Chapter 99
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Devouring the Dungeon Core
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Ugh...
"Oh my. I never expected you to visit without any prior notice..."
Guided by Lil inside the dungeon, Drya easily navigated the dense, labyrinthine forest that would have confounded anyone but an elf. There, they ran into Rene, who had come out to greet them.
Seeing her daughter after so long filled her with joy, but the fact that the Dryad they revered had personally graced their dungeon brought a mix of awe and subtle pressure. Rene bowed gracefully to Drya in greeting.
"Great Dryad, I hope your journey here was peaceful?"
"Grgh...!!"
"...Lady Dryad?"
Rene panicked at the sight of Drya scowling fiercely.
Had she done something wrong? Or was something bad going on? As she fidgeted anxiously, Lil scurried over to her side and explained the situation.
"Sorry, Mom. The Sacred Tree's been in a foul mood since earlier."
"I-is that so...? Anyway, 'Sacred Tree'? Honey, the Sacred Tree and the Dryad are distinctly different beings..."
While Lil and Rene talked, Drya glanced around, surveying her surroundings.
Fresh plants, tended by elven hands, grew in neat order. Rene, the Dungeon Master, had used her authority to the utmost to create the perfect humidity and temperature for them, welcoming Drya warmly.
Sunlight even filtered into the dungeon's depths, making for an environment that any photosynthesis-loving Dryad surrounded by plants would adore. And yet...
"Ughhh..."
Drya had felt a tightness in her chest ever since her father sent her here. Her intuition told her that whatever was causing it lurked somewhere in this place.
"By the way... are there just the two of you?"
Rene, catching up with Lil for a moment, belatedly noticed no one else had come along.
"Did you really come alone? What about the elves to escort the Dryad...? Lil, you know how dangerous it is out there these days—bringing the Dryad here with just the two of you..."
"Ah, Mom, it's fine. We got here super fast."
"It's not about how fast...! I've been so worried seeing humans prowling around nearby! If something happened between that dungeon and here...!"
"No, Mom, really—it was instant. The Master teleported us, remember?"
"......What are you talking about?"
Rene had been about to gently scold Lil for escorting the Dryad here so lightly without guards or attendants, but her daughter's explanation left her utterly dumbfounded.
"...That's how the Master sent us... Oh, right! He said to finish our business within five hours, then we'd be sent back!"
Lil seemed completely oblivious to how absurd she sounded as she said it.
'It's... not a lie, at least.'
As Lil's mother, Rene knew her tells when she lied. She could tell her daughter was speaking the truth.
But did that even make sense? The distance to the dungeon where the Dryad's master resided was immense—and he'd instantly teleported others there, not even himself?
And returning in five hours? Did he cast some kind of recall ritual? Weren't those spells usually limited to corpses or personal effects?
"Mom, hurry! The seeds and saplings are still in that storage spot from before, right?"
"Y-yeah."
Rene snapped to attention at Lil's urging and led Drya to the seed storage while pondering that the half-blood man she'd pledged to serve might be far more extraordinary than she'd imagined.
...Come to think of it, rumors about him had been spreading in the south lately. Some demons—even other dungeon masters—were considering joining his ranks.
'Maybe it was the best choice after all...?'
The trigger had been the Dryad, but perhaps entering his service ahead of the others was the smartest move she'd made.
"Here it is."
"Whoa, takes me back!"
Following Rene's guidance into the warehouse, Drya and Lil began scooping various seeds into the subspatial magic tool Eugene had provided. Its interior was vast beyond imagination, capable of holding countless items.
Normally sold at exorbitant prices by dungeon merchants due to its utility, they'd acquired one by raiding the alliance this time—hence why Eugene had sent it along with the two.
It was inspired by how Aqua had taken her cleaning tools with her during the previous [Staff Dispatch]. With this, the two could transport all those seeds in a flash.
"Sacred Tree! I'll head to my linked Sacred Tree!"
Ignoring Rene's correction, Lil still called Drya the Sacred Tree and dashed off toward the room with her connected tree.
Watching her chatterbox daughter with a wry smile, Rene bowed deeply to Drya in apology.
"I apologize on her behalf. My daughter is still so immature... Has she caused you any trouble in the meantime?"
"........."
Drya answered by sullenly staring in the direction Lil had run off. Ignoring Rene's question entirely, she tucked the subspatial pouch full of seeds into her bosom, shot to her feet, and stomped off after Lil.
"Sigh... That girl. She didn't cause too much trouble there, did she...?"
Elves instinctively felt awe and intimidation in a Dryad's presence, especially a high elf like her daughter. Surely Lil hadn't been her usual mischievous self and had obeyed the Dryad obediently.
Believing as much when she'd entrusted Lil to that dungeon in the first place, Rene tidied the warehouse lightly before strolling casually through the trees toward where Drya had gone.
"Sacred Tree, why are you so la— Huh?"
"Oh my."
As Rene proceeded slowly, Lil suddenly popped out from ahead, leaves tangled all over her hair. But Drya was nowhere beside her.
"Lil. Where did the Dryad go...?"
"Huh? She was just with you, Mom. Why ask me? Where'd the Sacred Tree go?"
"......?"
Rene's expression twisted oddly as she lightly brushed leaves from Lil's hair, who spoke as if she'd never crossed paths with Drya.
...When Drya had ignored her and vanished, she'd assumed from the direction that she was heading to her daughter. If not...
Where had Drya gone?
-Thud. Thud.
Half-listening to Rene, Drya focused on the source of her displeasure. The moment the clingy Lil peeled off, she headed straight for where the ominous aura emanated.
The dungeon's myriad plants, which would normally heed their Dungeon Master's commands, respectfully parted ways for the mother and queen of all flora.
Aided by the plants, Drya navigated the unfamiliar dungeon like her own home and finally confronted the origin of the repulsive energy directed at her.
-Thump. Thump!
It was... a massive lump of flesh.
A dark crimson mass, like chewed-up meat scraps gathered in one spot, pulsed as if alive, radiating its aura everywhere.
Utterly alien to the lush forest scenery of the dungeon's interior. Confronting it, Drya dry-heaved.
"Urk...!"
She spat and grimaced in utter disgust, approaching the spherical flesh lump—the dungeon core.
-Rustle. Rustle.
As Drya advanced slowly, her small girl's form began to change.
Her slender limbs elongated, her flat chest swelled dramatically, and her chubby, baby-faced cheeks sharpened into mature allure.
By the time the transformation completed, Drya had reverted to the voluptuous form Eugene first discovered her in, embedded in that tree.
"Sigh. This won't even taste good."
Her childish lisp vanished, replaced by the calm, intellectual voice of a mature woman. Drya reached out and seized the throbbing core.
-Thump! Thump!
The core, normally devoid of will and merely channeling power to its demon master, began pulsing wildly as if desperate to escape her grasp. But she crushed its resistance effortlessly, lifted it to her lips.
"Waaah..."
-Gulp.
-[Sub Quest] Progress: 4/72
-[+10,000p]
"Hm?"
"Mom?"
Searching frantically for Drya with Lil, Rene suddenly halted, sensing something eerie.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"......"
A strange sensation from her linked dungeon core. As Dungeon Master, she sensed an anomaly in what was more vital than her own life. Face hardening, she bolted toward its location.
"Mom? Mom!"
Lil called from behind, but Rene raced heedlessly to the core. What she found was...
"Ugh."
"...?"
Drya—in her small girl form—rubbing her belly, repeatedly dry-heaving and burping as if she'd eaten something utterly revolting. And the dungeon core floating in midair.
"What? Sacred Tree, you're here? ...Huh? Was the core always like that?"
Not the dark crimson flesh lump, but a beautiful black gem that absorbed all light.