The Boss Room's Buffet
After taking a short break outside, Ryn and I re-entered Andras's dungeon. Thanks to the fact that we had deliberately made a ruckus to announce our raid and lure the Andras out, we had managed to take down a fair number of them within just one hour of entering. 52. We had already secured enough for a 2-star Andras, and a 3-star was well within our sights if we hunted just a few more. Since it was impossible that there wouldn't be at least nine more ahead, I was effectively securing three 3-star subordinates the moment I conquered this dungeon: Eila, Lime, and Andras A.
"You're eating up experience points like crazy, aren't you?"
"Are you saying I'm overeating? The only time I eat a lot is when you give it to me, Master!"
Unexpectedly, Ryn was sensitive to the word "overeating." The addition she made while getting angry was cute, but I rephrased it so she could understand better.
"I mean, it looks like you'll need to kill quite a lot of these Andras to level up."
"If that's what you meant, then... sorry. I misunderstood."
Ryn's level was now 28. Considering how many 2-star Andras we had already killed, her growth was quite slow. If the dungeon's structure hadn't been suitable for her to shine, she probably would have been stuck around level 25 by now.
'Good thing we just keep going straight.'
The Andras dungeon's layout was much simpler than I had expected. A spiral. It was just one long, straight corridor after another. If I hadn't opened the minimap and felt that something was off about constantly moving forward, I probably would have been wavering between whether to keep going or turn back.
'It's ridiculously wide.'
The passage was so well-curved that anyone entering from the entrance wouldn't notice anything strange. Even though we had been walking for nearly an hour, we had only circled the dungeon about twice; the structure was designed to drag out time.
"There should be a secret passage somewhere in the middle."
"But I haven't found anything like that at all."
Ryn perked up her ears. She claimed to be listening for the sound of the wind as she searched the cave, but all she found were feathers covered in the Andras's strange mud. Ryn had been so disgusted she threw them to the floor.
"If you make a dungeon like this, people call it a trash game."
"Pardon?"
"I'm just saying the dungeon structure is filthy. It makes it a total pain when you're on the offensive, doesn't it?"
"Maybe there's another way. Like flying away with wings, for example."
"That's... Damn it."
My heart grew impatient at the thought that popped into my head. Just as I had created an escape route by drilling holes in the front and back of my dungeon, the Andras wouldn't be idiots—they would have created an escape route for themselves, too. The dungeon gates that opened randomly across the continent led to the place designated as the dungeon's "entrance." And the Andras had bored a path from the entrance to the heart of the dungeon that was incredibly long.
"This is seriously annoying."
"Master, how about we dig through the cave wall?"
"The time it takes seems to be about the same whether it's a dirt wall or a monster wall, Ryn."
At my instruction, Ryn raised her bow. According to the minimap, we had reached the middle, and there was a section where the passage suddenly widened to the left and right.
"Master. This is that, right?"
"A maze. You sons of bitches."
To think they'd do something even Forneus wouldn't do. Irritation surged at the split path.
"And they've set traps, too."
I threw my frying pan toward the ceiling, pouring my irritation into the toss. Ryn jumped back in surprise, and a monster that had been struck in the wings by the flying pan flopped onto the floor.
"Y-you filthy intruder!"
"This one's unique, huh?"
I immediately kicked the monster in the stomach. The monster let out a croaking sound and collapsed, clutching its gut. I grabbed the monster by its hair and hauled it up.
"Are you really an Andras?"
"Do not speak the Master's name so carelessly! Gack..."
The monster looked like a higher-tier species of Andras. At the very least, it wasn't a bird-brain; its face was closer to a human's. If there was anything unique, it was that the wings on its back pointed downward, or perhaps the way feathers protected its human-like face. If the Andras up to 2-star were just bird-brained humans, this one felt like it should be called a beast-man or a bird-man.
"Whoa."
To think a 3-star would be caught so easily. I was dumbfounded. The frying pan lay crumpled on the floor where the demi-human Andras had fallen.
"Was the frying pan too strong?"
"I think you're just strong, Master."
"That's true."
Now a full-fledged 4-star, I had thrown an object weighing over 10kg with all my might, and it had struck not just anywhere, but its wings—the impact must have been immense.
"Sorry."
"If you're sorry, hand over your head and get out, you vicious monsters!"
"But why don't you add 'Las' to the end of your sentences, Las?"
"Y-you bastard!"
The demi-human Andras flushed red and tried to spit at me. I immediately stepped on its chest and pressed down firmly.
"I'm asking you a question."
"L-Las is something we use because we have no choice! Since I have evolved and possess a human mouth...!"
"Ah, I get the gist. Next question."
I lifted the demi-human Andras by the neck and pointed to the other side.
"Hey, where's the path leading inside?"
"Do you think I'd tell you?!"
"If you don't talk in 10 seconds, you die. 10, 5, 2—"
"Master?"
Ryn asked me. I turned my head to the side.
"Why?"
"You said 10 seconds. But why—"
"Hahaha! Bye-Las!"
The demi-human Andras squeezed out the strength it had recovered in the meantime and escaped my grip. It flapped its wings violently to block Ryn and my vision, and in that moment, it stabbed my hand with its claws and broke free from my restraint.
"Kieeeek!"
The sight of it flapping its black wings and running along the floor was unmistakably that of a pigeon.
"Ah, Master?! I'm sorry! Because I interrupted you!"
"No. You spoke well."
I actually praised Ryn. Thanks to her speaking up, I had easily found the path we needed to take.
"Where did that guy run off to just now?"
"To the right!"
"Then let's go right."
"Pardon?"
I crumpled the feather that had stuck to my hand and threw it on the floor.
"You don't really think a guy running for his life would choose a dead end, do you?"
The Andras had a broken wing and had chosen to run along the floor with its human legs. And those footprints remained, however faintly, on the ground.
"It's fine even if it's a dead end."
"Are you going to kill it as soon as you catch it?"
"Yeah. You will."
Even if the kill count is only 1, Ryn's experience points would skyrocket. I followed the path the Andras had fled with Ryn. I really wanted to tell the "Jin-dras" this when I met it: "That guy is really good at giving directions, isn't he?"
We broke through the branching paths without making a single mistake and arrived right in front of the very center of the swirling dungeon.
"Whoa, it's absolutely swarming."
The bird-brains turned their heads toward us in unison. Their raven-black feathers and beaks, and the red pupils unique to monsters, were all pointing at Ryn and me.
"Enemy-Las."
"Intruder-Las."
"The monsters the Captain spoke of-Las."
Step. Step.
The Andras sharpened their claws and walked toward us. I clenched my fists, and Ryn raised her bow again.
"This is a perfect hunting ground for you."
"Because the enemies are coming in a straight line?"
"Yeah. You don't even need to aim, just shoot forward."
"I suppose that's true..."
Ryn smiled soullessly and drew her bowstring. There was no need for aiming; she just shot arrows roughly toward the open space on the other side of the passage.
"Gaaah!"
One of the swarming Andras was hit by an arrow and collapsed. I had thought that shooting randomly would hit somewhere, but to think the arrow would graze a very sensitive spot and then pierce the Andras behind it...
"Double, no, quadra-kill."
Ryn had wiped out two Andras and their offspring at the same time. Ryn laughed hollowly and drew her bowstring again.
"Haha, this is comfortable. Haha."
Pew, pew, pew.
Ryn repeated the mechanical motion of firing her bow. She fired arrows in succession until her fingers went numb, and the Andras were riddled with holes before they could even dodge.
"Y-you damn bastards!!"
"Ah, look at that guy hiding?"
As soon as I heard the voice, I sensed that the 3-star Andras called the Captain was hiding among the regular soldiers. Ryn aimed her bow immediately, but the Captain Andras quickly changed its position.
"Listen well, everyone! Until the Master is ready, you must not let these things enter the Master's chamber!"
"""Ooooooh!!!"""
The Andras were emboldened by the Captain Andras's morale-boosting. Ryn's spirits dampened slightly, but I rode the wave of the Andras's cheers and shouted.
"Ooooooh!!"
"Master?"
"Ryn, you must never do that. Understand?"
It's just like a bird-brain that evolved—how incredibly stupid to speak carelessly about their master's personal affairs. I hoisted Ryn up and placed her on my shoulder.
"Ryn, do you see anything like a door on the other side?"
"Yes. There's an iron door. It looks like it closes from the inside, but it seems to be firmly shut right now."
Ryn used her elf-specific keen eyesight to check the heart of the dungeon beyond the open space. The Andras clenched their fists, showing a resolute will to defend that place at all costs.
"Ryn. There are two ways to conquer this place."
I took Ryn off my shoulder and pulled her in front of me. Ryn, draped over one arm from her neck to her hips, had descended in the same position I used to train her backside, but this wasn't the time for that.
"Thinking about it, this position is perfect for shooting."
"That was the intention, though."
"Master, are we finally doing it when this is over?"
"Of course."
A blushing Ryn took the stance to fire her bow, but I shook my head.
"So, to finish what I was saying, one way to conquer a dungeon is to beat them all to death one by one. Leveling up before the boss room is the national rule, right?"
"Are you saying you're going to kill all the Andras?"
"Yeah. That's probably the original conquest method. I suspect there are exactly 666 of them."
The spectacle of bird-brains filling an entire playground was truly a sight I couldn't bear to watch. With naked bird-brained men and women shaking themselves for no reason, I had no desire to get into a scuffle with them.
"But this case is quite unique. The dungeon composition, and the fact that they've packed so many subordinates at the very end. Ryn, what do you think the intention is?"
"Well. It would take a long time to conquer, so... ah."
Ryn seemed to have realized the "Jin-dras's" intention.
"It's a ploy to buy time!"
"Exactly. But they really are bird-brains. If they wanted to buy time, they should have lined up all 600 of them in a train. It's annoying to catch them in the middle, so you'd have to go around."
If you pack them all in one place, you're bound to think, 'If I just wipe this place out...' If Meari were here, I would have wanted to burn them all with fire magic, but unfortunately, the only subordinate I had with me was Ryn.
"Then I'll shoot hard! Master, put me down!"
"Sure. But Ryn. You don't necessarily have to clear the sub-quests to take over a dungeon."
I pointed to my neck and drew my hand across it. Then I wiped over my fingers one by one.
. . . .
...And.
"Kuh-huh, kuh-hup."
My breathing began to grow rough. My body, which had already been swollen, began to swell even more, and my heart grew so hot I thought it might burst.
Wooooong—!!
The tattoo that started from my fingers began to wrap around my entire arm and glow red. The tattoo that started on my hands and arms flared red up to my chest and below my neck, and my vision began to turn slightly red.
"Gwaaaaaa——!!"
I let out a roar toward the front. The Andras who were about to enter the passage were startled and backed away, and I grabbed Ryn tightly and dashed forward.
Thump, thump, thump, thump!!
Every step I took shook the dungeon violently. I dashed like a bull in a bullring, and some of the Andras split apart.
"You idiots! Don't be scared!"
The enemy Captain Andras shouted. The Andras shook their heads and raised their arms to block me.
"Master?!"
"Hold on tight!!"
Ryn hugged my neck, and I kicked off the ground and leaped. I leaped. Off the floor.
"Hiiik?!"
The Andras screamed. I leaped over the Andras with the momentum of my forward charge, and soon fell due to my weight. And beneath me, there were footrests galore.
Thump!
I extended my foot and trampled a bird-brain. And using that recoil, I leaped forward again.
"Kieeeek!"
The trampled Andras let out a shriek and collapsed. I ran over the heads of the Andras with blood-flow acceleration. Thump, thump, thump, thump, thwack, thump, thump! Although there was one guy I accidentally stepped on the forehead of, I reached the iron door in just 30 steps.
"Ryn, jump!"
I threw Ryn above me. Ryn was taking a landing stance to fall into the empty space while doing a mid-air somersault, and I pulled my legs toward my stomach.
"Master?!"
I gathered all the strength in my body into my legs and extended them. The target was the iron door. If it was an iron door that had to be broken open anyway, I would just run at full speed and throw my body!
Kwaaaaaa———ng!!
The iron door swung open to the left and right. With a dull thud, the solid bolt was smashed along with the latch. I avoided the debris and rolled, curling my body into a ball.
"Phew, hup."
I shook my head violently and stared ahead. Above the summoning circle, a woman with her legs spread wide, her face flushed with a red glow and tears welling in her eyes, was looking at me with a dazed expression.
"......."
"Heh, you've set the table right up for me. Sweet."
The woman in the black feathered dress, Andras, held an egg with a black luster in her arms. It was steaming with warmth, as if she had just laid it.
"Wh...o?"
"Thanks for the meal."
I immediately unzipped my pants. The table was set, and I picked up my spoon.