Chapter 148: Near Evening Sides
———Lerim———
<4: 17 pm>
*Bubble* *Bubble* *Bubble*
Crab, bones, weird mushrooms, and salt all boiling in a pot while I laid down and simply waited. The temperature is comfortably cool, and the floor isn’t jagged and rough. I can wait patiently for the monster stew to finish.
The floor with a boss is usually quite clean and smooth. Not having any weird geometry for the most part. Just so it’s a clean fight.
*Bubble* *Bubble* *Bubble*
Too bad there aren't any plant monsters that look edible. Why can’t there be a violent carrot or tomato? There are violent rocks and mushrooms, so vegetables and fruits shouldn’t be out of the question. Maybe one of those monster habitats will have some, but I don’t really know for sure.
Sure is a lot of protein with all the monster meats, though I don’t actually know what kind of nutrients these things actually have, but from what I asked Karra for in the past they should be close to their equivalent, so there shouldn’t be anything toxic in this.
*Bubble* *Bubble* *Bubble*
…Okay. I think that’s enough. Time to take the shell off and dig in. Slow and steady and never hasty. Put the crab into a separate plate and slowly take the shell off and try to not burn my own hand. I can heal it back just fine even if it’s badly burned, but I’d rather not waste my mana on doing all that. Mana is far from infinite. It will be recharged eventually, but the rate is very low. You won’t get back to full capacity until the next day or more.
Alright. Got all the meat out. Let’s take out the bones and dig in.
…Mhmm… Pretty good. Nothing gourmet, but it’s rather ridiculous to expect that from just a bunch of monster parts with only salt as seasoning.
Rather unfortunate that these monster meats aren’t magically more tasty than normal meats. I guess they are better than the cheap store-bought stuff, but that’s quite a low bar.
One good thing about them is just how cheap they are. I mean I can eat all of the monster meat as much as I want. I don’t really know if the others are doing it or not, but I do know these meats are usually quite poisonous unless you build up tolerance or have a unique constitution.
It’s more or less common knowledge that these things could kill you even if you only eat a bit of it. I don't think most people understand why it’s such a problem, but Karra did tell me it had something to do with ‘foreign mana’.
Monsters mostly operate on mana for their sustenance and function, and when monsters in the wild hunt each other it’s due to them being able to siphon mana off the others they killed by eating them.
Humans might be attuned to mana but they aren’t capable of siphoning mana of others by default, like how blood transfusion works. Some nasty reaction from your body rejecting what is foreign and incompatible, even if it doesn’t seem all that different.
Unlike with blood transfusion you can build up immunity to this overtime. There is benefit to eating the monsters you killed outside of endlessly spawning free food, but it’s rather minor so it’s not really worth talking about.
…It’s gonna take a while to finish. That was a massive crab. Why is there a giant crab in this dungeon anyway? Doesn’t seem to have an aquatic theme to it.
I know that there doesn’t seem to be any real pattern of why some dungeons are the way they are and why their layouts are like that, but you’d think it’s more than this. Either looking like an inside of a cave or some ancient underground dungeon. I don’t think I have run into any weird layouts so far even after going down more than fifty floors at one point.
*Munch* *Slurp*
Really could use some sort of acid or spice. I don’t really have the space in my bag for those since I need them for material gathering.
I really should start to find a way to easily gather and store items, these things aren’t really cutting it the lower I go down.
Even the pots and plates I used to cook are stuff I crafted from the walls and floors of the dungeon. Hard and very resistant to the elements so it’s very good for the purpose of using as cooking utensils.
The more you carved into the walls the harder it got. Like there are multiple layers to it.
Certainly a lot of oddities inside these dungeons. Hopefully going further into the hundreds might actually yield something very profitable. Even the equipment and potions don’t really sell for as much as they should have.
Kind of a rip-off, but I can easily collect a bunch of them and sell them off. Even if I sell them below their actual value it more or less makes up for the lack of modeling work nowadays.
…Speaking of which. I’m starting to get some defined muscles with how much I have been working out. I know some people are into that, but I don’t think the amount of people that like muscular women or want one to do modeling is high.
It’s not really that apparent without getting a good look, and it’s really only forming on my arms and legs, so it shouldn’t be distracting, hopefully.
My face is still as pretty as ever, so that should help distract others from that. Super duper pretty. I can’t believe people would call me a brute when I look like this. This world is truly lacking in logic…
———Lynda———
<4: 52 pm>
“You guys again…” I said with some bitterness naturally coming out.
“What’s with the sour face? You’re acting like you’re seeing some thugs.” One of them jokingly said.
“Cut it out, Nicks.” The snake woman said while tapping him on the leg with her tail. “We’ve run into each other a lot in here. Aren’t we basically buddies?”
“I wouldn’t say that, personally.” I firmly said. It’s annoying when anyone runs into them since they’re so much stronger and move at a much faster pace, basically clearing out anything before the rest of us can even take a step.
“I think you might be pushing her buttons…” Her rival said while scratching his cheek. “Anyway, how about you join us then? That way you don’t have to be left behind.”
“Does it look like I have a lot of options here?” I said with my eyes twitching in frustration. They are so out of my league that I probably won’t be able to keep up at all, I’d probably be deadweight the lower we go down. However, I also don’t want to just end the run here, so that basically left me with only one option. Still, what does she think? “Glery?”
“I’m fine with it.” She said, sounding rather indifferent. In that case I guess there’s no point in talking it out any further. This kind of situation is so damn awkward.
“Then we’ll join you. Better carry us with that attitude of yours.” Considering we haven’t even reached floor twenty yet, they probably still have a lot of stamina and mana left to go way deeper than I ever did.
“You got it. We can go down to floor forty if you two don’t get tired by then.” Qyunda said with a confident smirk. “Alright, let’s get moving then. I doubt any of us want to return when the outside world is already pitch black.”
Hopefully I can at least get a few hits in before this is all done and over with…
———Kenni———
<5: 21 pm>
“Don’t know why you even have this on you with all the crazy magic bullshit you can do already, but hey, the spoils go to the victor, and why not test out a new toy right now?” I said before pointing the shotgun at the warlord that is barely even conscious at this point.
All his limbs torn off, mana completely expended, most of the area around us are completely obliterated and turned into dust and tiny pebbles. Enough with the ‘collapsing all the buildings on me’ type of gimmick. If I wasn’t so agile and can just fly out of the way this would’ve been a lot more annoying and take way too much time.
“Hey, hey! At least get the last word in! Your lungs and vocal cords still work, right?” I said and I pushed the barrel harder on his forehead. “What a shitshow, quiet people piss…”
Before I could finish saying what I was gonna say, I noticed his crotch area actually being wet. Ew, gross.
*Smack*
“I meant to say ‘piss me off’! Not just piss!” I smacked him with the barrel for good measure. He deserved to be in pain for a few more seconds just for such an undignified showing. “You’re seriously ruining my serious moment! Fucking hell!”
*Bang* *Splat*
“Can’t believe there are still some of your subordinates left around here!” I said after shooting one in the head. It’s not like they’re dismembered and unable to even move. Get the hell outta here and stop thinking about ambushing me. “Whatever. The most intense part of the fight was already over anyway. Goodbye forever.”
*Bang* *Splat*
I shot him in the head point-blank, basically defacing him outright. I’m surprised this thing is even loaded in the first place, the hell was he thinking with this thing strapped on his back? Just trying to look cool?
The other lackeys all ran off in different directions. Who knows what would become of them after some sort of authorities actually caught them. With how things are going maybe that won’t even happen at all, but none of that is actually something I need to worry about, not my responsibility.
Anyway, now that this is all over. Let’s go to a nearby abandoned store and get myself some snacks. There is always an abandoned store they kept intact.
Let’s go look for it and get some free drinks and snacks before going home. Nothing is quite as tasty as free food.
Now let’s see if there’s any nearby convenience store or maybe even a mall… Oh? There’s a store that seems to still be functioning. It’s not even that far from the battlefield. Lucky that it wasn’t caught in the crossfire.
Hmm… Nothing seems to be broken. There is stuff on the shelves that fell over, probably from all the shaking caused by all the building collapsing and a few explosive spells.
The drinks are still chilled, all the electricity in the building is still here. Can't imagine it still being powered for too long, considering the current state of the place.
Let me check the cash register… Sweet, there is still some cash left inside. Not a whole lot, someone probably snatched it during the chaos. I’ll take those as mine then.
Maybe some of the cash I robbed from the hideout is from this and other cash registers? Seems rather likely, but maybe the owners of the stores hastily took most of it and ran off. Better to take the cash hastily than risk getting killed.
Alright. Time for a victory feast!
———Wiina———
<5: 38 pm>
“What’s with the funny face?” Karra asked while I scroll through the feed on my phone.
“Oh, just reading some posts about a fight happening in an area with a warlord. He’s called ‘The Collapser’, and there was a massive fight happening there, reportedly where his hideout allegedly is.” Of course, that alone isn’t what makes me have that reaction. “Don’t really know who were the unlucky schmucks who witnessed it and in the risk of dying, but there were sightings of black wings.”
“Black wings… Don’t tell me it’s her…” Karra said, sounding slightly worried.
“Far from impossible. We’re talking about someone who isn’t all that fazed after having her arm torn off. I think something like this won’t scare her.” Free as a bird, and even more chaotic than one. Can never really tell just what is going on in that head of hers. “I don’t think we have to worry about her. She can escape pretty easily with that air mobility. Unless the opponent vastly outclassed her, they can’t catch her no matter what they threw at her.”
“...Can’t say I like that she is getting more aggressive.” She muttered with a sense of distress in her voice. I mean if there is any silver lining to this, then she can’t be killed anyway.
“Don’t worry about it, and don’t think about it if you can help it?” I said before taking a long sigh. “Let’s think about our own future, okay? The collab stream is still in the planning stage, right? Can’t neglect that now, can you?”
“I guess…” She said while looking away, scratching her head. Let’s mulled over the near future rather than a distant one. It’s a lot less stressful that way.