Chapter 158: Revenge
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 158: Revenge
Guwon steeled himself and approached the mosquito swarm.
Once he had put some distance between himself and the party, he activated Holy Ground Proclamation.
Come on, you insects! My Martial Artist level is pretty high now, too! I won’t just let you beat me!
The instant he used Holy Ground Proclamation, the mosquitoes swept toward him like a tsunami.
As his entire field of vision turned black, Guwon thought:
No, maybe they will beat me.
“Aaaaaah!”
Guwon waved both hands as though performing an exorcism.
At a glance, he seemed to be flailing randomly, but his rising Martial Artist level had made martial arts quite familiar to his body. There was definitely enough force in his hands to crush any mosquito he touched.
Unfortunately, far more mosquitoes were clinging to him and drinking his blood than were being crushed by his hands.
“Would it not be better if I helped?”
Diana called from afar, but Guwon waved her off.
“No! I haven’t had many chances to get hurt lately, so this is perfect! It’s a good opportunity for Leia to grow, too! We’ll handle them ourselves!”
Guwon still wasn’t even using Saint’s Touch.
This was what people called pointless stubbornness.
Still, between Sara’s attacks and Guwon’s, the swarm was definitely shrinking.
“Hahaha! See that, you insects?! I did it!”
After they fought for a while longer, the last remaining mosquito finally fell to the ground.
“Why put yourself through all of that? Even for efficient growth, would it not be better for me to dispose of these quickly and let you fight something else?”
Diana had struck a sore point, but Guwon casually ignored it.
“The sense of accomplishment matters with things like this. I can now beat enemies I couldn’t beat this way before. Isn’t that part of what drives growth?”
“Hmm. I see. Though this approach seemed to work more because Leia’s healing improved than because of your own growth.”
“Right, then! Let’s hurry and harvest the magic stones!”
Unable to withstand any more of Diana’s assault with facts, Guwon changed the subject.
Normally, people didn’t bother harvesting magic stones from mosquito swarms. But these were a Transcendent Species, after all. Simply leaving them would be a waste.
When he separated the magic stones from their bodies, another item dropped—one that ordinary mosquitoes didn’t produce.
It was a Mosquito’s Tail.
“What’s this? What am I supposed to do with something like it?”
“Hmm. Things that mosquitoes drop rarely have much use in the first place.”
“Should I just throw it away?”
Even with an infinite inventory, Guwon wasn’t the type to carry every useless thing he found.
He tossed the tail into the air and caught it several times while debating whether to discard it, then accidentally dropped it.
By chance, it stuck into a nearby cactus, and suddenly a tremendous rumbling shook the ground.
“Wh-What is this?!”
“D-Do not ask me! What have you done?!”
As the rumbling grew stronger, the sand beneath their feet suddenly began swirling.
Seeing the center of the vortex sink, Guwon reacted at once. He tucked Diana and Leia under his arms and leaped backward.
He’d been afraid they might be sucked in, but the vortex quickly subsided, leaving only a large hole in the middle.
“…What is this?”
Once the rumbling stopped completely, he peered inside. But the hole was full of pitch-black darkness, and he couldn’t see properly.
“Wait a moment.”
Diana chanted a spell and created a brightly glowing sphere.
She sent it into the hole, illuminating the interior until they could finally see clearly.
“It’s a cave.”
It looked large and fairly complex, like a secret dungeon inside the dungeon.
But why had its entrance suddenly opened?
It couldn’t simply be because they’d defeated the transcendent mosquito swarm. That wouldn’t explain why even Diana knew nothing about it. They weren’t the first to kill those monsters. If killing them opened this place, there would definitely have been rumors.
The only thing I’d done afterward was drop the tail.
Wait. How did mosquitoes mate again? Wasn’t it with the reproductive organ at the tip of the tail…?
Guwon had a rough idea of what was going on.
So that hadn’t dropped as an ordinary tail.
When he pulled it out of the cactus, there was indeed a recessed hole beneath it.
“What do you think? Shall we go in now?”
“You weren’t planning to walk past it anyway, were you?”
Well, that was true.
But Diana stopped the enthusiastic Guwon and Sara.
“No. At least for now, it would be better not to.”
“Hm? Why?”
“Have you forgotten what happened on the 1st Floor? What if it is a one-way passage?”
“Ah…”
That was certainly a good point.
They didn’t even know what monsters might be inside. They couldn’t enter recklessly.
When we’d been lost on the 1st Floor, at least we hadn’t needed to worry about food, thanks to the orcs.
If this cave was one-way and full of monsters that dropped no ingredients, things could turn out very badly.
“Still, isn’t it a shame to just leave it?”
“Hmm. I am not suggesting we ignore it. Let us investigate after defeating another transcendent mosquito swarm and securing a second tail.”
I see. That was an option.
Guwon immediately understood her meaning.
In short, even if the passage was one-way and they became trapped inside, someone above could open it and let them return. They could easily test whether it was one-way, so Diana wanted them to obtain two tails and try that first.
But all those mosquitoes had dropped only one tail. Getting another meant fighting a second transcendent swarm…
When Guwon grimaced, Diana poked his side and teased him.
“What is it? Do you not wish to fight them again? If you ask properly, I could take care of them for you.”
“Hmm. We’ve already checked our growth with that battle, so there’s no need to waste energy. Alright, Diana! I’m leaving the next battle to you!”
“Is that how you ask properly?”
“Please help us, Lady Diana.”
“Hmm.”
When Guwon bowed his head, Diana smiled in satisfaction and patted him on the head.
Using the map, they went to find another transcendent mosquito swarm.
Now that they’d confirmed the tail was a genital-related drop, they needed to hit the monsters with a Saint skill at least once.
Guwon approached and activated Holy Ground Proclamation, and the mosquitoes immediately rushed toward him.
Ugh. I’d never get used to the sight of giant insects swarming me all at once.
“Diana, please!”
The moment he shouted, a tremendous blast rang out ahead of him, and the air shook.
BOOM!
The battle ended almost disappointingly easily.
Then why… why had I… struggled so pointlessly earlier…?
“D-Do not be so disheartened. It is merely a question of compatibility, is it not?”
Perhaps Guwon looked pitiful, because Diana, who had teased him earlier, now patted him reassuringly.
Right? It was just a bad matchup, wasn’t it? It wasn’t because I was weak, right?
“That’s right. You’re plenty strong, Guwon.”
Leia embraced him from the side, too. Naturally, something soft pressed against his arm.
What a heavenly sensation. Honestly, I wasn’t that discouraged… but let’s stay like this a little longer.
“…Really?”
“Of course. You’re always dependable and wonderful.”
“Ugh! Leia! You really are the only one!”
Guwon threw himself into Leia’s ample breasts.
Smiling, Leia gently embraced him.
Haa… I’m being healed. Truly, the oasis of my heart.
As Guwon enjoyed that softness with his entire face, a chill of murderous intent struck him from behind.
“Guwon. We can all see you’re acting, so get off her.”
“I was the one who comforted you first, you know.”
I-I’m not to blame! These breasts are! They keep swaying and tempting me!
“…Sorry.”
“Hehe. It’s alright.”
Even when his ulterior motives were exposed, Leia was the only one who kept smiling.
Our angel really was the best.
Once again, all those mosquito corpses yielded only one tail.
Was the mosquito that dropped it a particularly special individual?
In any event, after successfully obtaining another tail, the party returned directly to the previous location.
When they inserted the tail into the small hole in the cactus, the entrance to the cave opened once more.
“We’ll go in first, then.”
“Yes. Be careful.”
“Right. If the entrance closes and doesn’t reopen after about ten minutes, open it for us.”
They decided that Guwon and Diana would enter first.
It went without saying that Guwon, the toughest member, would go. And without Diana’s magic, they wouldn’t be able to see anything in that darkness.
Not long after they entered the cave, the passage behind them closed noisily.
Before looking for a hole, Guwon examined the space they’d entered.
Now, what exactly was this place?
Diana sent the glowing sphere toward the ceiling, lighting the entire space.
They had entered a fairly large cavern. Something slimy was wriggling along its walls.
What was that?
On closer inspection, they were insect eggs.
Countless eggs covered the entire wall.
“I see. It appears this is how the insect-type monsters of the 2nd Floor grow.”
Diana spoke calmly, sounding intrigued, but Guwon was honestly rather overwhelmed.
There were far too many.
It probably wouldn’t happen, but if they all hatched at once, it would be a serious ordeal.
It was also strange that there wasn’t a single fully grown monster in what appeared to be a hatchery.
They might simply have stepped away for a moment, and countless insects could return at any time. Without Leia, he couldn’t count on healing. If that happened, things could become dangerous.
Let’s get out of here quickly.
When he examined the wall where they’d entered, he found a small hole.
Guwon quickly placed the Mosquito’s Tail against it. With a loud noise, the passage opened again.
Thank goodness. It didn’t seem to be one-way.
“It looks like it wasn’t a one-way passage.”
When Guwon and Diana came out, Sara spoke with a relieved expression.
They’d emerged almost immediately after entering, but she was already standing before the cactus with the tail clenched in her hand. Apparently, she’d been quite worried.
Cute.
“Yes. It’s probably where the insect monsters live. There are eggs everywhere right inside the entrance. We’d have to prepare ourselves properly to explore it.”
“Then shall we stop here for today and explore properly tomorrow? It’s almost dinnertime anyway, right?”
She was right. It was a little earlier than their usual quitting time, but doing that occasionally was fine.
The party returned to the inn a little early.
And they ran straight into Pots’s party at the entrance.
“Are you just getting back, too? You’re early for once.”
“More or less.”
“Right, right. Earning a reasonable amount and enjoying yourself is better than doing nothing but hunting.”
For some reason, he sounded very cheerful.
Beside him, Kate couldn’t even meet my eyes and looked painfully uncomfortable. Of course, I had no such trouble and looked straight at both of them.
Judging by that, Kate hadn’t broken up with Pots after all. Which meant…
“You seem particularly happy today. Yesterday you looked half-dead.”
“I just wasn’t feeling great yesterday! I’m naturally cheerful, you know. Though if I had to give a reason, it might be the wonderful night I spent with my Kate.”
As he spoke, Pots put an arm around Kate’s waist and pulled her against him.
Kate gave an awkward smile and leaned against him stiffly, but Pots didn’t seem to notice. How oblivious could he be?
And this bastard apparently thought last night had been entirely satisfying. Sorry, but you were the only one satisfied. I was the one who satisfied Kate.
“What is it, Kate? Are you embarrassed? It’s fine. We’re adventurers, right? This is something to brag about.”
Apparently mistaking her discomfort for embarrassment, he kept talking excitedly, without knowing her true feelings.
“Right, right. Live happily ever after, you two.”
Guwon saw no need to continue the conversation and went into the dining room.
While eating, he kept his attention on Pots and Kate.
“See? I told you I just wasn’t feeling well the other day. Yesterday was amazing, right?”
“Y-Yes.”
Perhaps he took Kate’s unconvincing answer as mere shyness, because he smiled in satisfaction and said:
“I’ll make tonight incredible, too.”
Sure you will.
But perhaps this was a good opportunity.
If she slept with Pots again, Kate would feel the difference between him and me even more sharply.
She would realize again that she could only get yesterday’s pleasure from me.
That should make her decision come sooner.
Though the fact that she was still pretending to be Pots’s girlfriend already suggested she’d mostly made up her mind.
Before long, the two of them hurried upstairs.
That would do. Go ahead and feel the difference between Pots and me clearly.
I could stop worrying about them now. Guwon had things of his own to do.
“G-Guwon. I’m coming in.”
Of course, that meant treating Leia’s Gumiho transformation.
Leia entered the room with a rare expression of hesitation and embarrassment.
It was a reaction I’d often seen at first, but not lately, now that she was accustomed to these activities. Why was she acting like that?
“Leia? What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”
“N-No, nothing like that… Um… we’re going to be intense tonight, right?”
Leia spoke shyly, both cheeks flushed.
Don’t tell me she remembered what I’d said that morning?!
Guwon’s heart swelled.
“Leia!”
He rushed toward her and almost kissed her, but stopped himself just in time.
Kissing was another way for a Gumiho to absorb essence.
The moment their lips met, she would turn into the Gumiho.
What I did with Leia wasn’t simply for pleasure. It also served to treat her transformation. I couldn’t just surrender to my desires like this.
At least, not before getting her permission.
Guwon put his brain into overdrive and instantly devised an excuse.