Chapter 5: The Invincible Trio

We were in front of the boss room on the 25th floor. When I peeked inside......

“The room is bigger again. There’s also more monsters.”

“Mm. I can tell from their presences, yes.”

“One, two, three...... Huh? There’s ten spriggans in there.” Following the spriggans, who were a size bigger, with my eyes, I counted at least ten of them.

There were actually so many giants stuffed into this room I was actually almost amazed at it, like, “How did you do that?”

Does that mean they just pulled out all the stops for the last floor of the giants zone? This dungeon really is just the worst...

“Hmph, no matter how many there are, they are still nothing to me.”

《Right, right! Actually, just about this much is nice, it feels like we’re actually fighting.》

《Sui’s gonna beat a lot, a who—le lot again—!》

Yep, looks like even this many giants aren’t a match for my children here.

“Now then, it is time.”

《Let’s go—!!》

《Ya—y!》

With Fel’s words as a signal, all three of my familiars spread out into the room that was full to bursting with giants.

I’m not sure if they’re all just fearless or what... Everyone’s actually really strong, though. It’s like... they just don’t have any sense of tension? Even though we’re in a dungeon and all. Well, it’s not like making a note of this now will do anything. Ahh — everyone’s just beating down the giants left and right, aren’t they? Now then, I guess I should get in there too. I’m a little late though.

I quietly slipped into the 25th floor’s boss room.

“Guooohhhh!!!” Apparently I was noticed, as once again a troll was coming at me.

Hm? Isn’t it a little faster than that troll on the 24th floor?

“Guooohhh!!” While belting out a war cry, it swung both its fists at me. It might have been a little faster than the troll on the 24th floor, but......

“I can still dodge something like this!! Hahh!” Dodging the troll’s arm, I cut into its flank. My mithril short sword, with its excellent cutting edge, cut open a huge wound in the troll’s side.

“Guoohhhh!!!”

Ouff...... The troll’s guts were poking out of its wound.

The troll that I gutted was swinging its arms in a frenzy, as if trying to blow me away.

He’s extra mad, isn’t he? But still, huge swings like that wouldn’t hit me in a million years.

I circled around to the troll’s back while dodging its swings.

“Heih! Hahh!” I cut through the calves on both of the troll’s feet.

“Gh! Ghoooohhh!!”

*Thudddddddd———* The troll fell forward, as if it was prostrating itself. I stabbed my mithril short sword deep around where its heart should have been.

*Zshhh*

“How’s that!!”

The troll twitched for a moment and then fell still.

“Yeahh!!”

*Clanngg———*

“Woah!!” While I celebrated defeating the troll, I was pushed by something and fell on my butt.

“W-What was that?”

“Moooaaaarrrr!!!” When I looked up, a minotaur was raising its axe.

“WoaaAAAHHH!!” I reflexively covered my head in my arms and closed my eyes.

Will Perfect Defense really cover this?! I didn’t get Fel to put a barrier over me since I felt confident after that last battle and I still had the Perfect Defense skill! Please work, pleaaassseee!!!

*CLANG———*

The minotaur swung its axe... and I wasn’t hurt at all.

“Oh?” Timidly moving my arms, I opened my eyes.

The minotaur was swinging its axe at my head over and over with a wrathful expression on its face.

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang———!*

However, I wasn’t taking any damage at all. I did feel like I was being pushed a little from somewhere over the top of my head, but other than that I was fine.

Ah, so the reason why I was pushed onto my butt in the first place was because of that axe, wasn’t it?

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang———!*

Hey, I know I’m not taking any damage, but aren’t you attacking me a bit too much?

“Heihh!”

*Zsshh*

I thrust my mithril short sword at the minotaur’s heart.

“Moooaahhrrrr!!”

*Thud———*

The minotaur, having been pierced through the heart, fell backwards.

“Yesss!! I did it!” I picked up the drops from the troll and minotaur that I defeated: a poison claw, and a horn.

“So you learned how to fight a little, huh?” Fel said, coming close to me.

“Well, a little bit. I’m still not used to fighting, but I can’t just be leaving it all up to you guys all the time.”

《Master — Sui picked up some stuff—!》

Ohh! Looks like Sui decided to help! Since there were no other drops on the floor, it seemed like Sui got all of it.

“Oh, you got all of it, didn’t you? Thanks, Sui.” Receiving the drops from Sui, I stored them in my Item Box. When I petted Sui as a reward, it started hopping around happily.

《He—y! There’s a huge treasure chest in the back there—!》 Dora-chan said through telepathy while flying.

“A treasure chest? Let’s go.” We were led by Dora-chan towards the location of the treasure chest.

“It’s just like Dora-chan said, this one’s bigger than all the ones before......” The treasure chest was about 1 meter across and 50 cm tall. I was hit with the desire to just open it, but I resisted and appraised it instead.

【Treasure Chest】

A treasure chest designed to release a fireball when opened, as well as poison gas right after that.

......Both a fireball and poison gas?! What the hell is this war crime? I kind of expected this what with its size and all, though... But even if you dodge the fireball, there’s poison gas?! Anyone other than me with my Perfect Defense skill and blessing effects would die, totally die!

“The trap on this chest sure is nasty......”

“You appraised it too, Fel? It’s both a fireball and poison gas, after all. Anyone without blessings like us would just die, wouldn’t they?”

“Yeah. It is probably possible to dodge the three fireballs, but unless you have something really powerful to counter with, that instant death gas is probably impossible.”

......Wha? “Huh? Three fireballs? And the gas has an instant death effect?”

“Yeah, you probably could not see it because of the difference in levels.”

“Ah, I see. It’s one of those things that you can only see with higher levels. You did say that you get quite the long exposition when you use Appraisal, didn’t you, Fel?”

Still though, the nastiness of this thing just gets worse with what Fel read on top of that... Three whole fireballs and instant death gas...... You’ve got no intention of ever letting go of your treasures, do you? Mwahaha, but we’re fine, though! And so, time to open it.

Just like Fel’s Appraisal said, after opening the chest, it released three fireballs, and right afterwards an ominously black poison gas was released into the surroundings with a sound of decompressing air.

*Cough* *Cough*

“Ahh, that was awful.”

Of course, it didn’t work on us. Peeking inside the treasure chest, there was a gold ingot and a gem, as well as a ring. Appraising the gem, I found that it was an imperial topaz. What an expensive-sounding name.

As for the ring, this was what my Appraisal said.

【Ring of Magic Recovery】

A magic item that slightly speeds up the rate of magic power recovery.

It’s a magic item—! Wondering exactly how much slightly meant, I had Fel appraise it, and apparently slightly meant by 1.2 times.

This is great!

Of course, I used it myself. I put the ring on immediately. And as one might have expected out of a magic item, while I first thought it might have been too big, when I put it on, I found that it fit perfectly. Stuffing the gold ingot and the imperial topaz in my Item Box, we all proceeded to the 26th floor.

“Huh? What’s this............?” The floor we stepped into was a densely growing forest.

“So it went with this, huh? This dungeon is quite amusing.”

Nonono, Fel, this isn’t amusing at all. I heard that dungeons might have floors like these, but isn’t this way too sudden? I mean, up until now it’s been all tunnels and stone walls, right? You’d expect the next floor to be the same, right? And all of a sudden, a forest?

“Hey, get on. I am feeling a fairly strong presence. We are heading for it.”

Fel seemed like he was having fun.

“Hurry it up!”

Yeah, yeah. I gave in to Fel’s prodding and got on his back.

The first thing we encountered in this dense forest was a huge praying mantis that was over 2 meters tall. And their numbers counted in the teens. When I tried appraising them......

【Giant Killer Mantis】

A B-ranked monster.

Huh? That’s all? W-Well, it was just the monster’s name before, so thinking like that this is an improvement...

“What? These are just small fry...” Right after Fel muttered that, lightning ran along the killer mantises with a snap and crackle. The giant killer mantises numbering in their teens were all instantly fried black and died.

“.........Fel...” To think you’d just suddenly hit them with lightning... Those giant killer mantises are just way too sad. Well, it was probably just their luck, I guess.

《Awww, Fel killed them all by himself.》

《Unfair, Uncle Fel—!》

Dora-chan and Sui were both complaining that Fel beat them all by himself.

“Small fry like that are not worth your time, anyway. Let us find something stronger.”

《You say that, but you’re just gonna try and fight it yourself. How unfair...》

《Sui wants to fight too — Sui will go pew pew and use Water magic to beat up a whole lot of them—!》

But still, why does everyone like fighting so much? You guys’ blood is way too hot.

“W-Well, isn’t it fine to just take turns here like before? Next will be Dora-chan, and after that Sui can take a turn.” When I said that, Dora-chan and Sui reluctantly accepted.

《Oh fiine. But I’m next, okay?》

《If master says so, then Sui will do that because Sui is good...》

After that, I retrieved the giant killer mantis’ drops, and we continued on through the forest. By the way, their drops were small magic stones and giant killer mantis scythes.

Steadily making headway through the forest, the next thing we encountered was a murder grizzly.

But isn’t this...... bigger than the one Fel killed? When I asked Fel, I was told that those born in the dungeon can be stronger and bigger than those outside. Apparently, the density of magic had something to do with it.

“Guoohhh!!” The murder grizzly had set us in its sights and ran towards us while shaking its huge body.

《Yahhooo!! Let’s gooo!!》

*Thudshhh*

Dora-chan, clad in fire, pierced through the murder grizzly’s side with incredible speed.

............So fast...

Picking up the murder grizzly’s pelt that was dropped, we proceeded further into the forest.

The next thing that came out was a paralyze butterfly. It was a B-ranked monster, a butterfly around 1 meter in length with a sinister orange and blue polka-dot pattern. Apparently they moved around in packs, and the one we encountered consisted of around thirty of them.

We were seeing it for the first time, so I asked Fel about it, and it seemed that after paralyzing their prey by spreading their poisonous scales, they sucked the fluids out of their prey while they still lived.

While they’re still alive.........? That’s so brutal.

Now it’s Sui’s turn, so go get ‘em! “Sui, these bugs spread dust that make it so you can’t move if you get too close. So get them from far away, okay?”

《Yeah, got it—!》

Sui shot down the paralyze butterflies one after the other with the long-range version of its Acid Bullet. The entire fight was finished within a minute.

《Master — Sui got all of them—!》

“Yeah, yeah. You’re so awesome, Sui.” When I complimented it, Sui started bouncing around happily.

Sui’s sooo cute... The slime was my only source of healing in this brutal dungeon.

The paralyze butterfly drops were some paralyzing poison scales (in a bottle for some reason; there was a lot of this dropped as well, somehow.) After picking them up, we proceeded further into the forest.

After that, we saw a procession of beast-, bird-, and bug-type monsters that all seemed like they would belong in a forest, and we defeated them one after the other, collecting their drops while we proceeded along the floor. The idea of stopping in the middle for a meal was brought up, but......

“Huh? This floor doesn’t have a safe area?!” When I got the idea and asked Fel to lead us to the safe area, it turned out that there was none on this floor.

“Floors like this often do not have safe areas.” According to Fel, floors with a forest or desert biome (if I remembered right, they were called field dungeons?) more often than not didn’t feature any safe areas.

It was said that field dungeons were both extremely spacious and home to a lot of high-ranking monsters, so they were high difficulty areas, but the fact that there were no safe areas probably raised that difficulty even higher.

The fact that there’s no safe areas means there’s no place to rest and relax, after all. Not only that, but since only high-ranking monsters appear, it’s even more stressful. It’s totally different from camping out in a normal forest.

“Well, do not be so worried. Everything will be fine with my barriers.”

That’s true. Taking things up until now into account, unless there’s something ridiculously strong, Fel’s barriers will make things safe, probably.

“Then let’s just eat here. Fel, I’m counting on you for that barrier.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

Once Fel put up his barrier, I started preparing our meal. What should it be......? Ah, right. Let’s go with that: the melt-in-your-mouth stewed pork I had pre-made. Let’s use that and make stewed pork bowls.

~◇~◇~◇~

Start off by slicing the pork thickly. Once that’s done, mold the rice on a deep dish and layer the pork on top of the rice so that the rice is no longer visible. With that done, pour on a quick ladleful of stew.

After that, garnish with a marinated soft-boiled egg that’s been cut in half, and the dish is complete.

~◇~◇~◇~

“Here you go.”

All three of them dug in heartily.

“Ohh, this is great! The meat is soft enough to melt in my mouth. Also, this flavoring is pretty well done.” It seemed like Fel liked the pork.

《So goooood! What is this meat, it’s so soft it melts! Man, the stuff you make really is always amazing!》 It looked like Dora-chan was in favor, too.

《This sweet and salty flavor is so good all soaked up unto this soft meat~.》 Seemed like Sui liked it too. Sui does like this salty and sweet flavoring, doesn’t it?

Thank goodness it went over well. That means that making this was worth it. Now then, I should eat too.

For my share, I layered on the pork after also adding a bed of shredded cabbage, since doing so would make it much more refreshing.

Now then, a bite... Ohh! I probably shouldn’t be saying this about something I made myself, but it’s pretty damn good.

The orc general’s meat had been stewed until it was almost melted, and the sweet and salty tare was properly soaked into the meat and paired well with it. The mix of rice, cabbage, and pork created the greatest flavor. Even I started to unconsciously eat with gusto. The marinated soft-boiled egg was also great, with its soaked-in flavor.

“More.” 《More!》

Fel and Sui asked for more. When I served them, they went to town once again. They had several more helpings after that, and by the time Fel and Sui were satisfied, the pork was all gone. I’d made quite a bit of it, too...... Still, the stewed pork was quite well done this time. It might be worth it to make again.

After fitting in a post-meal rest and digestion, we once again set off through the forest. Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui took their turns mowing down the monsters we encountered. While I retrieved the huge amounts of drops, we decided to stop for the day once the forest became dark.

“So the dungeon gets dark and light too, huh?”

“Indeed. On these types of floors, the day-and-night cycle follows the outside. Also, nocturnal monsters will start to show themselves at night.”

“Geh, really? Fel, your barrier’s still fine, right?”

“Hmph! Of course it is. Just as I have told you before, as long as a dragon does not come knocking, we are fine.”

Then I can rest easy, I think. No, wait......

“You say that, but there aren’t any dragons here, are there?”

“It would have been nice if there were. I do not feel anything as powerful as a dragon on this floor.”

No way, no way man. It’s better that they aren’t here. That way I can actually sleep.

“Still though, this floor is huge. If this keeps going, it’ll probably be impossible to see the entire floor.”

“If we were to search the entire floor, even we would need about a month, I think.”

“Huh? Really?!”

“Yes. That sounds interesting as well, but for now we should hurry to fight the behemoth. We are moving towards a powerful presence that is probably the boss of this floor. With Dora and Sui here, we are making quite good progress, but it will probably still take another two days.”

I did think that this floor was huge, but to think it would take more than a month... I didn’t expect it to be that big. It’ll probably be impossible to look around this floor for treasure chests, won’t it? Oh well, I guess I should just give up.

But still two days at our quick pace...... wait, what is the boss, anyway? I’m more worried about that.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

For dinner today I brought out Hamburg steak cutlet and karaage as the main dish, as well as the rest of the pork miso soup, since Fel and Sui both loved the fried stuff like karaage and cutlets.

They ate it with gusto. It looked like Dora-chan also loved the food, and he filled his cheeks full of karaage.

After finishing dinner, when I was about to raise the box house using Earth magic, for some reason I couldn’t use magic. “Huh? What? I can’t make a house......”

“Of course you would not be able to use Earth magic in a dungeon, much less something like making a house.”

............Huh? What?

“I told you before that dungeons are living things, no? So, in other words, this “earth” is not earth, but a part of the dungeon’s body. In a dungeon, the most you can do with Earth magic is make pebbles and use spells like Stone Bullet. So those who use Earth magic are considered unfit for dungeon diving.”

Whaaaat? No one ever told me that—! Actually, it’s just unfair that I can’t use Earth magic in a dungeon———!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The next morning, we quickly started moving through the floor after breakfast.

We navigated through the forest, aiming for the floor’s boss. The monsters we encountered along the way were dealt with in the order of Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui just like yesterday.

We saw murder grizzlies and giant killer mantises just like before. This time, a swarm of giant killer mantises numbering thirty appeared, as well as a giant centipede, just like we saw in the forest of Ishtam. This one was bigger than the one we saw back then. Other than that, there was also a troop of almost fifty wild apes, a B-ranked monkey monster. There were other beast-, bird-, and bug-type monsters that seemed like they’d be at home in a forest that like the one we saw yesterday, but of course they were all destroyed by my children.

Since it was the 26th floor, they were all high-ranking strong monsters in the A and B-ranks, but they were all swept aside with no problems. And once again we went through the forest while I picked up the enormous amount of drops. There were so many drops that I could no longer keep track of how much I had of what. Not every monster dropped something, but the drop rate for high-ranking monsters really was high. Thinking about the number of monsters everyone had defeated up until this point, it might be considered a matter of course that I’d accrued a frankly absurd amount of drop items by now, though. Still, everyone was so strong and kept killing everything, so the number of items just kept increasing.

My Item Box still probably wouldn’t get full, but it might be quite the problem when we went back up, since I’d have to sort all of the drop items.

While I was thinking about that, Fel stopped walking.

“There is a killer hornet nest ahead......”

Killer hornets... is that like one of those giant hornets?

《Gah, killer hornets? I hate those things. There’s so many of them, and they all fly around like I do......》 Dora-chan complained hatefully.

They must be just that bad for Dora-chan to complain like that.

“Truly. They are not strong, but with that many of them, and with them flying around like that, annoying does not even cover half of it......” Fel also made a hateful face.

Ahh, so it’s like that. It’s true that wasps come in swarms of tens or even hundreds, I guess.

“Wouldn’t it be best to do this like normal?”

“It might. It would probably be best to destroy the nest first, then take care of the killer hornets that are outside.”

So we should destroy all the hornets in the nest first, huh? Well, if we didn’t, they’d just keep coming out and attacking us, after all. Wait, where is that nest, anyway? When I asked Fel, we moved until I was in a position to see it.

What I saw was a nest the size of a whole wagon. The nest itself was built attached to the roots of a large tree, and around it, wasps around 30 cm in length were buzzing around.

《Next is Sui’s turn, but Sui’s only attacks are Acid Bullets and Water magic...... it would be a bad match for trying to destroy the nest from far away...》 Fel said telepathically.

It’s true that Acid Bullet doesn’t seem like it would destroy the nest immediately, and using Water magic or Water Cutter would......

《No! No! Sui will do it alone! Sui will do it!》 Sui was throwing a fit.

《Hey Sui, you need to stop being so selfish, you know? Fel’s right here. You’re just a bad match for it, be patient,》 said Dora-chan, backing Fel up.

It’s true that what Fel and Dora-chan are saying is correct...... But I really want to do something for Sui.

《Ughhh, but it’s Sui’s turn......*sniff*............》

Ahh! Sui’s crying! Don’t cry, Sui... Acid Bullets and Water magic...... Water... Water... Water... Hmmm...... Ah!

“No, Sui can do it by itself easily.”

“You... you need to stop coddling Sui like that already.”

I can’t help it, okay? Sui’s so cute! Wait, no, it’s not like that’s a problem.

“I won’t deny that, but it’ll be fine if we use my strategy.” I explained exactly what I thought up to the three of them: enclose the nest in a large water ball. And then just leave it until all the hornets inside die. In other words, drown them.

《......You know you think up some pretty cruel things,》 said Dora-chan in reaction to hearing my strategy.

I don’t want to be told that by you, Mister Covers-himself-in-magic-to-ram-straight-through-monsters!

“Drowning them in water is not a bad idea. Sui, try it.”

《Got it, Uncle Fel!》

Sui, I’m the one that thought of it, you know?

Sui made a ball of water large enough to fit the nest inside of it, and moved it so it was engulfing the nest. Several killer hornets left the attacked nest and tried to leave the water, but they were unable to fly in the water and so just kind of wriggled around a bit. Then, Sui finished them off with an Acid Bullet.

“With this the nest should be destroyed with a little time. All that’s left are the ones outside of the nest...... Hey, everyone here’s hungry, right?”

“Indeed.”

《I’m hungry too—.》

《Sui’s tummy is also empty—.》

Thought so. I figured it should be about time for food.

“Hey, Sui. You’ll probably destroy the nest if you just leave it like that for a while. So can you let Dora-chan and Uncle Fel help you beat the ones outside? That way we can eat sooner.”

《Yeah okay! Sui wants to eat too, so it’s fine—!》

And so, Fel, Dora-chan, I’m counting on you guys.

The killer hornets must have sensed that there was something wrong with the nest, but Fel and Dora-chan killed all of them as they came back, one after the other, and I picked up the dropped items. All that the killer hornets dropped were poison needles, though.

Once all the flying killer hornets were killed, it was time for food. We ended up having Sui leave the water ball where it was just to make sure the nest was extra dead.

We ate the wyvern meat beef bowls that I had prepared earlier.

Beef bowls really just aren’t complete without this...... Since there were no other adventurers on the 26th floor other than us, I decided to use my skill to buy some warm soft-boiled eggs. I served Fel and the others’ portions without the egg first, and then with the eggs upon extra servings. I wanted to eat it both ways as well, so I had a smaller portion by itself, and then with an egg.

Man, the wyvern meat beef bowls are good.

I even got Dora-chan a second helping, and both Fel and Sui went through multiple servings again. After eating so much food, we took a break.

《Ah! Looks like Sui beat it—!》

When I looked over at the killer hornet nest in response to Sui’s voice, it had disappeared. I had Sui get rid of the water ball, and checked on the drop items.

“It’s all poison needles, huh?” They’re bugs after all, I guess there’s just not much to be had materials-wise.

“Ah, this is......” I picked up something white that was in a bottle. When I appraised it......

【Killer Hornet’s Royal Jelly】

Extremely nutritious.

Royal jelly, huh? Is it that stuff that’s in health foods? It says it’s extremely nutritious, but with just that much explanation......

“Ohh, you have found something great there. That stuff will make you energetic and healthy just by licking some of it.”

Looks like Fel knows of it. If it makes you healthy and energetic just by licking it, I should probably keep it just like this, huh?

Storing the poison needles and royal jelly in my Item Box, we once again set off through the forest. After that, we kept moving towards where Fel said the floor’s boss was while beating beast-, bird-, and bug-type monsters and collecting their drops.

Once it went dark, we decided to stop for the night.

The next day, we — once again — moved through the forest while beating all manner of beast-, bird-, and bug-type monsters and collecting their drops. In the middle, we discovered a treasure chest and opened it, but other than that we proceeded uneventfully. By the way, there were two types of gems in the chest, sapphires and alexandrite.

According to Fel, we were just about to run into the floor boss. Fel also said that it was fairly strong, judging by its presence.

I wonder what kind of boss is waiting for us...?

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Finally, we were going to challenge the floor boss.

If that’s the case, for breakfast......

“Fel, we’re fighting the boss after this, right? So I’m thinking of making food with stuff from my world. How about it?” If we’re going to fight something boss-class, then it would be better to buff ourselves with food from my world.

“You are planning to make us stronger by feeding us food from your world?”

“That’s right. The boss is pretty strong even from your perspective, right Fel? If that’s the case, I should use my skill to make you even stronger to ensure safety.”

“Indeed. Dora and I have the War God’s blessing, so even as we are now there would not even be a million to one chance we would lose, but eating food from your world is a good idea.”

Oh yeah, they do have the god Vahagn’s blessing, don’t they? Both Fel and Dora-chan were strong already, so I’m not sure how much of it is that blessing.

...Wait, Fel said that it was a good idea, but that’s just because he wants to eat the food, isn’t it? I don’t know what the boss will be though, and I need them to beat it no matter what (otherwise I’ll die) so I don’t mind at all that he’s getting stronger...

“If that’s the case, then what about the same steaks as last time?”

“Yes, that would be good.”

Yep, knew he would go for the wagyu steaks. I don’t think steaks are a great idea first thing in the morning, but it shouldn’t be a problem for them.

I opened my Online Supermarket, and bought the necessarily enormous amount of domestic wagyu beef steaks. Even though we would just be eating food from my world, I figured just steaks would be a bit boring, so I bought some other foods as well while leaving the focus of the meal on everyone’s favorite thing: meat.

The first thing I bought was Korean barbequed pork, with both salty lemon flavoring and salted onion flavoring. Nowadays, there were quite a few flavors of pre-seasoned meat, and they were all very convenient since all one had to do was grill them.

I also bought some minced meat wieners, something called black pepper roasted duck, lots of grilled chicken thighs and livers, and some tare and salt, as well as sandwiches for my own personal breakfast.

First, remove the precooked chicken from their skewers and put them on a plate. Next, cut the black pepper roasted duck to serving size and serve on a plate.

I tried a little bit of it, and it was delicious, with a good combo of the duck’s deep flavor and the kick of the black pepper.

“Food—!” I served the grilled chicken and roasted duck to my three familiars. “You guys’ll be fighting the floor boss after this, so eat up and get strong.”

While everyone was eating, I used the magic stove to cook the wagyu steaks, pork, and minced meat sausages.

“More.” 《More!》 《More!》

Everyone ate their fill right from the start of the day.

I served them all domestic wagyu steaks, grilled pork, and minced meat sausages when they asked for more.

I started them off with simple steaks seasoned with salt and pepper; the pork was already seasoned. When I tried them, they were tasty and refreshing. The minced meat sausages were only seasoned with salt and pepper, but they were bursting with flavorful juiciness, and the casing was nice and crisp. Dora-chan was full after a little bit, but Fel and Sui were insatiable as always.

While Fel and Sui were eating, I finished my simple breakfast of sandwiches and coffee.

“Whew, just as I remembered, the food from the other world is delicious.”

《Hohh — so this is from the other world? It’s pretty great.》

《It was good—!》

That’s nice to hear, but I have something else to be more concerned about. Just how high are their stats now?

I appraised everyone.

【Name】 Fel

【Age】 1014

【Race】 Fenrir

【Level】 911

【HP】 9890 (+5002)

【MP】 9534 (+4675)

【Attack】 9118 (+4483)

【Defense】 9814 (+4907)

【Agility】 9732 (+4856)

【Skills】 Wind magic, Fire magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Holy magic, Barrier magic, Rending Claws, Body Reinforcement, Physical attack resistance, Magic attack resistance, MP Efficiency, Appraisal, Battle Boost

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir; Blessing of the God of War, Vahagn

【Name】 Dora-chan

【Age】 116

【Race】 Pixie Dragon

【Level】 129

【HP】 915 (+459)

【MP】 2935 (+1448)

【Attack】 2703 (+1342)

【Defense】 886 (+445)

【Agility】 3345 (+1673)

【Skills】 Fire magic, Water magic, Wind magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Healing magic, Bombardment, Battle Boost

【Blessings】 Blessing of the God of War, Vahagn

【Name】 Sui

【Age】 2 months

【Race】 Big Slime

【Level】 21

【HP】 1079 (+538)

【MP】 1063 (+529)

【Attack】 1058 (+533)

【Defense】 1061 (+525)

【Agility】 1080 (+540)

【Skills】 Acid Bullet, Potion Creation, Cloning, Water magic, Smithing

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Water, Rusalka; Blessing of the God of Blacksmithing, Hephaestos

Ah, all three of them have leveled up. Well, they’ve been killing a lot of monsters while we’ve been in this dungeon, so it’s not really surprising, I guess. But still, with how fast their stats grow............ I-I might have gone too far, maybe? ......Ahaha........ A-Anyway, we’re going to be fighting the floor boss now, so it’s good, right? ......Right? A-At any rate, let’s just go.

We proceeded just like yesterday, with them defeating all the monsters we encountered and with me picking up dropped items. After a while, Fel stopped.

“It is the floor boss.”

When I followed Fel’s gaze......

There was a huge coiled cobra. It flicked out its thin and long tongue, trying to intimidate us with a hiss.

“W-What the heck......” I tried appraising it.

【Vaasuki】

An S-ranked monster.

What? S-ranked......? Actually wait, just how many tens of meters is that thing? That’s not a monster, it’s a Kaiju! Not to mention it’s spewing out some kind of mist from its mouth.

When I tried appraising the mist, I got the result, 【Vaasuki’s Poison Mist】.

Poison mist? W-Well, we all are able to nullify abnormal conditions, but this thing is way too brutal.

“A vaasuki, huh? How unusual. Even I have only fought one around three times in my life.”

It seemed that our Fel had fought it before. “Y-You’ve fought one of those things already......? It’s huge, and even spits out poison mist......”

“Hmph, those things are easy pickings as long as you watch out for their bite and their constricting attacks.”

I see...

“Well, I can go and finish it off by myself, but Dora and Sui would probably complain. Dora, Sui, let us go.”

《If that’s the boss it’s worth of being my enemy. Awesome, let’s go!!》

《Sui will try hard too—!》

After looking at the Vaasuki, not only was no one else cowed by it, they were blazing with motivation. Personally, I probably wouldn’t be able to handle that thing.

I’ll be waiting in behind a tree, yeah... Go get’em, everyone.

My three familiars jumped in front of the vaasuki. When it spotted them, it started spreading its poison mist. However, since everyone had blessings and thus invalidated status effects, they all ignored that and started attacking over and over.

*Bodooooommm!* *Cracklecracklecracklesnaaaaap———!*

Fel’s lightning magic burst against it.

*Thudshh* *Thudshh* *Thudshh———*

Dora-chan, wrapped in fire magic, was opening large holes in the vaasuki’s coiled body.

*Plort* *Sploosh* *Baloosh*

Sui’s Acid Bullet attacks hit the vaasuki and steadily dissolved it.

“Gyuooooohhhhh!!!”

*Kerthud!!*

...............O H—...

The vaasuki, now ragged and dead, fell flat in front of everyone. The battle didn’t even last a minute. Actually, it was so one-sided I wasn’t even sure if it could be called a fight. All the vaasuki did was spread some poison mist. After that, it wasn’t allowed to do anything as it was beaten to death.

Sorry, vaasuki.

《YAHHAAHH! We did it!!》 Dora-chan was performing aerial maneuvers in celebration.

《We did it! We defeated the big snake!!》 Sui was also excitedly hopping around.

“Heheh, of course we would.” Fel’s face was dripping with smug happiness.

I left the shadow of the tree and went towards my familiars. Looking at the burned and melted corpse of the vaasuki that was also littered with holes, I felt so sorry for it even though it was a monster that it almost brought tears to my eyes.

Ahh, sorry, vaasuki.

There was absolutely no need to feed them food from my world after all. The dead vaasuki disappeared.

Truly, I’m sorry. Please rest easy, namusan~. Well, I’ll still help myself to your drops, though. Let’s see... Ohh, what a glossy blue snakeskin. And a huge magic stone too, and fangs! Just what I’d expect out of not only a floor boss, but also an S-ranked monster!

I put the vaasuki’s drops into my Item Box.

“Hey, we’ve beat the boss so we can go down to the 27th floor, right? I don’t see the stairs anywhere, though; how are we supposed to do that?”

“In these types of floors......” Leaving those words in the air, Fel inspected a rock that was near where the vaasuki was. “Ohh, here it is.”

Lured by Fel’s statement, I approached the rock.

“If you let your magic flow into this round pattern here on the rock, then we will be able to proceed forwards.” The round pattern Fel was referring to was a magic circle.

By that, does Fel mean that this thing will teleport us or something?

“However, all those who wish to go down will not be able to unless they are in physical contact, so be careful about that.”

I see.

“Dora-chan, Sui, we’re going down, so come over...”

When I explained to Dora-chan and Sui that we had to be touching to go down......

*Glomp*

Dora-chan clung on to the back of my head.

《This is good, right?》

Dora-chan...... Oh fine.

I was on top of Fel, with Sui in my arms.

“Okay then. Do it, Fel.”

Fel placed his right front paw onto the magic circle and let his magic flow. When that happened, for a moment, I felt a floating sensation, like I was in an elevator.

“So this is the 27th floor, is it? It’s the same as the 26th, though.”

“Indeed. It seems this is the 27th floor. Now then, we are going to use the same methods to track down the floor boss. Let us be off.”

After that, we started to make progress through the forest, but I wasn’t sure how I should react to it. Thanks to the ongoing effects of the food I served them, everyone was just hustling through the place. They were absolutely trampling over everything. I was even wanting to apologize to the monsters for what was happening. And just like that, I obtained another huge batch of drop items.

Not only that, but since everyone was so energetic, we went so fast that according to Fel we would see the floor boss before evening tomorrow. Yep, apparently we’re seeing the floor boss already tomorrow.

This time I’m not going to let them eat purely stuff from my world. I’ve learned restraint.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Today as well, we were exploring the 27th floor.

For breakfast we had the cabbage rolls I had preprepared. However, both Fel and Sui weren’t satisfied with the cabbage rolls I’d had in stock, so unfortunately, I had to hurriedly whip up some miso grilled orc general bowls. And with that, the food that I’d prepared had finally run out. I only had some rice left. Leaving Dora-chan aside, the stock held up pretty well against the huge eaters, Fel and Sui.

And so, I would be cooking again for lunch.

After finishing the meal and taking a break, we once again started through the forest. According to Fel, we’d be seeing the floor boss before the evening, though. The 26th floor had the S-ranked vaasuki, so there shouldn’t be anything weaker than that.

I wonder what kind of monster will come out this time...... Well, either way, I’m not going to be fighting anyway. As if I would stand a chance against an S-ranked monster. Sure, I have the Perfect Defense skill and the ability to nullify status effects, but why don’t you try getting attacked by that kaiju-like monster? I’d die just from the fear it would cause in me.

“I sense one. Well then, I will be off.”

Ahh, looks like there’s a monster.

Fel took no time at all to beat down a troop of wild apes. After that, Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui all took turns defeating the monsters we encountered. And I did my best retrieving their dropped items, yeah.

While we were proceeding further into the forest, everyone’s gut alarms rang, and it was time for a meal.

“I don’t have any more prepared stuff left, so I’ll start cooking now. Just wait a bit.” Something that I can make in a flash...... yeah, let’s make a stamina stir-fry bowl.

Still, it was great that the food I had prepared lasted so long.

Since we were already in the 27th floor, there were no other adventurers around, and that fact was a huge saving grace.

Now that I can afford to freely use my skill, let’s do just that.

I bought green garlic, tare to flavor the grilled meat (roasted garlic flavor) and white sesame seeds. If you’re using it in a stamina meal, then I recommend making sure the tare for the meat is also garlic flavored.

Then, I brought out the magic stove from my Item Box. I wavered on whether to use orc general or bloody horn-bull for the meat, but I went with bloody horn-bull in the end. Both beef and pork work in this dish.

~◇~◇~◇~

First, slice the bloody horn-bull meat thinly into pieces about the size of a mouthful. Then coat with the tare and massage the flavor into the meat.

Cut the green garlic into lengths around 4 cm long.

Oil up a heated frying pan, and quickly cook the bloody horn-bull meat. Once the color of the meat changes, add in the green garlic and keep cooking.

When the green garlic has wilted a little, mix in some of the tare sauce. While stirring the sauce in, give the meat and garlic in the pan another quick sauté to finish it off.

~◇~◇~◇~

For Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan, I molded the rice in a deep dish before topping it with lots of the stamina stir-fry I made. After spreading the white sesame seeds on top, the dish was complete.

“It’s done...”

When I placed the dishes in front of them, they all greedily dug in.

“This tare mixed into the meat is delicious. I feel like I can eat an unlimited amount of this.”

Fel, I know you said that, but try to keep yourself in check, okay?

《Kkhhhhh! This salty-sweet tare is irresistible!》

You get it, Dora-chan! That tare’s delicious, isn’t it?

《This tare goes super great with the meat — Sui is gonna eat a lot—!》

I see I see, so Sui understands this taste too, huh?

“More.” 《More—!》 《More.》

It was the usual for Fel and Sui, but even Dora-chan wanted another serving.

Wait, huh? Was the garlic a bad idea? Did I just increase their appetite......? While I was wondering that, I served everyone a second helping.

I should also start on my share while everyone’s eating. The salty sweetness of the garlic flavored tare pairs so great with the rice...

The fragrance of the white sesame seeds I’d spread around on top was also serving as a good accent to the dish.

Stamina stir-fry bowls really are just awesome for when you want to eat something hefty. Yeah, yeah, this is great.

I had thought I might have served myself a little too much, but it was gone before I knew it. Just when I was taking a breath after gulping down some of the bottled tea I had stored in my Item Box, I heard Fel and Sui’s voice.

“More.” 《More!》

The garlic flavor must have boosted their appetite, since there was a whole chain of “more”s after that. I had thought that the rice I had made would last for another meal after this, but it was completely finished off.

After fitting in a small after-meal break, we once again set off through the forest. My three familiars safely disposed of any monsters, and I picked up their drops.

Then, finally......

“That must this floor’s boss.” Fel informed me, and I hid behind a tree before taking a peek.

W-What the heck is that.........?

It was probably a little larger than a lion. The body was also lion-like, but the tail was that of a scorpion’s, and was raised up like one as well. It had a strange head: it was like an old human man’s head. And lastly, I could make out its mouth, split almost from ear to ear, forming a creepy grin.

Just looking at that repulsive grinning face gave me goosebumps.

When I tried appraising that bizarre monster......

【Manticore】

An S-ranked monster.

A manticore? I’m sure I’ve heard of that before... If I remember correctly, it’s a legendary beast that eats people...... W-Well, either way, that thing is no good. Its face is so gross. Too gross. I can tell that thing will be haunting my dreams already.

“That’s a manticore...... Fel, are you gonna be okay?”

“Of course I will. I have fought a manticore before. Those things are pretty sly, though. They will do things like pretend like they are weakened, only to stab you with their tail to finish you off when you get close. So great care is needed in those situations.” Saying so, Fel turned around to face Dora-chan and Sui. “Dora, Sui, the manticore is both fast and sly. We will land a preemptive attack and then try to finish it off quickly.”

《So just as usual, then. Let’s do it!》

《Hey hey, what does ‘sly’ mea—n?》

It was too complicated for Sui, huh?

“Sly means that it’s really sneaky and cheats. See that monster, it will do things like pretend it’s weak, only to attack you when you get close and let your guard down.”

《Hmm, so it’s a bad monster. Sui will try hard to beat it!》

Filled with fighting spirit, all three of my familiars turned to face the manticore.

*Plort* *Plort* *Plort———*

Sui unleashed its Acid Bullets, but the manticore agilely dodged them.

*Thudsshhhh*

A large hole was opened in the manticore’s flank. It looked like Dora-chan charged through it.

Oh manticore, know that you aren’t only facing one foe.

“Ghgueeehhh!!” The manticore let out a cry to the heavens.

*Zlsshhh———*

Fel released a Rending Claw from his right front leg.

Ugh............ The manticore was cut into small pieces and died.

I probably shouldn’t be the one saying this, but you guys just have no sense of mercy, do you?

After the manticore disappeared, I went to pick up its drops. It dropped a large magic stone, its pelt, and a poison needle.

“Now then, let’s go down.”

“Yes, let us.”

Quickly finding the teleportation circle, we proceeded to the 28th floor.

“Whaaaat?! This is the 28th floor?!”

The 28th floor was a swampland.

We were standing on a wooden pathway that was placed over the swampland. The pathway itself was around 1.5 meters wide, and stretched off endlessly into the distance.

“So we should follow this path, right...?”

“Indeed. However, we will also be more easily attacked by monsters. Which means as long as monsters as strong as me are not around, this is a trial that we can easily pass.”

......Really what is up with this dungeon? Is every dungeon this mean-spirited in its construction?

When I asked Fel, apparently all dungeons were just about the same in this aspect.

“As one would expect though, a swampland floor like this is rare.”

Ahh, thought so. There’s no way you’d be able to pass through this place without this path unless you could fly like Dora-chan or had a boat. But it’s also like you’re asking to be attacked.

Just like Fel said, we’d be sitting ducks for monsters.

“Still, this place really is full of water......” Fel said, his voice dripping with dread.

Ahh, right. Fel hates water...

“It would be best to put this place behind us as fast as possible. I will be running through the night this time.” Apparently Fel wanted to get out of here badly enough that he was planning to run through the night.

“I can still kind of see since it’s only the evening, but are you sure you’re okay moving once it’s dark?” As it is now, it’s still possible to see since it hasn’t gone completely dark yet, but once it does, he won’t even be able to see the path. Won’t it be dangerous...?

“There is no need to worry, I can see in the dark. Moving at night is but a simple task.”

《I can see in the dark, too.》 It seemed like both Fel and Dora-chan were fine in the dark.

“But won’t it be tiring to move all night?”

“Hmph, I am not so soft as to be crippled by one all-nighter.”

《He’s right. I’ve gone as long as three days straight just flying.》

Apparently, they were fine in terms of stamina, too. It was probably going to be impossible for Sui to stay up all night, so I would probably have to have him sit in my bag. And if that was the case, wouldn’t I be the biggest problem?

At the very least, I would have to make sure I wasn’t shaken off by Fel during the night; if I were to fall off here, that would mean falling somewhere into a swamp.

“Before we go, first is food.”

《That’s right. I’m hungry.》

《Sui is also hungry...》

They say that, but there’s no way I can just take my stove out here... With its weight it would definitely fall through the floor.

“Hurry up. I want to eat quickly and start moving.” It seemed like Fel just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.

Hmm... what should I do...... I know I thought I would never feed them pure food from my world again, but maybe I should just give them some side dishes from my Online Supermarket this time... Since it will be better for them to be energetic if they’re going to be running through the night anyway. And it’ll also be safer since they’ll be fighting monsters along the way. Okay then, let’s just get some side dishes for now. It should be fine as long as I don’t feed them wagyu steak or anything like that.

I opened up my Online Supermarket and started scooping up any dish that caught my eye: yakitori, karaage, beef croquettes, shumai dumplings, spring rolls, sweet and sour pork, roast pork cutlet, and kalbi beef bowls. I selected the food focusing on meat as the center of the meal. When I served them to my familiars in dishes, everyone greedily started eating.

As for myself, I was having some fresh chirashi sushi and a salad, since all I’d been having lately was meat. Once Fel and Sui were satisfied after several more helpings, mealtime was over.

“Well then, let us go.”

《Master — Sui is sleepy.》

Ahh, thought so. Sui does get sleepy after every meal.

Sui would always fall asleep really fast after having food.

“Sui, get in the bag and go to sleep.”

《Got it—!》 Leaving those words behind, Sui slipped into my bag.

“You, get on my back. Make sure you hold on tight.”

“G-Got it.” I got on top of Fel’s back and made sure to get a good grip.

“Ah, right. Do you need light?” While we were eating the sun had set, and now the surroundings were completely black. Right now, our only source of light was my flashlight. However, I could get more sources through my skill if it was needed. If I remember correctly, I should be able to buy a lantern type LED light. And there should also be other varieties of flashlight available as well, if memory serves.

“No, light is unnecessary. If we make it brighter, it would be like we were calling the monsters to us.”

Ahh, that’s true, isn’t it?

“I will be erecting a barrier around us, and another one around Dora-chan.”

《Sure, thanks for that. If that’s the case, I’ll scout on ahead and get rid of anything that’s in your way.》

“Please.”

《Yeah, you can count on me.》

Just like that, we stepped foot into the dark nighttime swamp area.

We, who were walking down the built wooden pathway, were quickly accosted by monsters.

It was a pair of monsters, one a frog around 30 cm large, and the other a flat fish that looked like a monkfish. They jumped out of the swamp at us, but thanks to Fel’s barrier, they were repelled. The frog was called a swamp frog, and the fish was called a swamp fish. They were both weaklings, so we left them alone — we couldn’t be bothered to defeat every single one of them.

It seemed that Dora-chan, who went on ahead of us, was fighting, as I could hear sounds every once in a while. They probably dropped items, but the situation being what it was, I’d already given up on retrieving any of them. Well, I’ve already gotten more than enough on the floors before this, anyway.

I was looking forward to the floor boss’ drop, though.

During our journey, Dora-chan, who was ahead of us, took care of all the attacking monsters. There were also places where the pathway cut out, or where it was made out of rotting wood that seemed like it would break, but Fel dodged all of that.

We blitzed through the floor at an incredible speed in the middle of the night. By the time the sun was rising again, we were already close to the floor boss, according to Fel.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“The path around here looks solid, so let’s break for food now.”

“Yes, that is probably a good idea.”

《Ohh, finally, food!》

The place being what it was, I could only use the smaller portable stoves, so something that could be quickly made would be better.

Let’s just make steaks for everyone, they all like it anyway.

Once the wyvern steaks were cooked up, I woke up Sui and we all ate.

Right from breakfast, everyone was gorging themselves on several steaks. I couldn’t really stomach steaks so early in the morning, so I ate something else. I used the black bread to make a ham and egg sandwich that I ate with coffee.

“We have made a lot of progress towards the floor boss since we have been moving all night. At this rate we should see it before noon.”

How quick.

“We are going to defeat the boss quickly and move on to the next floor.”

Wow, Fel really does just want to get out of here.

《Ahh, right. I kept getting attacked by creepy monsters like huge fish with beards and slimy snakes. They weren’t much, but I couldn’t take how they looked...》 Dora-chan said with a disgusted look on his face.

So the bearded fish is like a catfish, and I guess the slimy snake would be an eel? While we headed for the floor boss in this swamp area, I came to understand what kind of monsters Dora-chan was talking about. As we proceeded along the path, a huge catfish jumped out of the swamp and tried to eat us with its huge open mouth.

“Woahh!”

*Thudshhhh———*

Before the huge catfish even got to us Dora-chan opened up a hole in its body.

《It’s this thing, right here. There were so many of them during the night.》

Just like Dora-chan said, that thing is creepy.

Even though it looked like a catfish, its mouth was filled with sharp teeth.

《There was also that.》

When I followed Dora-chan’s line of sight prompted by his words. I saw a long and thin snake-like monster raising its head to attack us with a round mouth that was packed full of layers of sharp teeth.

This one’s huge too... It did in fact look like an eel, but more like a lamprey eel than anything else.

*Thudshhh———*

The lamprey eel was also charged into by Dora-chan before it got to us, and its body was torn into pieces.

“This one was all over the place at night, too.”

Yeah, Dora-chan’s right. They’re creepy as hell.

After that, we would periodically get attacked by the same two monsters, and Dora-chan would defeat them every time. As for Fel, he didn’t try to fight, as it seemed he was concentrating on getting out as fast as possible. And since we were putting a priority on speed, Sui was staying in the bag.

We proceeded quickly, and just as Fel said, we reached the floor boss before noon.

“That must be the floor boss.” Fel looked forward.

Ahead of us was......

“Th-That? I-Isn’t that too big?”

It was a crocodile that was at least as big as a tour bus. When I appraised it......

【Gustav】

An S-ranked monster.

Of course this one would also be S-ranked, since the two floor bosses before this one were also S-ranked. Still though, that thing’s huge. Can we actually fight that?

“Great, let us go.”

《Yeah! HYAHHAAAHH!!》

《Sui will fight too—!》

Wai-! Hu-! Wait a second!!

Hey! I’m still on you!!

“H-Hey, Fel! I’m still riding you!!”

“I could leave you here, but you will be attacked by monsters. Also, despite that thing’s looks, it is fairly fast. You will be eaten if you are alone.”

Ghh...... Just spare me getting eaten, please...

“F-Fine! Let’s just go!”

After hearing me say that, Fel ran off towards Gustav, and jumped onto its back.

“Dora, this thing’s hide is tough! Aim for its eyes!”

《Got it!》

Gustav raised its head and tried to bite Dora-chan, who was flying around it. Even I could hear the sound of its teeth hitting each other with every chomp.

Fel, who had jumped onto Gustav’s back, fired Wind magic at the monster’s head.

*Fwoosh* *Fwoosh* *Fwoooshh———*

“Gooooghhh!”

Fel’s Wind magic cut deeply into Gustav’s head.

“Dora, now! Aim for the eyes!”

Five pillars of ice with pointed tips appeared around Dora-chan.

*Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunkthunkthunk———*

The pillars of ice stabbed into Gustav’s eyes one after the other.

“Ghgooogghh!!” Gustav thrashed around. I clung onto Fel for dear life so that I wouldn’t be thrown off.

“Ah, Sui?!”

Sui smoothly moved near Gustav’s mouth and went inside it.

“Ghgoooghhh!!”

*Bangg!*

After another cry out of the rampaging Gustav, it stopped and fell over, no power left in its body. I thought I could hear sizzling sounds, when a hole opened up in Gustav’s belly. From inside the hole, Sui popped out.

《Uhmm, Sui went inside the belly and went pew pew lots—!》

.........So Sui went inside its stomach and sprayed Acid Bullets everywhere? Yeah, I get it, since even strong monsters can’t train their innards. Acid Bullets from inside its stomach...... by some meanings Sui would be quite the villain.

“An acid attack from inside it, huh? It was an enemy, but even I am feeling sorry for it.”

《Man, acid in its stomach...... You’re real cruel sometimes, you know that, Sui?》

Both Fel and Dora-chan started muttering quietly.

*Cough* You guys shouldn’t be talking.

“S-Sui, well done.”

《Eheheheh~》 Sui seemed happy about being complimented, as it jumped into my chest.

After Gustav disappeared, I found it left behind its hide and a huge magic stone, as well as a fang and its spine.

After picking up those drops, we went to the only piece of dry land on the floor, that was placed behind the boss.

“Well then, let’s get moving.”

“Indeed.”

Letting some magic flow into the circle, we teleported to the 29th floor.

“Right after a swamp, it’s this......” What lay before our eyes after teleporting was a wide desert.

“This dungeon’s layout is quite interesting...”

Fel, don’t just tidy this all up by saying it’s interesting. After a forest, it’s a swamp and then a desert? Each right after the other? That’s way too harsh, man. Not only that, but they’re all filled with high ranking monsters...... And it’s really hot.

The heat of the sun beat down on me relentlessly. It would be obvious if one thought of this as a desert, but this place was actually a dungeon. I had no idea how it worked out like this, but there was even a sun in the sky.

“This place is quite hot......”

《So hot......》

《It’s hot......》

All three of my familiars were shriveling in the heat.

“I will be erecting a barrier around us all. By doing that I can shield us from the heat somewhat.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Indeed. I cannot do anything about the sun’s rays, but inside the barrier it should become somewhat cooler.”

Ohhh, man barriers are super nice.

“However, this heat is still significant. Do not expect it to suddenly become comfortable. Just think of it as being better than making do without.”

I see. Fel’s saying that it’ll still be pretty hot even with the barrier, so for now let’s hydrate before setting off. Oh, maybe having some sports drinks or something to try and prevent heatstroke would be best.

I opened my Online Supermarket and bought a large amount of water and sports drinks. Since there didn’t seem to be any way to defend against the sun’s rays, I also thought it would be best to put on a hat or something with a hood. When I checked, there was something perfect in the listing: a UV parka with a hood. It was perfect for my purposes, so I bought it as well.

“It looks like Fel’s barrier will relieve the heat a little, but we should still hydrate ourselves before we go so that we don’t succumb to the heat.”

I served everyone some sports drink in a dish.

I also put on the parka I bought, and downed some sports drink myself.

“We are going to go straight for this floor’s boss again.”

Yeah, this place seems huge, too...

There was only sand, sand, and more sand as far as the eye could see. It was probably the safest option to go straight after the boss by relying on Fel’s powers of presence perception, just like we’d been doing up until now.

“Areas like this get scarily cold at night. At any rate, we have to hurry. Hey, get on.”

Ahh, yeah I thought it would get cold in the desert. The best thing to do here really would be to listen to Fel and just get on.

And so I did as Fel said and climbed onto his back. Sui was inside my shoulder bag, and Dora-chan was flying around us as a lookout.

We put all our efforts into one thing — getting through the desert.

“Hey, something’s coming at us.”

When I looked over to where Dora-chan was facing, I saw many reddish black dots.

“What the heck is that......?” As I was staring, the reddish black dots grew steadily closer.

When they were finally within sight range, I gawked at their forms. “......I-It’s a swarm of scorpions...”

A swarm of almost a hundred of those scorpions that seemed to be over a meter tall were fast approaching us.

“Hm? Those are sand scorpions, are they not? If those are here......” Suddenly, a huge scorpion the size of a car appeared from the sand in front of us.

“Woaahh!!”

“As I thought. However, something like you will not be able to stand in my way. Fool.”

*BOOooooOOooomm———*

Lightning fell on the huge scorpion.

Ah, it’s dead. What kind of monster was it?

【Giant Sand Scorpion】

An A-ranked monster.

It was done in by one shot from Fel, but the scorpion was an A-ranked monster.

Wait, what happened to the army of scorpions? Weren’t there like a hundred of them? When I looked over to where the swarm last was, they had scattered and were running.

“As long as we defeat the one controlling them, those scorpions will not attack.”

I see.

After the giant sand scorpion disappeared, I picked up its drops, a magic stone and a poison needle, and put them in my Item Box.

We once again started off through the desert.

Fel, who was running, suddenly stopped.

“Gyuuooohhhh!!!” Around ten meters ahead of us, a huge earthworm-like monster burst out of the sand.

“W-What the hell?!” When I appraised it......

【Sandworm】

An A-ranked monster.

The sandworm raised its head, opened its round mouth with several layers of sharp teeth wide, and made like it was going to eat us.

《I’ll get it!!》 Dora-chan said as he charged into the sandworm.

*Thudshhhh———*

“Gyuoooohhhh!”

*Thudddd*

The sandworm fell over with a new hole in its body.

《Hehheh, one worm cooked and ready.》

Cooked and ready? Dora-chan...... Well, whatever, you killed it.

The sandworm dropped its magic stone and a sharp tooth. Having retrieved those, we started traveling through the desert again. While we traveled, we were attacked by giant sand scorpions and their armies as well as sandworms several times, but each time Fel and Dora-chan beat them down completely.

Sui must be weak to heat, as it had spent this entire time asleep in my bag.

“The sun is setting. Moving through the desert at night is not smart. Let us make camp around here.”

At Fel’s suggestion, we decided to set up camp. As the sun set, the heat reversed and it started to get colder and colder. As I had suspected, deserts at night got frighteningly cold.

“Just as it was during the day, having the barrier around will help defend against changing temperatures a little, but outside the barrier it will be frighteningly cold. Due to that influence, even the inside of the barrier will be cold, although it will not be as bad as being outside it.”

So we have to prepare ourselves for at least some degree of cold, huh? If that’s the case......

I opened my Online Supermarket, and bought everything that looked like it would defend against the cold. They carried pocket heaters, thick underquilts and comforters, blankets, and even thick sweatwear, so I bought them for my own use. It would have been best if they had a down jacket or something, but in the end that was too much to ask for.

I laid out a larger amount of cardboard since the area was so sandy, and then I put down the thick underquilt. On top of that, I put out both mine and Fel’s futons. Then I added blankets and comforters.

“I’ll cook food, so while you’re waiting go sit in the futons, it’s cold.”

When the veil of darkness descended, it became colder and colder just as Fel had said it would. My breath came out in white wisps. As a defense against the cold, I put on the thick sweatwear I bought over the UV parka I was cloaked in. It didn’t look great, but it was better than being cold.

Great, now let’s start cooking. It’d be nice to make something quick, but...... Ah, let’s make bell peppers and beef rice bowls. I can just use the tare they make for that and it’ll be easy. But then I’ll need to steam some rice, too... When it comes to something simple but still filling, it really does have to be rice bowls...... And I have to think of tomorrow’s meals too, so I definitely want to make extra rice. I have lots of rice that I haven’t cooked yet, so for now let’s just steam some rice.

Washing and soaking the rice was a bit of a waste of time so I shortened the process by using warm water. With the magic stove, I used all four burners on it with clay pots to steam rice. While that was happening, I bought the ingredients I would need for the dish with my skill.

It’s just peppers and bamboo shoots boiled in water, right? I’ll also need the bell peppers and beef tare and...... when it’s this cold I should also make a soup, huh? I bought some freeze-dried egg soup.

~◇~◇~◇~

First, cut some bloody horn-bull meat into thin strips, and do the same for the boiled peppers and bamboo shoots.

In the meantime, the rice I’d been cooking was thoroughly steamed, so I shut them — clay pot and all — into my Item Box. With the burners free, I use them to make even more rice, and continue making the bell peppers and beef.

Oil up a heated frying pan, and sauté the bloody horn-bull meat until it changes color. When that happens, add in the peppers and bamboo shoots and continue cooking. Then, throw in the store-bought bell peppers and beef tare and mix it in well amongst all the ingredients while continuing to sauté the pan, and the dish is complete.

~◇~◇~◇~

For my familiar’s portions, I molded the freshly cooked rice into a deep dish before piling on lots of the bell peppers and beef to complete the bowl. At the same time, I also served the egg soup.

“Everyone, it’s done.”

All three of them happily chowed down on the meal, which was giving off steam into the air. They even gulped down the egg soup.

“This hot drink really hits the spot given this cold.”

《Yeah, it’s really warming up my body.》

《It’s so go~od.》

Thanks to Fel’s barrier, the temperature hadn’t dropped below zero, but it really was cold. As soon as I recognized the cold, it felt even colder, and I couldn’t suppress a shiver.

Let’s eat while I’m still feeling a little warm. Man, the thick flavor of the oyster sauce’s umami is irresistible. The peppers and bamboo shoots also give the dish a really good snap. This is really prodding my appetite. Drinking the egg soup is also really relaxing, and it really warms up the body...

After Fel and Sui had multiple extra servings and were satisfied, I finally caught a breath.

I talked with Fel while enjoying some after-meal coffee. “Fel, how long until we see the floor boss?”

“This floor is large. We might somehow be able to get there by the evening the day after tomorrow, I think. But if the sun sets then we have to worry about the cold. Depending on the situation, we might have to delay fighting the boss until the next day.”

What Fel’s saying is correct. With the day being as hot as it is, and the nights being this cold, the difference in temperature is too severe. Just that is more than enough to shave away at our stamina, but if the fight were to drag on and the sun were to set, then...... We’re able to be like this somehow thanks to Fel’s barrier, but even inside it’s only about 1 or 2 degrees. Thinking about the cold, it’s way too dangerous to be fighting once it gets dark. And since that’s the case, it’s obviously way safer to fight the next day instead.

“Well, we can only decide that kind of thing once we actually get near the floor boss, anyway.”

“Indeed.”

That day, we all slept huddled together. Fel seemed to have taken a liking to the blanket, so he slept with the blanket on top of the underquilt. Sui was sleeping soundly in between Fel and I. And Dora-chan was fond of the pocket warmer it seemed, so he was sleeping with one of the adhesive ones attached to his stomach. I attached one of the adhesive ones to my back and slept using Fel’s stomach as a pillow.

Just like that, we spent our first cold night in the desert huddled together.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Day dawned on the desert floor.

For breakfast, I fixed a simple bloody horn-bull steak bowl for everyone else, and for myself, using store-bought seaweed and fish, I made a small rice ball. After hydrating thoroughly using sports drinks, we once again started traveling through the desert.

Just like yesterday, we were attacked by sandworms and giant sand scorpions with their armies in tow, but we defeated them all, collected their drops, and kept moving.

We broke for lunch in the middle of travel, and I made a refreshing grated radish-flavored pork steak bowl — and I splurged on some slightly expensive ice cream using my skill to serve as a dessert.

“Ohh, this thing is cold and delicious! I was just about fed up with this heat, but this helps.”

《So cooold~, it’s bringing me back to life!》

《It’s cold and sweet and delicious~. Sui wants to eat more—!》

Everyone was silent because of the heat, but it seemed like they recovered some of their energy after eating the cold, sweet ice cream. After a small post-meal break, we once again set off through the harsh desert.

《Some sort of huge snake monster is coming,》 said Dora-chan, who was keeping a lookout. Following Dora-chan’s line of sight, I noticed a huge snake about 3 meters in length slithering sideways at us.

【Death Sidewinder】

An A-ranked monster.

An A-ranked monster, huh?

《I’ll do it!!》

*Zshhh———*

The death sidewinder’s head flew off. Dora-chan let loose with Wind magic and cut it off, it seemed.

“Ohh, nice work, Dora-chan.”

《Heheh, it’s not that hard.》

The death sidewinder dropped a magic stone and its venom sac, as well as its skin. I picked them up and stuffed them in my Item Box. From then on, we moved ever forward through the desert while defeating attacking giant sand scorpions and their armies, sandworms, and death sidewinders while picking up their drops.

After once again camping through the cold desert night, we once more made for the floor boss while defeating monsters and collecting drops.

“I sense a strong presence coming from ahead of us. It is probably the floor boss. We arrived earlier than I thought we would. There is still some time before sunset. Let us continue on and fight the boss now.”

Just as Fel finished saying that, the floor boss showed itself.

“Guoohhh!!” The sand gathered together and formed a humanoid monster that looked to be 20 meters tall.

【Giant Sand Golem】

An S-ranked monster.

After the 26th, 27th, and 28th floors, of course this one would also be S-ranked...

“Dora, Sui, let us go.”

As if answering Fel’s call, Dora-chan’s body glowed a burning red as he wrapped himself in fire. Sui, who was in my bag, also jumped out in response to Fel. Of course, I retreated to the back.

《Rahahahhh!—! I’m going in!》

*Thudshhhh———*

Dora-chan, wrapped in Fire magic, charged into the giant sand golem. He opened a hole in the thing, but...... sand shifted and gathered immediately, and closed it up.

《Huh—?》 Dora-chan charged into the giant sand golem once more.

“Dora, there is no point! That thing is made of sand. The hole will just fix itself!”

That giant sand golem was just a moving pile of sand. Even if it lost parts, it would just fix itself immediately.

True, like this, Dora-chan’s attack where he charges into things is probably not really useful here.

“Water! Dora-chan, Sui, soak that thing in water!” I yelled. Sand that’s taken on water won’t move or repair itself like dry, smooth sand.

《Got it! Water, right?》

《Master — got it—!》

Both Dora-chan and Sui released Water magic at the giant sand golem. Once the giant sand golem was thoroughly soaked...... “Fel, hit it with your Lightning magic!!”

“I know!”

*Boomm!!* *Cracklecracklecracklecrackle———*

A flash of lightning struck the giant sand golem’s head.

“Ghghaaaaahh!!”

*Thhuuuddd!*

The giant sand golem fell over, throwing up sand. I lost sight of everyone in the cloud of sand.

“*Cough* *Cough* *Cough* Fel, Dora-chan, Sui, you guys alright?!”

“Hmph, of course I am!”

《Yeah, I’m fine!》

《Master — Sui is here—!》

The sand settled down, and I could once again see everyone. They were covered in sand and had turned a little white by it.

“Ahahah, everyone’s white, all covered in sand!”

“Mnn, you say that, but you are too.”

Oh, I am. I jumped to shake off the sand that I was covered in. Fel shook himself until he blew it all away, Dora-chan performed airborne acrobatics to shake his off, and Sui sort of rippled the surface of its body, repelling the sand.

While we were ridding ourselves of the sand, the giant sand golem disappeared. And as for the dropped items......

A huge-ish magic stone, as well as five diamonds of varying sizes. As expected of an S-ranked monster.

《Master — there’s something here.》

It seemed like Sui found something. I approached Sui, who was bouncing up and down. There, I found a treasure chest, half buried in the sand.

“Sui, well done.”

《Eheheheh~》

For now, I appraised the treasure chest.

【Treasure Chest】

A treasure chest that has been set up so that when opened, it will spray out poison gas, and right afterwards will release Wind magic.

Oh, it’s poison gas again. Looks like the treasure chests here all have that, huh? Don’t know whether to call that mean or what. I mean, it’s gotta be okay to have a non-trapped treasure chest every once in a while, dungeon, know what I’m saying?

This treasure chest uses Wind magic right after the poison gas, right? So that means it’s either to spread the gas around, or something like a wind cutter...... Given this dungeon, it might actually be both. Well, whatever. I have both Perfect Defense and the ability to nullify status effects. Now then, let’s open this thing.

*Klichak* *Creeeeaaaakkk* *Psshhhhhh*

As soon as I opened the treasure chest, it sprayed out a reddish black gas.

“*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*”

While I was choking on the large amount of gas, gusts of wind were raised.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang* *Clang* *Clang———*

Blades of wind were deflected by my Perfect Defense.

.........Hahh, so it was both. Alright then, what’s important is what’s inside. What’s inside, I say!

Peeking into the treasure chest, I saw a necklace, a cloth bag, and also a gemstone. I appraised each one...

【Necklace of Antidotes】

A magic item that nullifies any and all poisons.

【Magic Bag (medium)】

A magic bag as large as twenty large jute bags.

【Yellow Diamond】

A yellow diamond cut into a large teardrop shape.

......Hmm, this is kinda...... I don’t need this necklace since I already have the ability to nullify status effects. And this magic bag (medium) is useless, since I have an infinite Item Box. W-Well, I’ll probably just sell this stuff, but I can just think that over at my own pace once we go back up.

“Hey, are you done appraising? Let us leave, quickly.”

“Coming!”

Using the magic circle drawn on a rock to move, we teleported to the dungeon’s lowest floor, the 30th.

The 30th floor, which we were teleported to, was a semicircular room surrounded by stone walls. It was around 300 meters in diameter.

Across the room from us, was a huge blackish rhino-like monster with a horn. It was around the size of a large trailer.

“Grruoooaahhhh!!” Its cry made me flinch.

What the heck is that............? All the bosses up until how have been straight-up monstrous, but this thing’s on a whole other scale......

“That is a behemoth. Everyone, proceed with caution.”

That was indeed the behemoth, just as Fel said.

But still, why are we already in the boss battle? I’d thought we’d be moving towards a boss through a huge floor like we’d been doing all this time. It’s like, “You should have told me earlier that we’d just be flung at the behemoth!” That kind of feeling. Isn’t this exactly the time where we should have beefed up with food from my world? Goddammit, there’s no helping it now.

The behemoth that was facing us raised its leg like a bull and seemed like it would charge us at any second.

“It comes.”

“Grruuooooaaahhhh!!”

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

After the behemoth raised an ear-shattering cry, it approached us, its footsteps shaking the earth.

“Dora, Sui, listen well! Both physical attacks like tackles and magic attacks do not work very well on behemoths. However, “very well” does not mean that they do not work at all. You only have to hit it with something strong enough that it cannot defend against. At any rate, focus on attacking. Do not let up until the behemoth falls over, understand? Attack!”

《Just attack, no matter what, huh? That sounds just fine, let’s do it!》

《Sui will also go pew pew a who—le lot and get it with Water magic too—!》

All three of my familiars moved towards the behemoth.

*Doonnggg———*

《Woah! Crap...... this stupid thing’s way too hard!》

Dora wrapped himself in Lightning magic and charged in but was denied by the behemoth’s tough hide.

*Plort* *Plort* *Plort*

《Huh—? It’s not melting—!》

Sui used its specialty, Acid Bullet, but while it did make a sound and there was smoke, it did not eat through the behemoth’s tough hide, and it seemed like the boss didn’t receive much damage at all.

*BooOOOooomm!* *Cracklecracklecracklecrackle———*

*Zzsshh* *Zzsshh* *Zzsshh* *Zzsshh* *Zzsshh*

Fel hit it with both Lightning and Wind magic continuously.

“Grrh! Grruuooohhh!!”

The behemoth shook its body, unsettled, but it didn’t seem to have taken too much damage.

“Dora, Sui! Do not stop attacking!!”

《OKAY!》

《Got it—!》

*Thssshhh* *Thssshhh* *Thsh* *Thsh* *Thsh———*

Dora-chan used Ice magic and shot spiked pillars of ice at the behemoth. However, the ice pillars were turned to shards by the toughness of the behemoth’s hide.

*Plort* *Plort* *Plort* *Plort* *Plort* *Plort*

Sui continued to hit the behemoth with its Acid Bullets, and it was soaked in a huge amount of acid, leaving the behemoth smoking.

*Zzshhhhh———*

Sui hit the behemoth with a Water Cutter on a part that was smoking due to the acid.

“Grruuuoohhh———!!”

The tough hide of the behemoth, which had up until now been denying all the attacks from Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan, snapped open. The behemoth showed its rage by shaking its head and front legs.

“Its breath! It is going to use its breath!!” Fel noticed first and warned everyone.

Looking at it, the behemoth’s mouth was shining red. Shit, that’s bad! I’m right in the middle of that breath’s path! I immediately jumped away from where I was and distanced myself from the breath’s line of fire.

“Ghruuuaaahhhhhhhh!!!”

An extremely hot blast of fire was released from the behemoth’s mouth. Just like a flamethrower, the fire released from the behemoth’s mouth was tremendous. Even I could feel the heat from where I was, which was quite far away.

There wouldn’t even be bones left if I got hit with that thing.

Once the behemoth’s breath stopped, Fel immediately threw out some orders. “It seems like the parts of its hide that have been hit with acid are weaker! Sui, keep soaking it in acid! Dora and I will attack the parts that have been covered with it! Let us cut this behemoth apart!!!”

《Yeah!!》

《Sui will go pew pew lots—!》

After quivering intensely for a small while, Sui became large — and then, it started to shoot an extreme number of Acid Bullets at the behemoth.

*Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew*

And towards that behemoth that had been covered in acid......

*Zzshh* *Zzshh* *Zzshh* *Zzshh* *Zzshh*

*Zzzsss* *Zzzsss* *Zzzsss* *Zzzsss* *Zzzsss* *Zzzsss*

Fel and Dora-chan let fly with their Wind magic. The behemoth was cut apart.

“Grruaahh! Grruuuooahhhhhhh!!!” The behemoth let out an agonized cry, but Fel and Dora-chan didn’t stop. They hit the thing with Wind magic over and over.

“Sui, hit it with your Acid Bullet!!”

At Fel’s command, Sui shot another huge batch of Acid Bullets at the behemoth’s large body.

*Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew*

“Gruuooohhhh!!” The Acid Bullets that Sui shot entered the wounds caused by Fel and Dora-chan, and the behemoth’s cries echoed even louder.

*BOO-ooommm* *Cracklecracklecracklecrackle———*

Bluish white lightning crashed onto the behemoth.

*Thud......*

Fel’s Lightning magic became the finishing blow, and the behemoth fell over sideways.

《We did it! We won—!》 Sui expressed its joy by bouncing on top of the behemoth’s huge body.

《Yahhoo!! We beat the behemoth—!!!》 Dora-chan was happy enough to be doing spins and loops in the air.

“*Snort* Hmpf. Of course we did.” Fel looked really smug.

“Ohhh! You’re all amazing! You just defeated one hell of a monster. You guys really are ridiculously strong.”

This really was amazing. I was wondering how they’d manage to defeat that monster of a beast, but I guess with their powers combined even a behemoth isn’t a real threat. Or rather, by the end there, everyone was just beating on the behemoth as hard as they could with no mercy. I actually felt a little sorry for it.

Well, seeing as how it’s a dungeon monster, I guess it’s supposed to be defeated anyway, I guess. Oh, the behemoth disappeared. I wonder what it dropped... Huh, there’s an absolutely gigantic magic stone, a hide, and also...... some sort of really shiny decorated large treasure chest?

I tried appraising it.

【Dungeon Boss’ Treasure Chest】

A treasure chest that rarely drops upon defeating the dungeon’s boss.

It wasn’t trapped.

Oohh! So, treasure chests even drop when you defeat a dungeon boss, huh? Even though it’s a treasure chest. And it’s not even trapped! How nice! Let’s see... gotta hurry up and open this thing.

There was a single sword in the chest. When I took it out......

“Woah! This sword’s really heavy...” For now, I appraised it.

【Magic Sword Caladbolg】

A magic sword imbued with Lightning magic. Made of adamantite.

.........S-Some kind of ridiculous thing just popped up... yeah. I-It’s a magic sword? And even made out of adamantite?! Awawawawawa... W-Will this create a huge fuss if I let it out into the world? F-For now, let’s just shut this in my Item Box, yeah... Hm? What? This treasure chest isn’t disappearing. Ah, it must be because this treasure chest is also a drop item; what with the goldwork and gemstone decorations, this has got to be pretty expensive too.

“Hey, I am quite hungry over here.”

《It’s true.》

《Sui is also hungry—!》

I hurried to store all of the behemoth’s drops in my Item Box, and then turned to face everyone. Sui was now back to its original size.

“You’re hungry? But won’t another behemoth pop up or something?”

“A dungeon boss does not come back that quickly. From my experience, there are some differences between dungeons, but at the very least it will not return for a week.”

Hmm... I see. Yeah, he would know about this, being over 1000 years old and all. Wait, that’s all well and good, but how do we get back up? Do... do we have to go back the way we came?

“Hey, Fel, how do we go back up?”

“Just like we have been doing, if you put magic into the round pattern we can go back to the surface.”

I see, so on the lowest floor you get teleported back to the beginning, huh? That’s good. It really would suck if we had to go back the way we came.

“Hey, food is more important right now, hurry up.”

Fine, fine. Looks like everyone’s more hungry than usual, huh? Something that I can make quickly, right? Uhhh... I have rice...... oh, don’t I still have some shredded cabbage left over from when I was pre-cooking everything? If that’s the case, I can make that. Salted onion-flavored pork bowls using store-bought salt tare.

First and foremost, I bought the all-important salt tare with my skill.

~◇~◇~◇~

Oil up a heated frying pan, and quickly grill some thinly cut orc general meat. Once the color of the meat changes, add in the store-bought salt tare and continue cooking while mixing the tare so it coats the meat.

Pile and form the rice, and then lay a bed of shredded cabbage on top of that. Then, top with a generous serving of the meat.

It’s also a good idea to add white sesame seeds or black pepper to your liking.

~◇~◇~◇~

“Here you go, eat up.”

When I served the food to my three familiars, everyone wordlessly started scarfing down their food. They must have been quite hungry. Everyone finished quickly and immediately asked for more, so I quickly cooked another batch for them.

《Ohhh yeah! I sure ate!》 With that line, Dora-chan lay down with his limbs spread wide.

It seemed like Fel and Sui were still not satisfied. I should eat too.

The salt tare and pepper in the dish was working, but I wanted an even larger kick of spice, so I added some black pepper on top. Using the black peppercorns that came in a grinder I bought before, I ground pepper into my bowl.

*Chomp*

......Yeah, it’s great. This store-bought tare is so good—! There’s also the acidity of the lemon, so I can down the whole dish feeling refreshed. I could just make this tare myself, but it’s really hard to get the ingredients in times when I have no money so the store-bought stuff like this is really convenient... The taste isn’t even all that different. It’s true that it really depends on taste, but the store-bought stuff is basically never outright bad.

“More!” 《More!》

Ahh, yeah, yeah. With that, I was made to cook up many more servings for Fel and Sui.

“Whew — you two sure ate a lot, Fel, Sui.”

“We did just fight a behemoth.”

《Sui went pew pew lots, so Sui was really hungry...》

Certainly. Not to mention the fact that it was already evening when we left the 29th floor.

“Let’s rest a bit then go back up.”

“Yes, let’s.”

...Whoops, oh my. Dora-chan’s already sleeping since he finished earlier.

“Ahh, Dora-chan’s already sleeping, it looks like; he must have been tired.”

“If that is the case, then why not spend the night here and go up tomorrow? This is the lowest floor, so nothing other than the dungeon boss should appear. And now that the behemoth is defeated, this entire area is basically safe.”

If that’s the case then it might be a good idea to spend the night here. Looks like everyone’s tired, too.

“Then let’s do that. I’ll spread the bedding, so wait a little.”

That day, we spent the night on the lowest floor of a dungeon. According to Fel, there was no danger, so thanks to that I managed to get my first peaceful night’s sleep in a while.