The Endless Hunt
"Kieeeeeek!!" The Andras hatchling slammed its head into the iron door. The metal groaned in protest. Every single one of them was headbutting the barrier with enough force to crack their own skulls, and the death throes of the ones that succumbed were transmitted directly through my body as I braced against the door.
"Kieeeeeeeek!!" BAM! BOOM! Another bird-brain shattered against the other side of the iron door. My heart sank as I felt the door shudder once more under the assault.
"Ryun! Are you done yet?!"
"J-just a moment!"
Ryun was rummaging through every corner, desperately trying to find an exit. We didn't even know if one existed, but finding it was our best bet.
"If this keeps up, I'm going to get crushed by the door!"
"Hold on a little longer, please! You're much better at holding on when you're... you know, finishing!"
"You really shouldn't say things like that in a place like this!"
Ryun must have been panicking to blurt out something so absurd. So far, she hadn't found anything useful. 'Should I just go out there and slaughter them all?' Even if it took some time, I could definitely kill them all. Ryun and I had already seized the opportunity to ambush and kill the genuine Andras while it was weakened. This dungeon was now mine. However, that didn't mean the Andras inside would automatically become my subordinates. If they had, that would have been even stranger.
'Their ancestor, the one who birthed them, just died right in front of them. Of course they're pissed.'
But the way they were swarming in like this was far beyond my expectations. If I’d known it would be like this, I would have beaten them all to death before entering. 'If I had done that, I would have had to face the evolved 5-star Andras while exhausted.' Its level was lower than mine, but I didn't know what kind of skills it might have gained upon evolution. Since it had struggled to the very end to kill the others instead of me, Ryun might have been in serious trouble.
"Ryun! How much longer?!"
"Master! There's nothing on the walls!"
Ryun concluded. It wasn't like the dim-witted Andras would have hidden a mechanism, but no matter how much she searched the walls, nothing turned up.
"What about the ceiling?!"
"The ceiling... Ah!!"
Ryun stood in the middle of the room and pointed upward. She raised her bow and fired an arrow at the ceiling. Flap. A hole appeared in the black leather fixed to the ceiling. Ryun fired another arrow, cutting the cord and causing the leather to fall. A faint sliver of sunlight streamed in through the gap where the screen had been.
"I knew it! There had to be a dedicated route!"
Kieeeeeeeek!! BAM, BAM!! I had found the route, but I couldn't hold the door any longer. I shoved the iron door aside and sprinted to the center of the room. There was definitely a path leading upward through the ceiling.
"Let's bolt!"
I hoisted Ryun onto my shoulder, tucked the Andras corpse under my left arm, and bent my knees. It was a bit of a stretch for a standing jump, but there was no other way to escape.
Kieeeeeek!! CRASH——!!
The iron door collapsed. Immediately, the blood-soaked Andras shrieked and lunged toward us. Their reddened eyes were bloodshot, as if they were suffering from a fit of madness.
"Hoo, hoo..."
I kept a close eye on the charge speed of the first hatchling to rush forward. It was a short window, but thankfully, the timing was easy to read. Three, two, one—
"Goomba Jump!!"
I leaped from the spot, planting both feet firmly on the hatchling's bird-head. The Andras buckled instantly under my weight and force, but I used it as a springboard to launch myself toward the ceiling.
"!!"
Ryun, quick-witted as ever, threw her body toward the hole in the ceiling. There was an L-shaped passage up there, and I was on the verge of falling back to the floor.
"Master!"
Ryun reached out to me. Instead of grabbing her hand, I hurled the Andras corpse from my left side toward her.
"Eek?!"
Ryun tumbled as she caught the body. I, too, rolled onto the floor. Crunch! A sickening sound echoed as I landed on something. I had stepped right on the hatchling's beak, crushing it under my foot.
"Tsk."
It stung like stepping on glass shards on a sandy beach. But I had no time to worry about that. Kieeeeeek! The hatchlings were clawing at me from all sides, reaching out with their talons. I raised my fist and shouted toward the ceiling.
"Ryun!"
"Yes!"
"Shoot from there!"
"Yes! ...Wait, what? You need to run!"
Ryun was startled and flustered, but I had no intention of running. I punched the jaw of an incoming hatchling and roared.
"Back off!"
No sooner had I spoken than Ryun scrambled inside with the Andras corpse. I kicked the stomach of another lunging hatchling to stop it, then grabbed the legs of the one sprawled on the floor and swung it around in a wide arc.
WHOOSH——!!
Three Andras charging head-on were struck by the body and sent flying. I caught my breath for a second, waiting for them to charge again.
Kieeeeeek...
Perhaps because a few of them had been beaten to a pulp without putting up a fight, the others were hesitant to approach me. I needed to use this moment to escape to the ceiling, and the fact that they were scared was actually making me anxious. 'Looks like they're finally coming to their senses.' They were enraged by the death of their dungeon master, but now that the vanguard had been smashed, they were feeling fear. But that didn't help me right now. One was charging. I had to step on that one to reach the ledge of the ceiling I’d spotted earlier.
"Hey."
I took a deep breath, put on the most villainous expression I could muster, and beckoned the Andras with my finger. "Your mom was pretty amazing earlier."
"Kieyoooooooot!!"
The Andras split to the left and right, and something leaped out from between them. It was the one closest to human form, the helpful guide that had led us here without making us wander through a single maze. And now, it was the switch that would help me escape.
"Still no capacity for learning, huh."
I took a step back. The Andras spread its long, sharp talons wide, intent on slicing me to ribbons.
"Even after evolving, you're still a bird-brain!"
I took a massive step forward and leaped. My foot aimed for the Andras's face, and it panicked, crossing its arms to guard. My foot landed squarely on its guard.
Thud!
"Ugh...!"
My sole was scratched by the crossed talons, but I could still jump. I soared high toward the ceiling.
"Master!"
"Move!"
Ryun reached out, but I shouted at her to move and reached out myself. Not for her hand, but for the ledge.
"If you grab me, you'll fall because of the weight!"
"Ah."
Ryun must have been too panicked to think of that. I raised my other hand, grabbed the ledge with both, and pulled my body up with the strength of my arms.
"Nnnngh!"
I barely managed to hook my arms over. But I still had a long way to go before I was fully up, and below, I could feel the Andras going wild, jumping to grab my ankles.
"Hup!"
I pulled my body up with a massive effort and tucked my legs in. Using the strength of my arms against the wall, I succeeded in planting my feet just below the ledge.
"Hoo, hoo."
With a foothold, I crawled my way into the small passage. The space was so tight I felt like I had to crawl on all fours, and the claustrophobia hit me instantly.
"Ryun, let's go."
I steadied my breathing and pointed forward. If my guess was right, this passage would either cut straight across the dungeon we’d circled through or lead to a completely different exit.
"Master, are you okay?"
"This is nothing."
Kieeeeeek! A scream echoed from below. I turned my head to see the humanoid Andras, having spread its wings to fly up, staring at me with bloodshot eyes and swinging its talons. The claws were flying toward my ankles. It was too late to dodge. Just as I prepared myself for the pain and turned my body to counterattack, fweeeet. A wind arrow pierced the Andras's forehead. It failed to penetrate completely, but the Andras fell backward, spraying blood as if stabbed by an awl.
Thud!Kieeeek! With the sound of something being crushed, my kill count went up by one.
My mouth went dry at the sight of Ryun's wind arrow, which had grazed my earlobe. "...Ryun, were you aiming for that?"
"No, I, I was just in a hurry..."
"......."
From the moment we entered the Andras dungeon until now, the only attack that had truly chilled my blood was Ryun's arrow. I swallowed hard and pointed forward. "...Right, good job. You hit it, so that's all that matters."
Even if you almost hit me. I swallowed the rest of my words and pulled the Andras corpse lying on the floor. "I'll carry this. You keep moving forward."
"What if something comes from the front..."
"Shoot it. Then just step over it."
Thankfully, even in this narrow space, there was enough width to kill an enemy coming from the other side and step over them. Ryun bowed her head and crawled on all fours.
"......."
Her luscious backside swayed left and right, but I didn't let it show and grabbed the Andras corpse. Taking care not to damage the wings, I hoisted the Andras onto my back and assumed a low crawling position.
"Master, what are you doing?"
"Crawling."
My arms and stomach were scraped every time I moved, but this was the only way to get out while keeping the Andras corpse intact.
"You don't have to..."
"No, I have to take this with me."
"Don't tell me...?"
"I might be a human-lover, but I'm not a corpse-lover. The reason I'm taking this is..." I pointed to the Andras's wings. "I don't have time to clean it, so I'm taking the whole thing."
"Then couldn't you just pluck the wings?"
"Hehe, Ryun." I pointed forward with my chin. "You have to use everything from head to toe."
"...I understand."
Ryun turned her head and crawled forward, and I followed behind. "......." I focused on my patience.
* * *
The Andras were left like dogs chasing chickens. The humanoid Andras, which could fly with its wings, had a hole in its forehead, and the adult Andras couldn't reach the ceiling 2.5 meters above no matter how hard they flapped.
"We cannot let them escape, ras."
"We must have revenge, ras."
"We must find the corpse and bury it, ras."
Everyone agreed. But there was no way to pursue. They had no way to climb the ceiling.
"I have a good idea, ras."
One adult Andras stacked its palms and pointed upward. "We can lie down one by one to build a layer, then climb up the stairs, ras."
"......That is..."
The Andras clicked their tongues. And one by one, they began to lie on the floor.
"Do it now, ras."
The Andras lay down one by one to create a 2.5-meter-high staircase, and the Andras who had proposed it first stared at the passage for a long time, lost in thought. "......I think we can just crawl, ras!"
The Andras lowered its waist and got on all fours. The Andras behind it was surprised. "Genius, ras."
Then the next Andras got on all fours. The Andras behind it clicked its tongue at the ones in front. "Smart, ras."
A train of Andras formed, and they crawled on all fours, chasing the scent of their master's blood. "We must retrieve it, ras."
An instinct subordinate to their blood. - You must eat the dead dungeon master and become the dungeon master yourself. Following their instinct, the Andras began to crawl with eyes burning like fire.
* * *
"Phew!"
I finally made it out to the exit. We emerged far from the entrance, tearing through a wall covered in vines.
"You're covered in a lot of dirt."
"This much is fine. Phew."
I flipped the Andras I’d been carrying on my back and rolled it onto the ground. Blood was still oozing from the holes in its body, and my robe was stained red with Andras blood. I took off my robe and wrung the blood out with my hands.
"Still, it's a relief I got the wings."
"What are you going to do with the wings?"
"Make you some clothes? As an evolution gift. Hehe."
I plucked one of the wings and tickled Ryun's ear with it. Ryun bowed her head, her face flushing red.
"M-Master, if you do that here..."
"You cannot escape, ras—!!"
"Holy crap."
Beyond the passage we’d escaped from, a bird-head was rushing toward us like a tank. No, it was crawling at high speed.
"Hand over the Master, ras!"
"......."
Don't tell me they followed us? A sigh escaped my lips at the behavior of the Andras, who had pursued us less than a minute after we escaped.
"Ryun. Can you shoot your bow now?"
"Yes... *hic*."
Ryun hiccuped as if trying to hold something back. Feeling sorry, I patted her back and pointed at the Andras approaching with its beak wide open.
"Now, shoot them as they come out."
"Shouldn't we... run?"
"We need to farm. If you don't kill a few more, you won't evolve today, right?"
Ryun's level was still only 34. And considering what I’d gone through at level 14, gaining experience was quite slow, even for a single level.
"There's no better opportunity than this—"
Fweeeet.
A wind arrow pierced the Andras that had just jumped out of the cave and was trying to stand up. It slumped down on the spot.
Andras Slain ( 82 / ??? )
"...The kill count is going up?"
It had just gone up by one. I thought for a moment, then picked up the Andras Ryun had killed. "Oops, there's a hill here!"
I threw the dead Andras away. While Ryun was trying to say something, another Andras jumped out of the dungeon with its eyes burning.
"Hand over the Master—"
Fweeeet.
"...I should throw it away, right?"
I threw the second Andras away. Soon, a third Andras popped out. The sun was still high in the sky.
"Ryun."
"Yes."
"Let's try hatching a 5-star egg today."
Kill count: 666. For several hours, we repeated the cycle: when Ryun ran out of stamina, I would beat them to death, and when she recovered, she would shoot. We farmed as much experience as possible, and a mountain of Andras corpses piled up at the bottom of the hill. The final kill count was 665. By the time the sun had set behind the mountains and darkness had settled in, I had hoped more Andras would come out, but no more appeared.
"Ah, damn. One short..."
"One short?"
Ryun pointed to the original entrance of the dungeon.
Kieeeeeek!!
One Andras was running away. I pointed the Andras out to Ryun.
"Targets that move that fast are..."
"Ryun, aren't you an elf?"
"Hing..."
Ryun pouted, raised her bow, and fired. In the end, I had to run over, grab it by the scruff of the neck, and bring it right in front of Ryun.