Chapter 184
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 184
The sun no longer rose in the dungeon.
"Will it stay like this?"
"That probably depends on what the Tree of Life thinks."
"I suppose so."
The hunters hovered around Honey, who had now grown to a massive five meters.
"Wow, it’s warm…"
"It got so cold so suddenly after the heat died down."
"It swallowed all that heat, and it’s only warm? Does that even make sense?"
"Who cares if it makes sense? As long as it’s warm."
"True…"
Perhaps because its body had grown heavy, Honey didn’t fly.
"Krrng," it rumbled.
"We’ll unpack it when we get home," Gio said.
"Krrng, krrng, krrng…"
"If you release it here, it’ll all go to waste."
"Krrng, krrng, krrng, krrng, krrng…"
"Want a snack?"
"Kkooreureuk," Honey gurgled happily.
Kang Seo-dam approached Gio, who had just tossed a whole sack of snacks into Honey’s mouth.
"Hunter Seo Gio."
"Ah, Priest."
"Thank you for helping us with this matter."
"I only did what needed to be done."
"Honey’s help was also immense…"
Kang Seo-dam looked as if he wanted to say more, but he quickly closed his mouth.
"……."
He soon continued.
"…It only feels cold because of the contrast with the scorching heat from before, but the current climate is actually quite mild. If we were to compare it to Earth’s seasons, it would be like spring."
"So it has stabilized, then?"
"Just in case, we’ve gathered those who can still move and specialize in magic to dig into the ground, but there hasn’t been any notable progress yet. Even if we can’t pump up groundwater, under the current circumstances… it shouldn’t be a major issue."
"I see."
Gio asked, "Shall we go check on those small trees now?"
"Yes, that’s why I’m gathering people to go with us."
"I’d like to join you."
"I would be grateful if you did."
With that, a small group of hunters moved to where the light-purple tree stood.
Despite all the commotion, the small tree remained completely unscathed. In the perpetual twilight, it emitted a faint, soft glow. Jeong Young-won carefully examined the delicate tree and spoke.
"Even though the climate has changed so drastically, the tree’s temperature hasn’t changed much."
"It seems to have lost some of its heat compared to before, but I agree."
Nodding, Kang Seo-dam turned to Sa Na-rae.
"Do you have any advice to offer?"
"My, my, thank you so much for relying on me."
"I am well aware that you are being sarcastic."
"I don’t have much to say either… Hmm, I smell a fragrance."
"A fragrance?"
"Before the weather cooled down, it smelled like a corpse."
"Then we can certainly consider that a change."
It was then.
"Meow."
Dana cried out from within Gio’s shadow.
"Meow."
"……."
"Meow…"
At Dana’s meows, the tree’s branches trembled faintly. No matter how exhausted they were, the hunters were not so dull as to miss such a movement. Tense at the inexplicable phenomenon, a hunter from the Eunwol Guild wore a nervous expression.
"C-could this be a monster, too?"
"Since a child who was once human turned into a tree, the possibility cannot be ruled out."
"Then shouldn’t we prepare ourselves?"
But before they could discuss it further, the tree began to flap its branches.
Flop.
"……."
Flap, flap-flap.
"……?"
Splat…
The hunters stared blankly as the tree whimpered and struggled to crawl out of the ground. It flailed about like a puppy stuck in a swamp. About ten minutes passed in this manner.
Unable to bear the bizarre silence, one hunter finally spoke up.
"S-should we… help it?"
"Helping a monster is just asking for trouble."
"We don’t even know if that thing is a monster in the first place…"
Not everything that lived and moved in a dungeon was a monster. While it was true that most dungeons contained only monsters, some also had ordinary trees or wild beasts.
However, it was hard not to view a tree that moved this actively as a monster. Unless it was an ordinary creature that had inhabited this dimension before it turned into a dungeon…
"……."
"…But it looks so weak."
"…We’ve grown quite weak, too. There are plenty of cases where hunters let their guard down around a weak-looking monster only to get ambushed."
"But isn’t debating this while waiting for it to get out on its own kind of pointless?"
"True, we’d just be standing here watching it struggle until it gets out…"
"Let’s just pull it out. We’re already here."
"It doesn’t seem to have much hostility toward humans, either."
While monsters generally hated and threatened humans, there were vast differences between individual entities. In the end, despite their lingering doubts, the hunters gently pulled the whimpering, flapping tree out of the ground.
And then, the hunters realized something.
"...! A seal?"
Someone shook their head.
"It has a long neck and four limbs. And its body is much wider."
"Then what do people usually call a creature like this?"
"I think I saw a similar monster in another dungeon. Let’s see… a water dragon?"
"If I had to guess… wouldn’t it be a Plesiosaurus?"
One hunter asked, sounding dumbfounded.
"Are you naming dinosaurs right now?"
"Well, yes. There was a dinosaur on ancient Earth that lived in the water."
"I’m not asking about that. I mean, how on earth do you know that?"
"My son likes them…"
"Ah…"
Even in an era where countless records had been erased after the Great Catastrophe, records regarding dinosaurs still remained. Even now, many children memorized dinosaur names by heart.
"Does that Plesiosaurus dinosaur look like this?"
"Yes. It has a long neck, four limbs, a flat body like a board, and a tail."
"I wondered why this one wasn’t a beast like the others, but it turns out it’s a water dragon…"
"I didn’t recognize it because it was mimicking a tree."
A water dragon trapped in a dungeon filled with the sun’s terrible heat. It was easy to see how much suffering the Tree of Life had wanted to inflict upon it. It was practically like hanging a fish out to dry in a dehydrator.
"When it was stuck in the ground, it just looked like a tree."
But now that it was out, it looked exactly like a water dragon draped in hanging wisteria flowers.
The small, light-purple water dragon crawled forward, its tail thumping against the ground. Since it showed no signs of hostility or murderous intent, they simply watched as the creature approached Seo Gio. It let out a short cry.
"Moo."
One of the hunters covered their mouth.
"So cute."
"It’s a monster."
"There are plenty of cute monsters."
"I suppose everyone has their own tastes."
In this individualistic world, hunters readily respected their colleagues' preferences.
Showing little interest in the hunters' chatter, the creature—a tangle of wood shaped like a water dragon—raised what appeared to be its head and nudged Gio’s waist. Gio watched it closely before reaching into his pocket.
"Mooo."
"Are you hungry?"
"Moo!"
"How precious."
Hunter Sa Na-rae asked, "So as long as it’s hungry, you don’t care if it’s a monster?"
"It’s always nice to see them eat well."
"Mmhmm… You certainly have a distinct taste."
One of the hunters spoke up in surprise.
"That monster seems to really like Hunter Seo Gio."
"Is it because he’s a Tamer?"
"No way. Before they’re tamed, a Tamer is just another enemy to them."
"Then why is it acting like that toward Hunter Seo?"
As they buzzed with speculation at the sight of the creature behaving exactly like a baby animal begging its parent for food, someone offered a guess.
"Maybe it’s already tamed?"
"When did he even have time to do that…?"
"Maybe with just love and affection…"
"…Does anyone here actually know how taming works?"
But of course, there was no way anyone knew the secrets of the incredibly rare Tamer class. Tamers would never share their precious trade secrets with others in the first place. Above all, taming methods varied wildly from person to person.
In the end, the hunters came to their own conclusions.
Maybe even monsters care about looks.
Does he smell good? Like pheromones or something…
He might have a skill that lowers a monster’s guard.
Or maybe it’s the ability of a monster he’s already tamed? There’s no way he’s shown us everything.
It was a world where not prying too deeply into others' business had become basic etiquette. In an era where one could not ask forbidden questions, imagination filled the gaps. The hunters simply accepted it and moved on.
Had there been another Tamer present, they would have realized just how absurd this situation was, but the chances of that were slim. Such was this society, where idolization and wild assumptions had become the norm.
"Oh dear, this is all the jerky I brought…"
The hunters gasped at Gio’s words.
"Hunter Seo Gio, you brought jerky too? Those muffins weren’t the end of it?"
"What do you mean muffins? I got jelly!"
"…Wait, I received chocolate. Just how many snacks did you bring with you?"
At that, Sa Na-rae thought to himself:
They’d stop making such a fuss if they saw him pull a human-sized pot out of subspace.
Seo Gio, who was kneading the cheeks of the water dragon—whose head barely reached his waist—as if it were a pet dog, tilted his head. Some hunters followed his gaze, while others had already noticed something.
And soon, water began to gush out from the hole the creature had left.
"……."
"……."
"…It’s water."
A quick-witted hunter summed up the situation.
"Looks like that thing was blocking the water vein."
Having said that, the hunter picked up their communication device. It was to stop the mages who were likely sweating blood digging up the earth to find any trace of groundwater.
Dumbfounded, the hunters exchanged glances.
"There really was groundwater."
"But is it okay for it to keep gushing out like that…? What’s the mechanism behind this?"
"Isn’t it coming out a bit too fast?"
Around that time, Kang Seo-dam, who had received a call from another team, spoke up.
"The other teams are reporting similar findings. Some trees are still struggling to get out of the ground, while others have already emerged… but water is gushing from those spots as well."
"At this rate, won’t this dungeon end up completely submerged?"
"I don’t think it will submerge completely. I don’t know exactly how much groundwater was dormant here, but tapping into a water vein on Earth doesn’t drown the world, after all."
"I suppose that’s true, but…"
Pitter, patter…
Jeong Young-won raised her hand.
"It’s raining."
"What?! Ah, wait, where should we take cover—!"
"It’s alright."
Gently rubbing the raindrops on her hand, Jeong Young-won continued.
"Because it doesn’t hurt anymore."
The rain of pain that drove people mad at the slightest touch was gone. Unlike before, it was not a torrential downpour that stung the skin, but a gentle drizzle falling softly like morning dew.
Just then, the hunters received a notification from their Systems.
"…Cleared…"
"…It’s cleared."
"P-Priest! Just now…!"
"It’s been cleared!!"
[The 'Giant Wisteria Water Dragon' falls into a long slumber.]
[You have successfully cleared the Dungeon: 'Subterranean Quadruped Rainforest'.]
[Please check your Collection Reward.]
"We can finally go home!!"
"A wise decision."
Kang Seo-dam nodded.
"Let’s head back."
It was time to return.
*
"Mr. Sa Na-rae."
"Yeah?"
"I have a question."
"Aha, what is it?"
"What is a Collection Reward?"
"A Collection Reward…"
Sa Na-rae looked at Gio and grinned.
"You can think of it as a gift from the System."
"What kind of gift?"
"When you clear a dungeon, the System evaluates your contribution and sends you a gift accordingly."
"How do you receive the gift?"
"Usually, you receive it through the System interface. It gets delivered to your bound subspace…"
"How do you do that?"
"Why on earth are you asking that?"
"Because it looks convenient."
"…Hmm…"
"……."
"……."
A translucent System window quietly floated between them. Sa Na-rae’s eyes reflexively darted to check his notification window.
[Reward Distributed]
[Fr¿m S¿o G■o]
[A gift from Seo Gio]
[: Golden-Step Sheep Jerky]
"I didn’t see anything just now, okay?"
"Wasn’t the message sent for you to see?"
"I said I didn’t see it! Why are you doing this to me, seriously?"
"Do you not like jerky very much?"
Gio whispered, "I asked because I didn’t receive anything from the System."
First, if you were a hunter, there was no way you wouldn’t know about 'Collection Rewards.' It was basic common sense that anyone living in human society would learn.
Second, no human could acquire a System skill simply because it 'looked convenient.' Just as one couldn’t create an entire Earth just because it looked cool.
Third, there was no reason for a contributor of Hunter Seo Gio’s caliber not to receive a clear reward. Unless, of course, he didn’t have a System at all, or was using an entirely different kind of System.
"……."
And there was no reason for him to go out of his way to tell Sa Na-rae that…
"Everyone has left."
"…Indeed."
"We should head back too."
"Shall we?"
Sa Na-rae decided to just shut up and smile.
In his experience, there was no wiser answer in life than that.