Chapter 386
Tadak. Tak.
Night was approaching. Simon had lit a campfire and was waiting for the meat to cook.
It was meat from the first monster he had hunted in the dungeon. As the outside turned golden brown and oil sizzled and dripped down, his mouth naturally began to water.
He had only been eating two calorie bars a day, trying to ration his supplies, so he was even hungrier than usual.
“Should I sprinkle it now?”
He gently sprinkled the special spice he had received from Hongpeng, then grabbed the well-cooked meat and brought it to his mouth.
It looked quite decent. Just looked like some rugged deer meat.
Starving, Simon took a big bite.
Chew, chew.
As he chewed, his expression turned ambiguous.
‘Is this really meat?’
A texture he had never experienced before.
To compare it to continental food, the texture was closer to biting into a plump mushroom or an eggplant rather than actual meat. The taste, too, was closer to having no taste at all.
Still, hunger was the best seasoning. After grilling it and sprinkling Hongpeng’s monster-meat-specific spice, it was at least edible.
He devoured six pieces of meat in no time.
“Something feels missing.”
Clicking his tongue, Simon turned around.
Despite the monster being so huge, most of its upper body was made up of a shell, and the rest of the meat was either sinewy or tainted and inedible.
Of course, it also didn’t help that Simon’s dissection skills were still lacking.
Just as he was heading over to the monster corpse, hoping there might be more he could grill.
“Huh?”
Something caught Simon’s eye.
Amid the monster’s dissected remains, something like a long leather strap was poking out. It seemed to have been inside its stomach.
Simon carefully grabbed and pulled it out.
With a srrk, the object came free—none other than—
“…A bag?”
A bag suddenly popped out from the monster’s stomach. Simon quickly slit the belly wide open and thoroughly searched the stomach area.
Inside the stomach, there was also a skeleton, presumably the owner of the bag.
As a necromancer—a specialist in corpses—Simon analyzed the remains. It resembled a primate.
The skull was large, and there was a clavicle—a defining trait of primates.
Though it looked a bit different from humans on the continent, it made Simon think: perhaps there were humanoid beings in this dungeon too.
“That aside…”
Simon frowned and examined the bag.
“How did this not get digested?”
Monsters that swallow humans whole usually have powerful gastric acids that can melt bones.
But this one didn’t seem to have any stomach acid. Even the outside of the bag wasn’t wet, it was stiff and dry.
‘No, that’s not right. This is a dungeon. I shouldn’t be bound by continental common sense.’
Simon decided to shelve the question for now and dug through the bag. Inside was a familiar item.
‘This is—!’
A book.
* * *
RoKE Island. Main Auditorium.
“Everyone, thank you for waiting!”
The host, who had been busily pacing around the podium, shouted while holding the voice-amplifying crystal.
“We’re about to receive the next Observer’s footage now, so please wait just a moment longer! And once again, we’re joined today by Professor Hongpeng!”
Hongpeng, sitting beside him, waved both hands warmly.
“Nice to meet you all!”
The host’s face turned momentarily dopey as he looked at her.
Unlike the infamously ruthless Professor Keyzen, Hongpeng had a warm personality, and her exotic appearance combined with her radiant healthiness made her extremely his type.
Still, the host corrected his expression like a true professional.
‘Dear, Nelly—today again, Daddy is staying focused and not straying!’
He turned his gaze back to the audience.
“Since we received a lot of inquiries after the first day’s broadcast, let me clarify!
Because the test takes place inside a dungeon, due to image quality and time issues, and the vastness of the dungeon itself, we can’t stream the entire thing or follow specific key students all the time. We appreciate your understanding! Now then, Professor!”
Hongpeng gave a bright smile.
“Yes~!”
Her hair swayed. The exotic scent of spices mixed with her natural scent tickled the host’s nose.
He fought hard to control the smile creeping back onto his face.
“Before the footage is ready, could you briefly explain what exactly a dungeon is?”
“Of course!”
Hongpeng scooted her chair back with a loud scrape and stood in front of the blackboard. She moistened her palm with a bit of spit, grabbed a piece of chalk, and drew a circle.
“This continent we live on, many young ones believe it to be the entirety of the world. But scholars believe that beyond this continent—”
She drew circles around the first one, each much larger.
“—there are other realms as well.”
“Aha! You mean ‘other worlds’, right?”
“Yes! And from these other realms, many fragments have split off.”
She began drawing tiny specks between the “continent” and the “other worlds”.
“These many spatial fragments drift across the dimensional space. And for various reasons, some of them cause spatial distortions when they collide with the continent, forming an entrance. That’s the basic principle of dungeons.”
“I-I see! I’ve heard people talk about dungeons all the time, but this is the first time I’ve heard an actual explanation!”
Contrary to the stereotype of someone from the grasslands and a professor of Magical Combat, she was also quite knowledgeable in history and academia.
Strong, beautiful, and even intelligent, what could this woman possibly be lacking?
“The term dungeon originated from an ancient kingdom—now long gone—where a spatial distortion appeared beneath the palace, and the monsters that had been living there overran the royal court.”
Her healthy lips moved as she spoke. Her hair fluttered as she gestured passionately at the board.
“Dungeons bring conflict and summon transitional spaces. The dungeon that our students are currently in is also…”
The host, completely entranced by her explanation and listening with a dazed expression, was abruptly interrupted as a broadcasting assistant frantically gestured at him to wrap it up.
Finally noticing the signal, the host hurriedly snapped to attention and shouted,
“Ah! Right on cue, we’ve just received the next footage from our students! We’ll continue Professor’s dungeon lecture right after the viewing—let’s take a look together first!”
* * *
Day 2 in the dungeon.
The students were now split into two groups.
“Ah, our attacks don’t work!”
“What the hell is this thing?!”
Those who still hadn’t figured out how to deal with the dungeon monsters.
“Hey, you loser! Throw it right!”
“U-uh, okay!”
And those who had discovered the right strategy.
Tatack!
Tadadadat!
In this promotion exam, Maelyn once again happened to run into Toto, her classmate.
“Now! You loser!”
“Okay!”
At Toto’s command, the skeletons threw the fruits they held tightly in their arms up into the air. Maelyn, her focus gleaming in her eyes, reached out her arm.
<Pierce of Blizzard>
Maelyn’s specialty—precision targeting.
The ice spears launched with pinpoint accuracy, striking the flying fruits that then crashed into the charging monster shaped like a buffalo.
Thud! Thump!
As the fruits struck, the monster, its body covered in mineral, let out a pained cry. Some of the ore shattered, revealing bare flesh.
Finally, Maelyn pulled out the blazing fireball she had prepared in her left hand.
<Dark Flare>
Kwaaaang!
With the follow-up blast of firepower, the monster was charred to a crisp and collapsed with a heavy thud.
“Woooah!”
Toto jumped up in joy. Maelyn snorted and swept her hair back.
‘…Still can’t believe it. That this was actually a viable strategy.’
For a moment, she recalled the hardships of Day 1.
She had been so devastated by the monsters that wouldn’t go down no matter how hard she hit them, that she’d simply climbed a tree and trembled until they passed by.
But after meeting Toto and learning the strategy, it was ridiculously easy. Thinking about how she spent the entire night up in a tree made her face burn.
“See? I told you! Hehe.”
When Maelyn glared slightly at the smug Toto, he immediately cowered and lowered his head.
“Thanks for teaching me the strategy, Toto. I’ll be on my way now.”
“M-Maelyn! Wait for me!”
Toto quickly followed after her.
Maelyn growled, trying to shake off the annoying baggage that was Toto.
“Ah.”
Suddenly, something came to mind.
“You said you’re in the same club as Simon, right?”
“Y-yeah! I’m part of the Mutant Club!”
“Then… do you know Benya-senior well?”
At the sudden mention of Benya, Toto’s face flushed bright red.
“Y-yeah! Of course I do! Haha!”
Watching him stammer and blush, Maelyn let out a humming chuckle through her nose. A sly smile curled on her lips.
“Hey. Don’t tell me you like Benya-senior?”
“No!!”
Toto screamed, his face now beet red.
They say strong denials are actually strong affirmations. She chuckled quietly.
“Not bad~ You and I might just become friends.”
“R-really?”
From servant to friend?! Toto looked up, filled with hope.
“Yup~ And if you ever get to date Benya-senior, we could become really good friends. I’ll even help you—”
At that point, Maelyn’s gaze fell to the tiny, stumpy figure that was Toto.
His height was one thing, but that expression of zero self-esteem. In her mind, she pictured him standing next to the cool, tall 2nd-year Benya-senior.
No matter how hard she tried, the image just didn’t work.
“…Let’s just go our separate ways.”
“M-Maelyn! Wait for me!”
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Keyzen Auditorium, footage of Maelyn and Toto hunting monsters using Pierce of Blizzard was being shown.
Hongpeng clapped her hands.
“What an amazing combination! A killer team play!”
“Huh?”
The host looked surprised.
“A killer team play!”
“Ah, aaaah…! You mean… a fantastic team play…! Haha!”
Sweat trickled down the host’s face.
“Ahem! But more than that, I’m actually surprised at how few students have figured out the strategy. Professor?”
Following Maelyn’s scene, the footage showed a series of students screaming and running away in fear.
“Wouldn’t trying to use ores to attack the monsters be worth a shot?”
Hongpeng smiled brightly.
“There’s a big difference between watching safely from afar as a third party, and actually entering a dungeon where you don’t know when you’ll die.”
“A-ah! R-right! That makes sense! I spoke too carelessly!”
“More importantly.”
Hongpeng raised her palm.
“You have to consider the tendencies of necromancers. Our students have learned loads and loads of black magic from Keyzen. They’re armed with powerful legendary swords and relics, so asking them to try smashing monsters with rocks from the roadside… isn’t easy.”
“R-right…! That makes a lot of sense.”
“Of course, there are still some really capable students!”
Right then, Dick appeared on screen.
By Day 2, he was already walking around with ten mineral weapons strapped to his back and waist, laughing gleefully. He was the first in the entire school to figure out the strategy.
“Well! At this rate, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before the students figure out how to defeat the monsters! So then, Professor, in your opinion,
of the students we’ve seen in the footage, are any even remotely close to reaching the dungeon’s master?”
With scenes of students, including Maelyn and her group, showing off their skills—
Hongpeng gave a gentle smile.
“Not a single one.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters