Chapter 138 – Wild (5)
The second area of the Wild Dungeon, which Roden and his party passed through the gate, is a dense jungle area that is no different from the place they stayed before.
All of the animals and plants living in this area are several times larger than the average.
ㅡFooooo!!
“Huh?”
“Kyaaaaah!”
In the middle of the search, Marill flinched at the sound of Merim’s scream coming from behind her and shot her sister.
“Ah, sister!! How many times has this been?! Please don’t scream behind me. … That even surprises me…”
She was quite surprised, but instead of calling her by her first name as usual, she called her sister.
‘If you look closely, Marill tends to call Merim her older sister when she’s startled or in a hurry.’
Roden, who heard the voice behind her, was thinking about it leisurely, while Merim, who heard her brother’s scolding, gave her a shy smile.
“Haha, sorry~ How big are the bugs living here… I don’t know anything else, but only large bugs are a bunch, a bunch. It’s a complete mess. I think it would be much better for Drake to stick out a little.”
Every time they passed the bushes that rose up to their waists and encountered large insects, the twin sisters were busy shaking their bodies on their own.
The two of them had quite a bit of courage and stomach as they had spent a considerable amount of time as adventurers, but they did not seem to be strong enough to face the sight of an insect the size of a fist passing by.
The twin sisters, who quickly calmed down their startled hearts, turned their attention to Roden and Loxia, who, unlike them, were unmoved.
“Anyway, the two of them don’t seem to mind even if an insect that size flies in. Roden oppa, what… It is said that he was a warrior who went through all the battles in the past.”
“It’s quite surprising that even Roxia doesn’t even blink.”
“Before I met the owner, there were often times when I had nothing to eat and sometimes I would eat rats or insects by roasting them. As a result, I don’t think she felt particularly disgusted when she saw insects.”
“”Oh…””
It was an experience that was difficult to respond to.
While the twin sisters were thinking about the answer. While silently listening to the conversation between the three women, Roden, who had been advancing while keeping an eye on the front, sensed the presence of many and ended their small talk by telling them that the time for making noise was over.
… The unique heat felt in the place where the fight is about to take place is felt from the other side.
As I went a little further, I began to hear the cries of monsters mixed with the voices of people.
—-Damn it, two guys appearing at once… !
ㅡEveryone, don’t panic and respond calmly!!
‘It looks like the adventurers and monsters just ran into each other.’
The party, who easily grasped the situation beyond, nodded to each other and decided to head towards the scene of the battle.
There is no reason to miss the chance to directly grasp the general characteristics of the monsters inhabiting this area with your own eyes.
Before long, what Roden and the others saw was an adventurer party consisting of 5 people, surrounded by two large monsters and confronting each other.
“Master, do you intend to help them?”
“… Judging by the look on his face, he doesn’t seem so desperate. For now, let’s just watch it as it is to gather information.”
“Yes.”
Originally, watching others fiercely fight objectively is the most fun way.
The four of them settled down in a position where the bushes stood tall enough to cover their bodies in order to watch the battle between the adventurers and the monsters in a stable manner.
First of all, the adventurer’s party consisted of three melee warriors who wielded swords and shields, spears, and long swords as their main weapons, as well as a combination of archers and wizards.
And the two monsters staring at the adventurer party from both directions are, of course, dinosaurs. However, unlike the raptors that usually inhabited the previous floor, it boasts a fairly large body.
One was very similar to Pachycephalosaurus, which possessed a skull specialized for headbutting with a dome-shaped bulge on the top of the head, and the other developed thick scales that seemed to be wearing heavy armor and a heavy mace-like tip at the tip of the tail. A dinosaur similar to an ankylosaurus.
‘I don’t know a lot about dinosaurs, but they’re much bigger than I knew.’
While Roden’s party was watching the two groups, the adventurer’s archer fired a swift arrow at the body of the headbutting dinosaur, and the battle started.
The adventurer party has been working together for a long time, showing an exemplary linkage that complements each other’s weaknesses and maximizes the strengths, and gradually gains the upper hand from the giant dinosaur.
“As Master said, we don’t need any help.”
“… Do you intend to call me Master in the future?”
“I sang it a few times yesterday and it sounded pretty good. When we are together, I try to call you Master… Are you okay? Master.”
“It’s okay, do whatever you feel comfortable with.”
Roden, who felt good about hearing Master’s voice from Maril, nodded his head of course.
Roden’s party, who continued to watch the adventurers’ battles, chatted about this and that, then chewed together amicably. It’s like the feeling of finding popcorn while watching a movie.
Time passed like that… Although slightly injured at the end of the battle, the adventurer party successfully completed the hunt and began to dismantle the two dinosaurs.
“Thanks to those friends, I was able to figure out some useful information about the drakes here. Let’s move again soon.”
It wouldn’t be bad to contact them and collect more information about this area and monsters, but it’s easy to be overly wary if someone you don’t know approaches just after a battle.
You don’t have to go through all the hassle. Roden’s party got up silently from their seats and moved forward on a path that slightly bypassed the adventurers’ party who were preoccupied with collecting loot.
Roden’s party, who continued their exploration of the dungeon, learned additionally that, unlike the first area, not only carnivorous, but herbivorous dinosaurs were quite aggressive here. When it detects an approaching sign, it almost unconditionally pounces on it.
Afterwards, as I slowly progressed, accumulating experiences such as investigating animals and plants that I found sparsely and fighting various types of dinosaurs that attacked me, the day began to fade before I knew it.
As she raised her head high and looked up at the darkened sky, Merim remembered what she had experienced in the Masti Dungeon in Varmela.
“The dungeon we explored earlier felt like the inside of a building, so there was no concept of weather at all, but here it seems that the distinction between day and night is clear.”
“Master, it’s been about seven hours since we entered the dungeon, right?”
“It feels like that. … Should we stop exploring today and look for a place to rest?”
As this is the first dungeon to be explored, there is no need to rush around. For now, it would be safe to take a break when the day is dark and move again when it is bright, as is standard.
… After a while, Roden’s group found a cave with a suitable depth to use as a shelter, and did simple ground work to spend the night there, such as checking if there were other creatures inside the cave, or building a bonfire in the middle by stacking a pile of stones in a circle.
Now that you have a place to rest, it’s time to satisfy your hunger.
‘What the hell does dinosaur meat taste like…’
Loden rummaged through his inventory in front of a blazing bonfire and took out various types of vegetables and meat from dinosaurs he had slain in the dungeon.
By the way, all the meat was kept frozen thanks to Merim and Loxia’s magic. With the help of the two of them again, Roden thawed the frozen meat again and cut the dinosaur meat and vegetables into cubes.
The four of them skewered meat and vegetables on iron skewers prepared in advance, and sat in a circle around the bonfire and began grilling their own skewers.
These are so-called dinosaur skewers. Roxia, who opened her nose slightly so as not to show it, gave a brief evaluation of the aroma she felt from the skewer.
“Contrary to what you might think, the smell is not very different from regular meat. … Rather, I feel that the smell of the vegetables put together is stronger.”
“Oh, it’s because you put half of the vegetables on the skewer. Traditionally, skewers are made with meat and vegetables in a 2:1 ratio.”
“It is a very personal opinion. Merim.”
While the three women were chatting lightly, the golden smell from the dinosaur skewers intensified.
Thinking that it was almost done, Roden tilted the skewer slightly forward and said,
“Everyone had a hard time walking around the dungeon and fighting monsters all day long. Whether it’s meat or vegetables, there are still a lot of cut ingredients left, so make it the way you like and eat it to your heart’s content.”
The four people, who lightly bumped the ends of the skewers, added salt and spices according to their preferences, and then bit off the dinosaur skewers one by one.
The gravy with the right taste of fire and salt permeated the whole body, captivating the taste buds.
The taste of dinosaur meat… There was no other way to describe it other than that it was a taste that appealed to the instincts. Quite delicious.
As an aside, the meat of herbivorous dinosaurs was softer than meat of carnivorous dinosaurs, so the texture was good.
That’s how Roden’s party spent the evening leisurely, took out camping equipment and prepared for bed.
In general, staying awake in an outside space, including dungeons, is a must, but if Roden, who is sensitive to hostility, paid a little more attention, there was no need to worry about being attacked while sleeping.
The four of them slowly fell asleep after handing each other the words to see each other tomorrow.
* * *
The next day, Roden and the others, who had been exploring without fail, had about an hour left before returning from the dungeon. I opened the gate to the third area, and after a short meeting, I set foot there.
Rather than hunting, the main purpose is to make the third area a little easier the next time you enter this dungeon.
The environmental conditions remain the same, and from here pterosaurs flying freely in the sky appear.
For reference, pterosaurs are called wyverns among adventurers on the same principle as land dinosaurs are called drakes thanks to their outward appearance.
As a result of hunting as a test, the difficulty itself, including the singularity of flying, is almost the same as that of the dinosaurs in the second area.
“Oh… ?! Master, our bodies are gradually blurring!!”
“You don’t have to panic, it’s just that time is up. Loxia.”
“It feels similar to the last time~ It was a dungeon with a completely different feeling, but the rules seem to be applied as they are.”
While they were in the midst of investigating the bodies of the pterosaurs they had hunted, the bodies of Roden’s party began to disappear gradually. The 24 hours they could be in the dungeon had been filled.
Soon, the vision is distorted. The four people who returned safely to the abandoned mine village, the entrance they had entered at this time the day before, entrusted themselves to the carriage going back to Collard, promising the next opportunity.
… When the party arrived at the capital and returned to the inn, they received a letter from the innkeeper saying that they had left it at the magic tower.
It was written in a fairly neat handwriting and polite tone, and it said that she wanted to meet Loxia and her teacher Merim, who had previously submitted an application to the Magic Tower.
