"Originally I thought the greatest value of your magic was the endless supply of arrows. But now, it seems my understanding was shallow."
Raul commented from the rear, observing the battle of the newbie adventurers.
"By eliminating the action of retrieving an arrow, his shooting speed has nearly doubled."
At this point, they had reached the fourth floor. The first fourth floors of the dungeon were often referred to as the "Beginning Road," where the monsters had low basic abilities and posed little threat, perfect for newbie Lv 1 adventurers.
However, compared to the first floor, the number of monsters had noticeably increased on the fourth floor. At the very least, Shirou could no longer take out all of the monsters before they could reached the party.
A group of ten goblins charged toward them, Shirou eliminated five with his arrows, and the remaining ones were handled by the front-line vanguard.
The female cowfolk warrior was also super efficient in killing enemies with her greatsword, cleaving through three goblins with a single slash, while the Pallum spearman finished off any straggler.
Once enemies get a bit close, Shirou immediately switched to sword mode, but he didn't recklessly rush toward the enemies. Instead, he focused on protecting the more vulnerable mage.
Despite Lefiya being a level higher than him at Lv2. Protecting the mage was part of his responsibility, and Shirou will not take any risk.
After dispatching the monsters, the group took a moment to rest and collect any dropped items, this time, a "Goblin Fang" had dropped, which Raul, their supporter, swiftly collected.
Meanwhile, the arrows remaining in the goblins' bodies from Shirou's shots began to disappear.
Shirou can reduced the projection time to conserve mana, and since he had designed and crafted the projected arrows in the past, his deep understanding of their structure further minimized mana consumption.
"Everyone's so strong," thought Lefiya, the party's mage, watching from the rear.
Originally, she had believed that as a Lv2 with many powerful magic, she would be the carry of the party. But so far, there had been no opportunity for her to contribute.
They were so efficient that before she could even finished casting her magic, the battle was already over.
The cowfolk warrior, with her natural physical advantages and skills, had durability and attacks that surpassed many in the same level. The Pallum spearman, though limited by his race's low base stats, made up for it with his tireless effort and vast knowledge of the monsters and the dungeon layout.
As for Shirou, his exceptional archery left Lefiya deeply shocked.
"It feels like I'm the only one who hasn't contributed at all." Lefiya thought, starting to feel a bit disheartened.
"Let's rest here for a bit, then we'll proceed to the fifth floor." Raul said as he found an empty room. By slightly damaging the dungeon walls to prevent monster from spawning, they created a temporary resting spot.
Starting from the fifth floor, the dungeon walls turned a light green color, and the structure of the dungeon began to change. Stronger monsters like War Shadows and Killer Ants would appear, and the rate at which monsters spawned also increased. These were the floors where many newbie adventurers met their demise. It was recommended that adventurers' basic abilities be at least rank G before exploring these areas.
After the earlier battles, all the party members, except Lefiya, had demonstrated reliable combat strength. Niran, the cow girl, had the highest stats among them, her basic abilities probably already surpassed the threshold to level up, all she missing is an achievement (high-rank excelia).
"By the way, Lefiya is a newbie adventurer too, right? But you're already Lv2." Shirou asked.
"That's because I graduated from the *School District* before joining the Loki Familia. I leveled up to Lv2 while I was still in the * School District,*" Lefiya explained.
The * School District* was an institution focused on training young talent. In addition to adventuring, crafting, and commercial Familias, there was a special type of Familia associated with teaching, the * School District* is a coalition of these familias.
"The * School District* is built on a massive sea fortress that traveled all over the world recruiting and teaching talented people. Every three years, it returns to Orario for a year of repairs, during which time students are allowed to be recruited by various Familias in Orario. I joined the Loki Familia just recently."
I see, so that's why Lefiya, despite being Level 2, is still learning basic dungeon knowledge along with rookie adventurers like him.
"During the * School District* world tour, they accept requests from various countries to deal with surface monsters and other crises. Lefiya must have accumulated enough achievements and leveled up through these mission." Niran said, joining the conversation. "I also graduated from the * School District.* Lefiya, you probably never heard of me but I know you."
"Huh? Niran too? No wonder, your stats didn't seem like a rookie adventurer…" Lefiya exclaimed in surprise, feeling a bit embarrassed since she truly didn't recognize her.
"Lefiya is quite famous, you know? In the School District, she's known as the 'Magic Tyrant', a famous troublemaker." Niran said smiling.
"Ahh, please don't bring that up!" Lefiya covered her head in embarrassment. "I've been working so hard to forget that nickname!"
Shirou chuckled, "Honestly, I think it's a pretty impressive nickname."
Very clearly, the nickname implied that Lefiya had an overwhelming magical power, as she herself had mentioned—she had a firepower that rival an average Level 4 adventurer.
"Don't tease me!" Lefiya lightly knocked Shirou's shoulder.
"Hmm?" Shirou paused for a moment.
Lefiya asked."What's wrong?"
"Well, some elves tend to be... particular about physical contact," Shirou explained cautiously.
"Oh, yeah. Some elves do have that kind of unwillingness, not allowing other races to touch them, but not all elves are like that. Like me, I don't have that problem." Lefiya clarified.
"You're a very good kid, Lefiya,"
"What, what are you saying. And besides, aren't you younger than me, Shirou?"
Sometimes, closing physical distance could also shortens social distance. The coordination between the frontline warriors and the middle-line spearman became smoother, and even the connection between the backline mage and her protector grew a bit closer.
Just then, Shirou suddenly felt something amiss.
"Watch out!"
Without hesitation, he grabbed Lefiya by the shoulder, pulling her into his arms as he quickly stood up. His right hand projected a small dagger, which he instantly threw toward the ceiling.
At the same time, he projected a longsword into his hand, from an onlooker's perspective, it was as if the dagger had miraculously transformed into the longsword.
The dagger pierced through a monster's head killing it instantly and with a swift slash, the longsword cut a second monster in half.
Then his movement transitioned into an upward strike, his entire body moved in a way that further empowered this slash, causing the blade to arc through the air like a crescent moon.
A third brown, quadrupedal lizard monster was killed mid-air, while Shirou, with the remaining momentum and Lefiya in his arms, jumped forward.
Another lizard monster landed on where Lefiya had just been standing.
In one fluid motion, Shirou reversed his grip and thrust his sword backward, pinning the last lizard monster to the wall.
"Phew…" Shirou let out a sigh of relief.
"Th-that was amazing," Niran muttered in awe.
Raul then spoke up, "These are dungeon lizard. Don't think you're completely safe just because you've damaged the walls. These monster can climb walls and ceilings, and their preferred attack is jumping down on unsuspecting adventurers, ambushing from the darkness."
Raul had already noticed the lizard monster hiding in the shadows but, as they had agreed on earlier, he wouldn't intervene unless the rookie adventurers were in real danger.
Shirou's sharp awareness had caught him off guard, while Lefiya, despite being a higher level, hadn't performed as well as expected.
"Lefiya, are you okay?" Shirou instinctively asked the trembling girl in his arms.
"…Sorry, I'm a bit scared. I can't move my body right now," The elf girl voice trembled with fear.