway. Fire, shockwaves, and flying stone—the dozen or so Hellhounds in the front were blown to smithereens before they could even let out a whimper.
But it wasn't over.
Shirou's figure burst through the smoke. In his hands, he gripped the re-projected black and white twin blades—Kanshou and Bakuya.
He danced amidst the monsters. With every swing of his blades, a monster fell. Their claws raked against him, only to produce the sound of clashing metal, unable to even scratch his skin.
Under the blessing of [Structural Reinforcement], he was a human tank.
He caught an Orc's axe with his bare hand and decapitated it with a counter-swing. He kicked an Al-miraj mid-charge, sending it slamming into the wall until it was nothing but pulp.
In a mere three minutes, the passageway was littered with monster corpses, and black ash fell like snow.
"Th-this... this is Emiya-sama's strength..."
Lili sat paralyzed on the ground, having not even fired a single bolt from her hand crossbow. She stared blankly at the silhouette standing in the midst of the carnage, her understanding of "power" having been redefined once again.
If the adventurers who set them up saw this, they would likely wet themselves in fear.
"Whew... that was a bit tiring."
Shirou dispersed his reinforcement magic and flicked the black blood off his blades.
"Lili, let's clean up the battlefield. These Magic Stones are quite a fortune. We shouldn't let that group's 'kindness' go to waste."
"Y-yes!"
Lili scrambled up and began skillfully harvesting the Magic Stones.
However, as Shirou prepared to rest, his [Mind's Eye (True)] caught another strange vibration.
"A straggler?"
Shirou frowned, looking toward a pile of rocks in the corner. There, a small Al-miraj was curled up, shivering. It appeared to be injured, its leg bleeding and its white fur stained red.
"Found one!"
Lili raised her crossbow, ready to finish it off. "This one looks hurt, perfect timing..."
"Wait."
Shirou reached out and lowered Lili's crossbow. "Don't fire."
"Eh? Why? A monster is a monster..."
"Look at its eyes."
Shirou's voice was low.
Lili blinked and looked closer. The Al-miraj wasn't baring its fangs like the other frenzied monsters. Instead, it was looking at Shirou with an expression of pure terror, pressing itself as far into the crevice as it could, letting out a small, pitiful "gu... gu..." cry.
That look... wasn't bloodlust. It was a plea for mercy. A desperate desire to live.
"It's... crying?" Lili felt a sense of absurdity.
"Monsters... can they cry?"
Shirou didn't speak. He walked forward slowly, his twin blades dissolving into points of light. He pulled a bottle of low-grade recovery potion from his pocket.
The Al-miraj looked at him in terror and tried to back away, but it couldn't move because of its leg wound.
"Don't be afraid."
Shirou knelt and sprinkled the potion on the wound. While it couldn't heal it completely, it at least stopped the bleeding.
"Go on, get out of here," Shirou pointed toward a narrow crack behind the rocks. "Don't let any humans find you again."
The Al-miraj was stunned. It took a long look at Shirou, a sliver of something resembling "gratitude" flashing in its red eyes. Then, dragging its injured leg, it vanished into the crack.
"Emiya-sama..." Lili felt conflicted. "Doing that... is it really okay?"
"Who knows."
Shirou stood up and looked at the crevice, his gaze deep. "But I feel... if I hadn't done that, I would have regretted it."
In that split second, what he felt wasn't a monster's killing intent, but the trembling of something called "life."
The two gathered the spoils and left the messy battlefield.
High above them, deep within the shadows of the rock wall—
A pair of large hands, covered in gargoyle-like hard skin, slowly released their clenched grip.
"...Strange human."
The dark figure let out an incredibly low murmur, its voice as rough as grinding stones.
"He actually saved... a fellow kin?"
The towering dark figure took a deep look at the red-haired youth's back, then vanished into the darkness.
Deep within the Dungeon, a storm was brewing that would soon overturn everything Orario thought it knew. And Shirou Emiya had, without realizing it, touched the core secret of this world.