"Sir [Saber], I have long heard of your great na. It is our first eting. Please treat well," The man slightly bent at the waist, bowing with elegance like an aristocrat of old, his gesture impeccable.
He wore a fitted dark woolen coat that accentuated his tall, upright posture. His brown hair was carefully tied into a ponytail and draped behind his shoulders. His blue eyes shimred with elegance and confidence.
This man was none other than the leader of the Apollo Familia, Hyakinthos Clio, a Level 3 adventurer, titled [ Phoebus Apollo].
A glint of admiration flickered in Hyakinthos's eyes, "Sir [Saber], your reputation in this city is as thunderous as it is widespread. Many people speak of the mythical weapons you've forged, and your heroic feats in defeating ancient monsters."
After speaking, Hyakinthos once again bowed respectfully, and the Level 2 adventurers of the Apollo Familia standing behind him also bowed to Emiya, their movents synchronized.
Seeing this, Emiya waved his hand helplessly, "No need to be so formal."
However, Hyakinthos firmly shook his head, "No, this is Lord Apollo's instruction. You are... that person's partner, soone we must respect. Moreover, as an adventurer, your strength and dignity are worthy of admiration."
"AHHH, enough already. These sickeningly sweet words are giving goosebumps," At the sa ti, Tione, who stood beside them, couldn't help but speak impatiently.
"...Vulgar Amazon," Hyakinthos frowned.
"What did you say?", Tione narrowed her eyes slightly, a dangerous aura emanating from her entire being.
Seeing this, Emiya hurriedly stepped between the two of them, blocking Tione, and spoke seriously, "Alright, everyone! Now's not the ti for quarreling. Rember our mission."
Tione snorted reluctantly, glared at Hyakinthos, and withdrew her anger. Though Hyakinthos's expression chilled slightly, he still kept his composure and didn't continue to argue with Tione.
At this mont, Emiya, Tione, Hyakinthos, and several mbers of the Apollo Familia stood atop a dilapidated building on the edge of Daedalus Street.
They were cloaked in black capes and hoods, hiding in a dimly lit room to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.
Daedalus Street, the most chaotic and disordered place in the city, was surrounded by buildings of all heights. These structures layered and intertwined in a maze-like fashion, surrounded by crumbling brick walls and rusted iron railings.
The Apollo Familia was brought into this operation because they had also been secretly investigating Daedalus Street and were closely connected to the earlier enhanced monster incidents.
Not long ago, one of the enhanced monsters that appeared in the dungeon, originally a shooter frog, had devoured many mbers of the Apollo Familia, particularly a subordinate whom Apollo favored greatly at the ti.
Subsequent frequent appearances of enhanced species made Apollo suspicious, prompting him to order the Familia to investigate.
After Finn learned of their movents, he directly pulled the Apollo Familia into this joint operation.
As a middle-tier faction in the city, the Apollo Familia was quite powerful.
Of course, their strength still didn't quite asure up to the Loki Familia.
Finn's reason for including them was more for the valuable intelligence they had already gathered in Daedalus Street, and, the significance of Apollo as a "god."
Just then, a slender girl stepped forward and gently tugged Emiya's sleeve.
She had long, dark-blue hair, with bangs covering one eye. Her green eyes shimred with a timid glow under the dim light.
"You are...", Emiya looked down at her, confusion in his eyes.
The girl didn't answer, only murmured softly, like a voice drifting from a distant dream, "The twin-born shadows shall wander in the night. Fate entwined, weaving the hero's doom. A heart of shared origin, like the illusion in the mirror, interlaces an inextricable net."
Her voice was gentle, like a drizzle falling softly in Emiya's ears. The girl continued to speak, her tone carrying a sorrow and weight that couldn't be explained.
"The hand of the god shall guide these twin flowers of shared source to him, thus calamity shall descend like a shadow. The string of fate shall be plucked irreversibly. The key to unlock all lies between the voiceless puppets, within the iron-forged black coffin..."
Emiya froze. Not only him, everyone around was montarily stunned. No one understood the aning of those words.
In that silent mont, it was as if even the air had solidified due to her voice.
Just then—
Thud!
With a dull thump, the girl's head was suddenly knocked from above. Her body staggered, nearly collapsing.
"Cassandra, you idiot! What are you suddenly doing?", An angry voice rang out.
"Guya...", The girl let out a soft, squeaky whimper.
Standing beside her was a red-haired girl, hands on her hips, glaring at her in frustration. Her na was Daphne Lauros, with a head of bright red hair and eyes full of exasperation and helplessness.
The girl who had just uttered that string of strange words to Emiya was nad Cassandra Ilion. A healer of the Apollo Familia, titled [Mirabilis].
She always wore a lancholy expression and looked as if a breeze could blow her away.
In contrast, Daphne was her complete opposite. Her title was [Laurel Escapee], an outstanding female warrior.
Both were Level 2 adventurers.
Daphne gripped Cassandra's shoulders tightly, giving her a hard glare.
"My deepest apologies, Lord [Saber]! Please ignore this idiot's nonsense!", While apologizing to Emiya, Daphne also forcefully pressed Cassandra's head down in a bow.
"It wasn't nonsense... it was a prophetic dream... S-sorry...", Cassandra replied weakly, her voice soft and timid.
"Please don't mind that child's words. She's always like this, saying strange so-called prophecies," Hyakinthos sighed helplessly.
At that mont, a red light suddenly streaked across the sky, illuminating the dark air above Daedalus Street—
"The captain's signal is up, MOVE OUT!"
Before the words had fully landed, Tione had already charged forward.
———
Daedalus Street, located in the vast residential district in the southeastern part of the city.
It is a remnant from a thousand years ago, from the era when the gods had just descended, nad after its designer, the renowned architectural craftsman "Daedalus."
Since the era when the Evilus rampaged, this troubleso area had once again welcod a new "intruder."
High-class adventurers were moving quickly on top of buildings. All those participating in the operation were evolved high-class adventurers; even Cassandra, whose physical abilities were relatively weak, could easily leap over buildings.
So local residents, tenants, and even mbers of the underground forces stepped out of their hos or peeked their heads out upon hearing the commotion outside, but once they saw the strength of the newcors, they imdiately withdrew, as if afraid of bringing trouble upon themselves.
Although Daedalus Street is called a residential district, its structure is extrely complex, with stairs stacked on various levels everywhere, densely packed buildings, and a chaotic layout.
Looking around, one could only see areas divided without any order, as if truly being in a labyrinth. Not to ntion outsiders, even residents who lived here for years often got lost.
Tiona moved forward with the team while curiously observing everything around her and couldn't help but exclaid, "If I were left alone in this place, I probably couldn't even find the way out."
Gareth, walking in front, laughed in his rough voice, "No worries. In that case, just pick a direction and smash through the walls to get out."
Tiona's eyes lit up, "Oh~ I see! So that works too!"
Anakitty sighed helplessly and quickly spoke to stop them, "Senior Gareth, please don't teach Tiona strange thods."
"Luckily this ti we're not searching for people blindly like looking for a needle in a haystack, but targeting those suspicious bases," Tiona added from the side.
"That's true, though there are a bit too many suspicious spots," Anakitty nodded, speaking with a slightly helpless tone.
Gareth agreed, "We've already ruled out many places. Thanks to that little Pallum girl from the Hephaestus Familia and her connections."
Nowadays, many Pallums were trying to curry favor with Liliruca Arde.
Though it might be sowhat "politically incorrect" to say, the truth was: there were a lot of Pallums living in Daedalus Street (the slums).
Lili had easily obtained a great deal of useful information, which provided them with a lot of convenience in their investigation.
As soon as those words fell, Tiona kicked open a sturdy door reinforced with several locks.
The man inside was clearly prepared, he was a mber of so underground gang, already holding a gleaming greatsword in his hands.
"G-Great Cleave!"
However, the mont he saw that the intruders were adventurers from the Loki Familia, he deflated like an eggplant hit by frost, obediently putting down the greatsword in his hands.
The adventurers split into several groups, launching surprise attacks on suspicious locations within Daedalus Street.
Ais lightly swung the sword in her hand, her figure darting like wind through the dark alleyways. As her silhouette flashed past, several underground gang mbers were struck by the sheath and collapsed in response.
Bete, on the other hand, simply used brute force to deal with obstacles. He kicked doors with ease, shattered locks, knocked down walls, and even reduced so suspicious buildings to rubble.
However, the enemies they truly wanted to find still showed no trace.
The group that included Emiya also went deep into the central region of the surface labyrinth.
"Lord Emiya, there are monsters nearby!", Yamato Mikoto, walking in the group, suddenly shouted.
Only when she spoke did the others in the group, especially the mbers of the Apollo Familia, seem to realize that this quiet and reserved girl was even there.
Yamato Mikoto had been silently following behind Emiya like his shadow, not making a sound, like a legendary ninja.
Upon hearing this, Emiya looked toward the direction Mikoto pointed and decisively asked, "That location, directly below?"
Mikoto nodded, "Yes, Lord Emiya!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Emiya pulled a red signal flare from his pouch and fired it into the sky. The flare rose and quickly emitted a blinding light.
Then, he projected the giant axe [Nine Lives], gripped the axe handle with his right hand, and swung it down fiercely toward the ground.
BOOM!
With a heavy crash, the ground instantly shattered. Huge chunks of stone flew in all directions, dirt scattered, dust billowed, and a massive hole was blasted into the floor.
A low voice ca from the gap, "Tch, to think... you found this quickly—"
Before he finished speaking, his words were abruptly cut off by the massive axe slashing toward him.
However, just before the axe blade struck the black-robed man, a long spear thrust out from his hand. The giant axe and spear clashed violently in midair, bursting into a shower of sparks.
BANG!
Sparks flew, and a deafening tallic collision echoed through the air. The black-robed man slightly turned his head, "To attack... so decisively?"
Emiya didn't answer his words. His eyes held only calm judgnt, "First-tier adventurer?"
Hearing this, the black-robed man let out a low chuckle.
'Just blocked one strike, and he imdiately deduced that, it was from a first-tier adventurer. This man... should he be called confident or arrogant?'
However, the black-robed man was indeed a first-tier adventurer. And frighteningly, even after blocking that one blow, as a Lv.5, his right hand still felt slightly numb.
'If I hadn't gotten the intel in advance and was stopped by such a warrior, plus the Loki Familia, I really might have died here,' the black-robed man thought so, a hint of lingering fear passing through his heart, 'Too slow... I should've left imdiately.'
At that mont, Emiya's attacks rained down like a storm, every strike carrying imnse power. The giant axe [Nine Lives] slashed repeatedly, the blade clashing with the spear shaft, producing deafening tallic crashes and showers of sparks.
The black-robed man suddenly raised his head, a sinister smile curling at the corners of his mouth, "I prepared a gift. Hope you like it."
He began to chant, no, it wasn't a chant, but the activation of a pre-prepared spell.
Or more precisely, a curse.
[Beco lost in an endless nightmare]
As his voice rang out, a strange red glow suddenly spread through the air.
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