Chapter 37. The Rejection of the Dungeon! Is the Great Hero Emiya's Highlight Moment Coming?
37th Floor, the "White Palace."
The white here was originally just the color of the rock. But now, this whiteness had transformed into a suffocating, deathly pale "killing intent."
"Hey! Emiya! Stop dazing off! I know you're tired as a dead dog, but we have to move!" Bete complained while roughly shoving a Stamina Recovery Potion into Shirou Emiya's hand.
"Thanks, Bete." Shirou managed to twist open the cap and gulp it down. Having just finished the deathmatch with the "Bone King," his magic circuits were in a state of post-drain stinging. Although his left arm's bone had been set by Riveria, it still throbbed with pain.
"All units ready!" Finn's voice echoed through the corridor. "Leave this area immediately! I have a... very bad feeling."
His thumb wasn't just aching; it had begun to spasm. This indicated that the coming crisis was ten times more terrifying than the "Bone King" from moments ago.
Just as everyone prepared to set off—
Hummmmm——————————
It wasn't an explosion, nor was it a monster's roar. It was an extremely low-frequency "humming" that acted directly upon the depths of the soul. The space of the entire 37th floor began to warp, and the mana in the air became violent and chaotic.
"What is that sound?!" Tiona covered her ears, crouching on the ground in pain.
"Something's wrong..." Riveria's face was ashen, the staff in her hand trembling violently. "The Mana is... boiling? No, it's 'gathering'!"
The target of this gathering was none other than the person in the center of the group—Shirou Emiya.
"It seems... I'm hated." Shirou looked up at the deathly pale ceiling. What [Mind's Eye (True)] saw was no longer red killing intent, but a pitch-black, pure "rejection."
It was as if a human immune system had discovered a virus and was mobilizing all white blood cells for total elimination. To the Dungeon, Shirou Emiya—this "Heroic Spirit" from another world—was that "virus" that had to be destroyed.
Rumble!!!
Without warning, the ground beneath Shirou's feet suddenly liquefied. The hard white rock instantly became a swamp that swallowed everything.
"Emiya!" Ais reacted the fastest, lunging forward and reaching out her hand to grab him.
"Stay back!" Shirou roared. He could feel that if Ais touched him, this "malice" targeted at him would swallow her along with him.
"Ariel (Wind King Barrier)—Repel!" Using his last shred of mana, Shirou projected a small shield and used the reaction of an explosion to forcefully push the lunging Ais away.
"You idiot!!!" Ais's fingertips brushed against the edge of Shirou's sleeve.
The next second, the white swamp snapped shut. Shirou Emiya's figure completely vanished from everyone's sight.
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.
.
Thud!
A sensation of violent impact. He hadn't fallen to the next floor but had been "teleported" to a sealed space.
"Cough, cough..." Shirou struggled to climb up. This was still the 37th floor, but it was different from the labyrinth outside. It was a massive, circular, enclosed hall. There were no passages or exits—only white walls that throbbed constantly like biological innards.
"Is this... a stomach?" Shirou smiled bitterly. The air was thick with a high concentration of mana; the pressure weighed on his nerves, making it difficult even to breathe.
The Dungeon... no... one should say, the Will of the Dungeon had begun to reject him as a [Foreign Object]!
"I see... so I've finally been found out?" Shirou leaned against the wall to steady himself. As a transmigrator, he had been careful to integrate into this world. But as his strength grew—especially his frequent use of "Reality Marble," a Great Magecraft that erodes reality—the Dungeon had finally lost its patience.
It was performing "Antivirus."
Gurgle... gurgle...
The ground in the center of the hall began to bulge. The white rock on the surrounding walls seemed alive, frantically converging toward the center. It did not give birth to a biological form like a Minotaur or a Goliath.
It was imitating. It was analyzing Shirou Emiya's magecraft and then recreating it in the Dungeon's own way.
A massive "sword" made of white rock rose from the ground. Then came arms, a torso, and a head.
A few seconds later, a "Giant" standing over five meters tall, composed entirely of deathly pale ultra-hard mineral and wielding a greatsword, stood before Shirou. It had no facial features; on its face was only a massive, pitch-black void that seemed capable of swallowing everything.
[The Executioner]. A 37th-floor special floor boss. An antibody born solely to erase "foreign objects."
"ROAAAAR————!!!"
Having no vocal cords, it nevertheless produced a roar that shattered eardrums. The sound contained a pure command: [Vanish].
"So this is... the Dungeon's 'hospitality'?"
Shirou wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze turning cold. His mana was at zero. His physical condition was abysmal. And he was facing a monster generated specifically to kill him.
"Trace—On."
Even so, he could only draw his swords. The black and white twin blades [Kanshou & Bakuya] appeared in his hands.
"Come on." Shirou took his stance. Although his body was trembling, the tips of his swords pointed steadily at the massive Executioner.
"If you want to kill me... it won't be that easy!"
Boom! The Executioner moved. Unlike the typical clumsiness of giant monsters, its speed was staggering. The white stone greatsword carried a terrifying wind pressure as it slashed down instantly.
Clang!!!
Shirou raised his twin blades to parry. His knees instantly buckled as he was smashed into the ground. "So heavy...!" This strength was several times stronger than the previous "Bone King"! This was pure stat suppression!
"Not over yet!" The Executioner didn't pull back; its hollow face suddenly split open, spraying a gust of white mist.
"This is..." Shirou instinctively sensed danger and forced his body to roll aside.
Sizzle— As the mist touched the ground, the hard rock was instantly corroded into ash. It wasn't poison; it was "Decomposition." A decomposition breath designed to reduce matter back into mana.
"Not only is the physical attack strong, but it also has magical decomposition?" Shirou was drenched in cold sweat. This wasn't a boss designed for humans to fight; it was an incinerator used to clear out trash!
"In that case..."
Shirou gritted his teeth and pulled out the last few magic stones from his pocket (private funds that Lili had stuffed into his gear).
"It's a waste, but I have no choice."
He swallowed the magic stones (though not the correct usage, in this high-pressure environment, the body would automatically siphon the mana). He forcibly replenished a small amount of mana.
"I am the bone of my sword."
The incantation began. Against this out-of-specification enemy, conventional means were useless.
"Steel is my body. Fire is my blood."
The Executioner seemed to perceive the threat. It raised its greatsword once more, this time wrapped in the white light of decomposition.
"Unlimited Blade Works—"
Shirou slammed his palm onto the ground. He didn't deploy the mental landscape (not enough mana). He injected the mana into the floor.
"Sword Barrel—Open!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless blades erupted from the ground beneath Shirou's feet. They were like a tide of steel, rushing up to meet the Executioner's greatsword.
"Victory through quantity!"
If one sword couldn't stop it, he would use ten, or a hundred!
Crack! Crack! The projected swords shattered one after another upon contact with the Executioner. But under the weight of countless blades, the Executioner's movements finally slowed for an instant.
"Now!"
Shirou seized this singular opening. Treading on the shattered blades, he leaped high. [Kanshou] had vanished, replaced in his hand by a twisted-shaped dagger—
[Rule Breaker (Pseudo)].
While he couldn't perfectly reproduce the original's effect, the trait of "severing magical contracts/structures" only needed to work for a single moment!
"Stop... for me!"
Shirou slammed the dagger ruthlessly into the massive core magic stone in the Executioner's chest.
Hum—!
Purple light exploded. The Executioner froze. Its gargantuan body began to shake violently, and cracks appeared on the white stone shell.
"It worked!"
However, before Shirou could celebrate, a red light suddenly glowed within the Executioner's hollow face. It wasn't collapsing. It had initiated a self-destruct sequence. The Will of the Dungeon was absolute—even if it destroyed this "antibody," it would take the "virus" down with it.
"Damn it!"
Shirou tried to retreat, but his hand was trapped by the Executioner's stone muscles and couldn't be pulled out.
"Sentence passed..." A voice echoed directly in his mind. "Foreign object... excluded."
BOOOOOOM!!!
White light swallowed the entire hall. It was a detonation of pure mana. Its power was enough to completely erase a corner of the 37th floor.
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.
.
"EMIYA!!!"
On the other side of the wall, Ais, who was frantically attacking the rock face, suddenly felt a sharp pain in her heart. She heard it. That sound of a desperate explosion.
"No... no..."
The sword in Ais's hand slipped. She knelt on the ground, her golden eyes losing focus.
The person who always smiled while cooking for her. The person who said he would show her infinity. The person who... promised to always be by her side.
Gone?
"Are you kidding me..." Finn looked at the magic item in his hand representing Shirou's life signs. The light on it was dimming rapidly, but... it had not yet gone out.
"He's not dead!" Finn roared, waking the despairing group. "His life reaction is still there! It's weak, but he's still holding on!"
"Dig! Even if you have to use your bare hands, dig him out!"
.
.
.
In the center of the explosion.
Shirou Emiya wasn't dead. But he wasn't far from it.
At the final moment of the explosion, he had done something insane. He didn't defend. Instead, he used all his mana to "assimilate" himself.
He fully converted his physical body into the concept of a "sword" and hid inside the... collapsing wreckage of the Executioner.
Now, half of his body was carbonized, and his consciousness was blurred. Around him was a pitch-black ruin. Above were the collapsed rocks from the blast, completely sealing the exit.
"Cough..." Shirou spat out black ash. He was alive. But he was only just alive.
This was deep underground on the 37th floor. The air was thin, there was no water, no food, and he was critically injured and near death. More terrifyingly, the "malice" of the Dungeon still existed. The surrounding rocks were slowly undulating, attempting to crush this surviving "virus" into a pulp.
"Truly... a hellish start."
Shirou gave a bitter smile and closed his eyes. This time, he might actually have to use that final resort left behind by "Archer."
But before that... can I sleep for a bit? I'm... so tired.
In the darkness, the red-haired boy fell into a deep slumber. Within his chest, the Spirit Origin belonging to "Senji Muramasa" was undergoing an unknown...
Qualitative change under this desperate pressure.
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