Chapter 18
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Delivering Into the Dungeon
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‘I have to stop that no matter what!’
Shin Ha-rang’s vision caught sight of the sand dunes.
Rumble rumble.
Something numerous was wriggling beneath the sand. The identities of those twitching things, as if ready to burst out and attack at any moment, were massive eggs.
‘Those are the eggs laid by the boss monster, the sandworm!’
The third wave of the dungeon they had entered, [Mirage Quest], seemed to be a horde of baby sandworms emerging from their eggs.
“We’re hopelessly outnumbered. Even if you’re a pretty strong hunter and I’m an attack-type S-Rank hunter, it’ll be hard to hold off hundreds of baby sandworms charging at us.”
‘Not to mention, I’m already in a state where fighting is barely possible.’
It was a battle they couldn’t win.
“It’s dangerous, so hurry up and run.”
Shin Ha-rang’s plea was desperate, but Moon Chae-ryeon remained utterly calm.
“Hmm. Is that so?”
“Delivery hunter, you seem to have a skill that lets you come and go from dungeons freely, so now’s your chance to escape.”
“What about you, customer?”
“I’ll... stay here. Since I started the raid, it’s on me to finish it. If we don’t clear this dungeon, a dungeon break will erupt and cause massive damage to the outside world.”
It was nonsense.
If he were at full strength, maybe, but Shin Ha-rang was already exhausted and fatigued, so his combat power had dropped significantly.
‘So he should be the one running away...’
Strangely, Chae-ryeon had stopped her motorcycle in midair and was just staring blankly at the furious sandworm.
‘Does she have a fear resistance skill or something?’
But this was the boss monster of an SS-Rank dungeon?
Ha-rang, unaware that Chae-ryeon was S-Rank, looked at her with eyes full of admiration.
‘Maybe she’s a more seasoned hunter than I thought, hiding her true nature better than I guessed...’
As Shin Ha-rang spun his wild imaginings, Chae-ryeon muttered softly.
“...It looks just like it.”
“Pardon?”
“That boss monster sandworm. Doesn’t it look exactly like pollock roe or a pink sausage?”
Did I just hear that right?
“...Huh?”
It was a nonchalant remark utterly mismatched with the dire situation about to unfold.
“No, look at it! That bright red body... it totally reminds me of plump pollock roe.”
“...Delivery hunter, did you skip a meal before coming here? Did you pull an all-nighter preparing the bento I ordered?”
“No? Why would I? Rank... I mean, no, I’ll just call you customer. It only took five minutes to prepare the ‘King of Kings Bento’ you ordered.”
“What?”
‘Five minutes? Five minutes?’
How could it take so little time? Even fast food doesn’t come out that quick!
‘...What did she even make? I ordered the King of Kings Bento expecting it to be packed with gourmet delicacies...’
Shin Ha-rang was starting to get scared. Chae-ryeon’s excessive composure was making him increasingly uneasy.
“Delivery hunter... if I may ask, my bento is edible, right?”
“Of course! I always put my heart into food for customers.”
“Then why are you so calm? This is a situation so dangerous even an S-Rank hunter like me thinks we should flee. I don’t know your rank or stats, but if you want to live, get out of here now!”
Cough cough. He’d quenched his thirst with water, but still hadn’t eaten properly, so after his tirade, Ha-rang let out a dry cough.
“Are you okay?”
As Chae-ryeon lightly patted his back, Ha-rang coughed even harder.
“Urk! Cough, cough!”
“...Oh no. Did I hit you too hard?”
“N-No... it’s fine.”
‘What kind of woman has this much strength...?’
The force from the palm of the delivery hunter, whom he’d pegged as maybe B-Rank at best, was far stronger than expected.
‘Even I, top-tier in the attack category, feel threatened... what the heck...?’
Shocked, Ha-rang reevaluated his view of this mysterious delivery hunter.
“Do you have some secret weapon up your sleeve?”
“No? Not really... the system just threw something weird at me again?”
“What does that...?”
“Hmm... you’ll see soon enough.”
With that, Chae-ryeon shouted a skill name.
“[Become My Ingredient!]”
L-Grade skill activated.
All monsters in the current dungeon location are now considered ingredients.
‘Harvesting’ begins!
After entering the dungeon, Chae-ryeon had received a notification from the system.
[ (o_O) ! ]
[ ('ω')三( ε: )三(.ω.)三( :3 )三('ω')!! ]
[ system: Already found the first ingredient for ■■! ]
[ (◦′ᆺ‵◦) ♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧ ℒℴѵℯ ✧♡✧*¨*•.❥ ]
[ system: (So exciting) ]
‘...Why is it acting like that? And what’s with the blacked-out square word?’
As Chae-ryeon eyed the overly excited system with suspicion, it made a proposal to her.
[ system: An SS-Rank dungeon is too much for a rookie hunter in the middle of a tutorial. ]
[ system: Treating this as an emergency situation. ]
[ system: The system, administrator of dimension-EFd0375e, has a duty to protect rookie users during tutorials! ]
[ system: Therefore, issuing an emergency quest separate from the tutorial! ]
“An emergency quest?”
‘System, you sneaky bastard, up to your tricks again!’
As Chae-ryeon started to protest, the system shouted to wait.
[ Σ(º ﾛ º๑) ]
[ STOP! STOP!! ]
[ ༼◉_◉ ༽ ]
[ system: Whoa whoa whoa ]
[ system: This isn’t a balance patch! It’s not! ]
‘Then what is it?’
The system cleared up Chae-ryeon’s doubts.
[ system: To achieve the absolutely necessary ■■ for this world, the system says the help of the user chosen as Dungeon Express Delivery Person is essential. ]
[ system: And the first step is right here! ]
“Right here?”
The system dropped a highly unexpected statement.
[ system: Right...! Using the unappetizing ingredients from this dungeon in a delicious way! ]
“Huh?”
[ system: You, the chosen Dungeon Express Delivery Person, can do it! ]
[ ε٩(๑>ω<)۶з ]
[ system: Granting you a growth skill for that purpose! ]
As soon as the system finished speaking, an opaque skill window appeared before Chae-ryeon.
L-Grade Rare Skill Acquired!
<Become My Ingredient!>
• A groundbreaking skill developed by the administrator of dimension-EFd0375e for ■■.
• It hadn’t found a proper owner until now, so it wasn’t distributed, but currently, only user Moon Chae-ryeon can use it.
• Usage limited strictly to monsters within dungeons.
• No effect on humans or regular animals.
• Apply to dungeon monsters with tough meat and awful taste to begin ‘harvesting’!
• Works even on monsters of higher grade than the skill holder!
• The moment ‘harvesting’ starts, you can beat down any monster!
• After activation, keep going ★Let’s Punch and Punch★ until the visible HP bar is depleted!
• For monsters with tough meat, tenderize the flesh with hammer-like punches!
*Recommended linked skills: <Invincible Delivery Knight>, <Customer Love is Sales Love>
In short, the new skill the system gave her was... like a meat tenderizing mallet for tonkatsu.
‘Beat the crap out of them, huh.’
Chae-ryeon had no reason to refuse a rare skill.
“Alright. I’ll use it well.”
After neatly storing [Become My Ingredient!] in her skill window, Chae-ryeon felt an inexplicable surge of confidence from that moment on.
‘Weird... I don’t have even a shred of a bad feeling about dying here.’
On the contrary, she felt her fighting spirit rising?
Maybe because she’d already used [Invincible Delivery Knight] and [Customer Love is Sales Love].
The boss monster sandworm in Chae-ryeon’s vision... looked like nothing more than a delicious ingredient.
‘Am I going crazy?’
Even as she questioned herself, Chae-ryeon couldn’t suppress the urge to hunt that thing down.
“Hold on tight, customer! It’s gonna get a bit bumpy!”
“Huh? Whoaaaah!”
Vroom.
Chae-ryeon gunned the motorcycle like a mad biker.
At full throttle, no less!
“Here we goooo!”
“Kieeeek?!”
Sensing a chill from Chae-ryeon charging at terrifying speed, the sandworm instinctively recognized the dungeon’s predator.
“Kieeeeeek!”
Frightened, the sandworm angrily ordered its offspring beneath the sand to hatch immediately.
“Kiiik...”
Pop!
“Kiii...”
Hundreds of larvae erupted onto the sand’s surface.