Memories of the Hedgehog Erased
S-grade and below monsters had forgotten the Hedgehog Summoner. Even the jo-ryeokja watching the broadcast from other worlds.
No matter how many times he showed them the illustration of the hedgehog from the monster compendium, nothing changed.
"I don't know who that is, yang. It's someone I've never seen before, yang…."
Not only the S-grade and below monsters, including Merino.
"The one on the right is an undead spirit from the Abyss, and the small one on the left is the Hedgehog Summoner."
There was no need to go out of his way to restore their memories. After all, SS-grade and above monsters, including himself, still remembered the Hedgehog Summoner perfectly.
"Looks like the work of some monster with a special power… If we catch that guy, the memories should come back, and we can get the hedgehog back too."
Pii! We have to get back our Duumba Dance! Some bad guy kidnapped it!
Ignoring the fuming princess behind him, he turned his head and stared in one direction.
Snake Head and Mummy Skeleton. The passage where they had gone scouting with the Hedgehog Summoner.
Cave 5. A place where a vast underground world unfolded just a little deeper in, home to the Poison Apple habitat.
"Mummy Skeleton. How far did you guys scout today?"
Today's scouting party hadn't gone with Iris. They had agreed to stick to the areas already explored.
Their goal was to gather food from the Poison Apple habitat.
I remember… We only went to the places marked on the map… and gathered Poison Apples.
Fortunately, it seemed they hadn't gone deeper on their own.
"Then the odds are high you were ambushed by the mystery monster in a place we already know. Unless the hedgehog ran off alone to scout deeper."
The search area had narrowed. If he played it right, he could find them quickly.
"By the way, Mummy."
I answer.
"Why didn't you bring any Poison Apples?"
I wasn't in charge of transport.
Mummy Skeleton answered like that, then glanced at Snake Head standing beside it.
Snake Head shook its head wildly, expressing confusion.
Orooro? I wasn't in charge of transport! Wasn't it you, Mummy Skeleton?
Snake Head and Mummy Skeleton started bickering, each insisting the other was supposed to handle transport.
He quickly mediated between them. It seemed the Hedgehog Summoner had been in charge of transport after all.
He assembled a search party.
Kinogine Arachne. Blood Jellyfish Princess. Black Magma Slime. Puppet Niara Nephensis. And himself, making five.
They decided to search Cave 5 for the Hedgehog Summoner. Iris came along too, though not counted in the numbers.
The remaining SS-grades stayed at the shelter to protect the other S-grade monsters. The monster that erased existences might slip past their eyes and invade the shelter.
"Something about this time just feels off sending only monsters. And it feels wrong sitting comfy while a friend is missing."
"Truth is, it doesn't seem that dangerous, so I'm going myself. That mystery monster's power doesn't seem to work on me anyway."
It had been a while since he'd done any scouting himself. Waiting around for the monsters to find the hedgehog was frustrating.
He added that explanation.
With that, he led the search party monsters to the entrance of Passage 5.
And right then.
Gauntlet, I'm here. Poof poof.
"Welcome, yang."
Omega emerged from the warp device.
Oh right. They were supposed to go to the Oasis Shelter together today. After installing the warp device there, they planned to brainstorm ways to develop it into a village.
Unfortunately, he'd have to postpone. Finding the hedgehog took priority right now. Nothing was more important.
He explained the situation to Omega.
"Omega, come with us."
Poof poof.
With Omega in tow, they entered Passage 5.
To prepare for encountering new monsters, I'll stand by for compendium work.
The Centaurides' voice came through Iris. Other monsters kept talking to the search party nonstop via Iris.
Among them, the noisiest was Merino Ulla.
"Gauntlet, be careful, yang! Something's up there! Ah, never mind, yang! I saw wrong, yang!"
"Yang yang! Apple over there, yang! Pick it, yang!"
"Yang?! That apple's ugly, yang! Don't eat, yang!"
"Merino, could you quiet down a bit?"
"Yang yang!"
After calming Merino, as he picked up the pace searching the vast underground world—the Poison Apple habitat—he spotted a tree that stood out.
Unlike the other apple trees, not a single Poison Apple hung from it.
Why no Poison Apples there?
As he narrowed his eyes, he noticed countless teddy bears placed under the tree.
Of course, they weren't ordinary teddy bears.
"…Those are monsters too. All B-grade threat level, so actual danger is probably S-grade."
New monster group. Starting compendium work now, Explorer.
Keeping his distance, he stared silently at the teddy bears for a while.
More precisely, scrutinizing two teddy bears that particularly drew his eye among the horde.
A big teddy bear and a small one. The big one hugging the small one.
After a bit of time passed.
Explorer, compendium work complete. Please look at Iris's screen.
The Centaurides displayed the drawing on Iris's screen.
"Drew it fast. Good work. But out of all those teddy bears, why these two?"
Just… these two teddy bears strangely appealed to me most. I don't know why.
"…I see?"
He looked away from Iris. Then slowly stepped toward the teddy bears.
The big teddy bear and the small one. Something emanated from them. A feeling like invisible threads of fate connected them.
As he approached, every teddy bear under the tree whipped their heads toward him in unison.
The teddy bears' gazes locked onto him. They looked ready to attack if he got closer.
Stopping in place, he met the eyes of the two teddy bears he'd been watching.
And murmured softly.
"Duumba."
…….
…….
"Duumba Dance."
…Duumba Bear.
…Duumba Bear.
At the word "Duumba," the two teddy bears reacted.