Ch 144 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 144 -- Swamp


We had transferred via Teleportation magic to the 28th level which turned out to be a swamp stretching out towards the horizon. We were standing on a wooden walkway, about 1.5 metres wide, built a little above the swamp and leading off into the distance.

"This walkway, it's the way we have to go right?" I didn't fancy trying to wade through the swamp. It looked nasty and how deep was it? Were there sinkholes and quicksands? What sort of monsters lurked under the surface?

"Umu." Fer said, looking around. "We'll be attacked by monsters as we go and we can't avoid them or hide or sneak up on them since we have to stay on the walkway. It's an extra difficulty compared to a forest or desert level."

...What's with this dungeon, really? Did it truly have to be so unfair? When I asked him about this Fer explained that all dungeons were different and you had to accept what came along. I couldn't be as philosophical as Fer about it though.

"A level which is all swamp and nothing else is definitely unusual." Fer added, after scanning the area. So there wasn't a convenient short-cut, a dry land route to the end of the level somewhere? It was all like this? Dora-chan could fly across the swamp but unless we could get a boat or something like that then the walkway was going to be our only route through the level and we'd get ambushed by assorted monsters as we went.

"Ugh, water..." Fer said in a disgusted voice. Ah, that's right, Fer wasn't happy with the idea of getting wet. "We should get through the level as fast as possible." Fer announced. He was really unhappy with the idea of getting wet... "I'll run all night tonight."

Can you actually do that, Fer? "I can see a bit now because it's dusk, but after the sun goes down and it gets dark will you be able to see?" For now the sun was still in the 'sky' so I could see some of the scenery around here but in the dark staying on the walkway, especially at the speed Fer runs at would be a problem, surely? The walkway ahead of us wasn't straight, it twisted and turned. The monsters hidden in the swamp wouldn't be visible too, and...

"Don't worry, I've got good night vision." Fer said. "Moving around, even running in the dark won't be a problem."

"I can see in the dark too." Dora-chan piped up. Ah, you too? I wondered if Sui-chan was also able to see at night and I was the only one in this party who couldn't...

"But can you actually run all night, Fer?" I asked.

"Humph, I'm not so weak that an overnight run would tire me out." Fer declared.

"Me too. I can fly for three days straight, easy peasy." Dora-chan added.

There wasn't going to be a problem going ahead with Fer's plan, it seemed. Sui-chan couldn't stay awake all night but she'd be OK in her leather bag. I was the only one who'd have difficulties, I'd have to stay firmly on Fer's back all night and not get shaken off. If that happened and I ended up falling in the swamp, well...

"Before we leave, let's eat first." Fer said.

"What the big guy said. I'm hungry." Dora-chan added.

"Sui is hungry too-"

I looked at the wooden walkway and decided it was too narrow for me to bring out my Black Magic Cooking Stove to prepare a meal. I wasn't even sure if the walkway would support its weight. Should I use the little gas stoves to cook something?

"Hurry up. Let's eat and get moving." Fer said, his eyes scanning the area around us. He really really didn't like this water-logged level. I wondered... I had decided that feeding them different-world food from the Net Super again was a bad idea but maybe I was wrong? Fer was going to be running all night and fighting monsters all the way, and Dora-chan would be flying alongside providing supporting fire so an energy boost from eating Net Super products would help them. Yosh, Net Super food it is! I decided quickly against getting more wagyu beef steaks, I couldn't cook them easily and it would take time.

I opened Net Super and started buying side dishes and ready-to-eat entrees that caught my eye. Yakitori, deep-fried chicken, beef croquette, shumai steamed meat dumplings, Chinese spring rolls, sweet and sour pork, pork loin cutlets over rice, beef ribs and more, piled into large dishes and put down on the walkway for the Gluttonous Trio to get stuck in. I bought seafood and salad for myself since I'd been eating a lot of meat recently and the idea of more of the same was a little off-putting. After providing ""Seconds"" for Fer and Sui-chan a few times we were finished.

"Well then, ready to get going?" Fer asked.

"Aruji, Sui is sleepy-" Sui-chan murmured, already half-asleep after the meat feast. She was always the first to fall asleep after we ate.

"Sui should go to bed and sleep." I told her.

"Okay-" Sui-chan climbed into her bag and settled down.

'Hey you, get on my back and hang on tight." Fer commanded.

"Y- yeah, I will." I straddled Fer's back, holding on as firmly as I could.

"Oh, hey." I had a sudden thought. "Do you need a light?" It had become totally dark while we were eating dinner and I only had my pocket flashlight to work with now but there were other sorts of flashlights, lamps, LED lanterns and such for sale in the Net Super. I could buy-

"No, no lights." Fer said. "Lights at night in this swamp would just attract more monsters." Ah, would it? In that case, no lights are good. Safety first after all. I switched off my own flashlight and stowed it carefully in my pocket.

"I'll put my Barrier up for you and Dora, just in case." Fer positioned himself on the walkway and I felt him tense, ready for his sprint.

"Nah, no need to do that for me, big guy." Dora-chan retorted. "I'll take the lead and spot any monsters you are going to run into, smack down the little ones."

"Good idea." Fer acknowledged.

"Right then, let's get going." Dora-chan buzzed off into the darkness and Fer launched himself down the walkway after the little Pixie Dragon. As soon as we moved away from the start of the level a couple of monsters attacked us. One was a giant frog and the other was some kind of fish, about 30cm long and flat like an ankou. They jumped clear out of the water from either side of the walkway but they bounced off Fer's Barrier. We didn't bother to stop to fight them but we just kept going, leaving them behind. We didn't have time to deal with every monster we encountered. Besides, and I smiled to myself at the pun, they were just the sort of small fry Fer kept on referring to. Fish, small fry, get it? Okay, one was a frog but... oh, never mind.

Up ahead in the darkness I could hear the sounds of battle and see occasional flashes of fire magic. Dora-chan was fighting some monsters, it seemed. I felt a vague disappointment that we were leaving drops behind but I had decided before we set off we wouldn't stop to collect any drops on this floor, we just wanted to get through the swamp and face off against the level boss. We had collected a lot of drops on the previous level but it had taken us quite some time. There were bound to be some good drops from this level's boss once we defeated him anyway and I'd be sure to collect those high-value ones before we advanced to the next level.

As we proceeded the monsters that Dora-chan had subjugated had all disappeared but the signs of the battles were clear where the walkway was broken or damaged. Fer nimbly avoided the loose boards and gaping holes and kept running incredibly fast into the darkness while I held on for dear life.

When the sun rose Fer slowed to a stop on a patch of the walkway that had suffered comparatively little damage. He raised his muzzle and sniffed then declared that the level's boss wasn't that far off now. Dora-chan came flying back after a few moments and settled down beside us.

"The walkway just here seems solid enough." I said, climbing off Fer's back with a groan. All my muscles hurt from the pounding ride. I stretched and then my belly clock went off. Hmmm, this was as good a place as any. "Do you want to eat some breakfast before we get to the boss?" I asked.

"Umu, that would be good." Fer said.

"Oh, food at last." Dora-chan agreed.

I could only use the little gas-bottle cooking stoves since I didn't have space for the big Black Magic Cooking Stove but they would do the job. Steak, that was a popular choice for these guys for breakfast, or any time really. I cooked a lot of Wyvern steaks and Sui-chan woke up just in time to eat with the other two. Me, I fried up some ham and eggs for myself and made a sandwich of them with black bread and finished that off with some drip coffee. When Fer had finished his fourth (or was it his fifth?) serving of Wyvern steaks he scanned the swamp ahead of us again.

"Running all night, we're most of the way to the level boss already. If we keep going we'll get to him before noon." Before noon? That's quick. Fer really didn't like this level, too much water around for him probably. Speaking of water, I cast an eye over his coat which was starting to look a bit matted and dirty again. Was it time for him to have another bath and shampoo? Once we were finished with the dungeon, perhaps.

"Oh, that's right. During the night big fish-things with whiskers and big slimy snake-things kept jumping out of the water to attack me." Dora-chan mentioned. "They weren't a big deal but there was no way I was going to ignore anything that looked that ugly." Dora-chan said with a disgusted expression on his face. The big fish with whiskers would be something like a catfish-type monster, and a slimy snake, would that be an eel-type monster, perhaps? My curiosity was soon satisfied as we continued along the walkway towards the level boss. A large catfish broke the surface, opened its big mouth and jumped straight at us from the swamp.

"Guwah!" it roared. How could a fish roar? I wondered as I cringed back but-

"Dosh!" Dora-chan blew several large holes in the torso of the big catfish with his fire magic before it could reach us and the body tumbled off the walkway back into the water.

"It  was like this all night, attack after attack after attack." Dora-chan said tiredly. "No big deal really, but all the time? Ugh." As Dora-chan said the catfish-monster was really disgusting and ugly. Yeah, it was a catfish but it had sharp teeth like a shark. Brrr.

"And that's the other sort." Dora-chan said. I looked around to see a slender snake-like monster with sharp teeth ringing its round mouth jumping out of the water on the other side of the walkway at us. It was a lot bigger than an eel, in fact it looked more like a giant lamprey with that round sort of a mouth, only filled with teeth too.

"Dosh Dosh Dosh!" Dora-chan's fire magic Bombardment struck the eel's slime-covered flank and blew it into bits.

"That sort of ugly thing also attacked me in the middle of the night." Dora-chan said. "All the time. Blegh."

Yeah, as Dora-chan says, blegh. We kept moving, me on Fer's back with Sui-chan resting in her bag and Dora-chan flying ahead of us, dealing with the fish and eel monsters that attacked continuously. Fer was concentrating on moving quickly and trying to keep up with the Pixie Dragon who was, as he had often boasted he could, flying at a great speed. No matter how fast he was flying he destroyed every catfish-monster and eel-monster he encountered. I was impressed.

As Fer had promised before noon we got to the level boss standing on a patch of solid ground at the end of the walkway. "That's him, the boss." Fer said, stopping and pointing his muzzle forward. What was that ahead of us?...

"Ah, that? Isn't that a bit too big?" I asked myself. I had seen crocodiles before, in the zoo but not any like this one. It was as big as a sightseeing bus. Bigger, maybe. When I tried to Appraise it....


[ Gustave ]

S rank monster.


Of course it would be S ranked, after all the bosses of the 26th and 27th levels had been S rank. Even so, it was... big. Would we be able to defeat it as easily as the others?

"Yosh, here I go!" Fer shouted.

"Yeah! Hi Ho! ! " Dora-chan chimed in.

"Sui will fight too-" Sui-chan added.

Wait wait WAIT! I pulled back on Fer's fur. "Hey, Fer! Are you going to fight that thing with me on your back? Let me get off first!"

"You'll have to remain on my back," Fer said, obviously impatient to start the boss battle. "If I leave you behind on the walkway you'll get attacked by those monsters in the swamp. I can protect you better if you stay where you are." Fer cocked his head round to look at me. "I'm not going to let you get killed, who'd cook for me if I let that happen to you?"

......ehhh, so I'm only important to you because I can cook for you? I looked around at the swamp and had to agree with Fer though, it was too dangerous to stay here on the walkway while he fought the Gustave. I swallowed hard.

"Oh, it can't be helped." I heard myself say. "I'll go with you-" but Fer was already charging forward. Waaaah!

"Dora, this monster's skin is super-tough. Aim for its eyes." Fer said telepathically as Dora-chan flew ahead into the attack.

"Got it, big guy." came Dora-chan's acknowledgement, swerving nimbly around the Gustave's snapping jaws as it fruitlessly tried to bite the annoying Pixie Dragon buzzing around its immense head. The sound of its teeth crunching shut was very loud, if Dora-chan got caught... Suddenly Fer leapt on to the Gustave's scaly back and blasted its head with his wind magic, zash, zash, zash-

"Gooooaaah-" the Gustave reared up in pain, its jaws open.

"Now aim at its eyes, Dora." Fer commanded as I clutched his neck fur, desperate to stay in place safely on his back. Now was not the time to fall off, I told myself. I blinked as five gleaming ice spears appeared around Dora-chan, then they shot downwards to pierce the Gustave's eyes dosh dosh dosh dosh dosh-

"Gruuuahhh----" The Gustave roared, thrashing its head from side to side, its body bucking and twisting. Fer leapt off safely to one side as the giant crocodile shape rolled on the ground in obvious agony, its fang-filled jaws open wide. I gripped Fer's neck fur even harder as we landed with a jolt. What next-

"Ah, Sui ?!" I watched in terror as Sui-chan pyonged forward... straight into the Gustave's gaping jaws, disappearing from sight as the monster snapped its mouth closed. Sui!

"Gurgle..." The Gustave's roars were choked off then its giant body convulsed once and collapsed onto the ground, motionless. There was a fizzing hissing sound and a hole appeared in the Gustave's flank. As I watched dumbfounded my darling battle maniac Sui-chan pyonged out from the hole she had melted in the monster's side.

"Yay, I went buzz buzz in the big monster's belly." Sui-chan announced with a satisfied tone in her voice.

......she shot Acid Bullets inside the Gustave's stomach? Well, no matter how strong a monster's skin is, its insides are going to be a lot softer. It was a gruesome way to win the battle though, and when she dived into the Gustave's open mouth, well... I watched darling Sui-chan pyong happily around the fallen S-ranked monster, thinking to myself (very privately) that maybe she was the most cold-blooded of my companions despite being the youngest and cutest.

"So you attacked it with Acid Bullets from inside?" Fer said wonderingly. "Y'know, I feel kinda sorry for it now."

"Acid Bullets in its belly..." Dora-chan said as he settled down on the ground, looking over at Sui-chan. "Neat trick, kid."

Hey you two, can you be quiet for a bit? "Ahem, Sui, you did really well." I said.

"Ehehe~" Sui-chan jumped up on my chest, happy I was praising her. Sui-chan is healing. And a pitiless win-at-all-costs battle maniac and... but healing, healing always.

Just then the remains of the Gustave disappeared, leaving a skin, a big magic stone, a fang and, oddly enough, the giant crocodile's spine. I wondered why that would be considered valuable but packed it away with the rest of the drops and followed Fer to the high ground behind the place the Gustave had stood waiting for us. The level exit would be there and sure enough... Fer placed his paw on the teleportation circle on a flat stone as I climbed on his back with Sui-chan in her bag and Dora-chan clinging to me.

"Right then, let's go to the 29th level." I said, looking back at the dismal swamp. I hoped it wasn't going to be like this again but given how the levels increased in difficulty it could be, in fact it probably would be worse. Ah well.

"Umu" Fer said, pushing magical power into the teleportation stone, sending us on an invisible elevator ride to the 29th level.

Ch 143 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 143 -- Manticore


We began our subjugation of level 27 with something to eat, naturally. I got out the rest of the cabbage rolls I had made back at the inn in Doran and served them up. Dora-can was satisfied with one serving but Fer and Sui, as usual wanted more. Giving in I quickly grilled some Orc General meat marinated in miso since the cabbage rolls were the last of the ready-to-eat food I had prepared and stored in my Item Box. All I had left was a lot of cooked rice, nothing else. Where had it gone? I counted on my fingers, it had only been, what, four days since we entered the dungeon and the mountain of food I had spent two days non-stop preparing had been polished off already? The true culprits were Fer and Sui-chan of course, Dora-chan's eating habits were nothing to speak of and me, well I didn't eat that much myself, did I? Did I? I poked my belly experimentally, there wasn't a lot of muscle admittedly and it did wobble a bit... it meant I'd be cooking the meals for all of us from now on rather than just dishing them out. Ah well.

After finishing eating and taking a short break we headed off through the woods before us. Fer said at the speed we were moving at we'd get to the level's boss some time this evening. I wondered what sort of monster we'd be facing this time -- the 26th level's boss had been an S-ranked Vasuki so I couldn't expect anything less than that on this level. The bosses were sure to get harder to defeat the further down into a dungeon you dived, after all.

I'd leave the subjugation of this level's boss to my three contracted monsters, I wouldn't take part in the battle to come. I couldn't even imagine me fighting an S-ranked monster. Sure I have state abnormality nullification and Perfect Defence, but facing up to monsters like that? I'd drop dead from the shock if I even tried. My sombre thoughts were interrupted by Fer.

"There's something up ahead. My turn, I think." Fer said.

Oh, it looks like monsters. I peered ahead, a cluster of Wild Apes in front of us and then-- Flash! Boom! A lot of dead Wild Apes behind us. The next monsters we encountered were dealt with by Dora-chan and then Sui-chan in turn. I did my best as the party's official drop item collection guy but we were in a hurry and we often left items of little interest behind just as we had in the first few levels of the dungeon.

The one thing that did stop us in our mad rush through the forest was, of course, our belly clocks. Time to eat.

"We've run out of things to eat so I'll have to cook something." I said as we stopped in a clearing and Fer put up his Barrier. "Hang on a minute." We had fought through the previous 26 levels on what I had made beforehand saving us time. From now on we'd be taking it slower while I cooked for all of us. Right now I needed to make something quick and easy... well, and it will have to be filling, to build up stamina for the coming boss battle.

Since we were on on the 27th level there were no other Adventurers around. That meant I could use Net Super freely. I ordered up garlic sprouts, yakiniku sauce (roasted garlic flavour) and and white sesame seeds. Garlic does wonders for stamina.

I took out the Black Magic Cooking Stove from my Item Box while trying to choose between Orc General and Bloody Horn Bull meat but I quickly decided on the beef since we had eaten Orc General meat earlier. Either kind of meat stir-fried this way was going to be delicious though.

First I sliced the Bloody Horn Bull meat and cut it into bite size pieces, coating them with a little yakiniku sauce. I chopped the sprouts to about 4cm then put oil in a hot frying pan before I added the Bloody Horn Bull meat and quickly stir-fried it. Once the meat browned I added the garlic sprouts and stir-fried the mixture a bit more. The garlic sprouts took up the yakiniku sauce while the meat cooked through as I kept stirring continuously. Once it was ready I piled the meat and sprouts on top of cooked rice in deep bowls for Fer, Sui and Dora-chan, sprinkling white sesame seeds on top before putting them out. That should boost their stamina, yosh.

"It's ready." I announced, as superfluously as ever, stepping back as the Gluttonous Trio performed a perfectly synchronised assault on the heaping bowls of stir-fried meat over rice lined up in front of them.

"This sauce on this meat is delicious. I could eat all of it." Fer announced telepathically, his jaws munching hard and fast, devouring the stir-fry. Hey Fer, think about the others, think about me will ya?

"Well, this tasty sauce is sweet and spicy at the same time. Yum!" That's right Dora-chan, yakiniku sauce is really tangy.

"This sauce and the meat go together real well-. I could eat it all too." Sui-chan said, taking her cue from Fer-ojichan. She liked the yakiniku sauce as well, good. A few moments later...

"""Seconds""" Fer and Sui-chan issued their usual demand for more food but this time Dora-chan wanted more too. My own appetite was increasing, perhaps because of the smell from the garlic sprouts cooking in the frying pan. I made another lot of stir-fry but this time I reserved some of it for my own dinner, topping it over some of the cooked rice I still had in reserve. I dug in while the three of them launched a second assault on the line of dishes on the ground.

Yosh, the garlic-flavoured sweet and spicy yakiniku sauce goes well with the meat as Fer, Dor-chan and Sui-chan had said. The white sesame seeds added a slight but noticeable accent to the dish over the strong garlic sprout flavour. It was a good dish to boost stamina and simple and quick to prepare. I could eat a lot of it too. I'd make it again sometime, I decided.

I pulled a ​​PET bottle of brown tea from my Item Box and took a quick drink, waiting for the inevitable...

""Seconds"" from Fer and Sui-chan, no Dora-chan this time. The appetite-enhancing effects of the garlic sprouts were hard at work and there was another round of stir-fry called for before they were satisfied. I shook my head, I had thought my reserves of cooked rice would last another meal at least but it had completely disappeared down the gullets of the Gluttonous Trio (and me too, I had to admit). Ah well.

After the meal I tidied up and we all took a short break before we set off rushing quickly through the forest again. Fer, Dora-chan and Sui took turns to defeat the monsters we met with no problem while I collected drop products. All too soon though...

"That's the boss monster of this level." Fer said as we stopped just at the edge of the trees. What was that...?

The boss was a monster a little larger than a lion with what looked like a lion's body but its tail was insectile, like a giant scorpion's tail bent up and over its back with its poison stinger pointed forward. The strange thing was the creature's head which was not catlike at all. Instead an old man's grotesque features peered out of the mane of hair around its shoulders. Its grinning mouth was too wide, reaching from ear to ear while its staring eyes bulged from its wrinkled face.

When I Appraised the strange-looking monster...

[ Manticore ]
S-rank monster.

A Manticore, I had heard that name before, a legendary creature that eats people... I shook my head, not good. Of course most of the monsters I had encountered since I had arrived in this world would quite happily eat people, would happily eat ME but for some reason the Manticore's face scared me more than it should. It was like something out of a nightmare.

"Ah, that's a Manticore..." I said redundantly. Of course Fer would know what it was. "Can you deal with it OK, Fer?"

"Of course I can deal with it OK." Fer said disparagingly. "I fought a Manticore once before. It was sneaky, it pretended to be badly wounded and when I closed in for the kill I got hit by that poison stinger on its tail. We need to watch out for that, it's got a longer reach than you'd think." Fer turned to Dora-chan and Sui.

"Dora, Sui, Manticores are quick and crafty opponents. Let me fight it by myself, I can take it down in one hit after all."

"Nah, you always want to hog the best ones, don't you big guy?" Dora-chan said, his own eyes fixed on the monster before us. "I'll help deal with him too."

"Hey, what's 'sneaky' mean-?" Sui-chan asked, her sniper tentacle already pointing towards the Manticore. It looked like she wasn't intending to get left behind either.

Fer shrugged, giving in to the other two's obvious readiness to fight the Manticore beside him. "Well, I mean, sneaky means being clever in a fight, deceiving your opponent. That sort of monster will pretend to be weak and if you get too close when you're attacking it will hurt you when you least expect it."

"Hmm, it's a bad monster doing that-. Sui will do my best!-"

Charged up, Fer, Dora-chan and Sui headed towards the Manticore.

Pew pew pew! Sui fired a string of Acid Bullets but the Manticore dodged nimbly and they all missed. While it was distracted though Dora-chan swung round to its opposite flank and fired off a wind magic attack, blowing a large hole in the Manticore's side, then wreathed in fire magic he dove straight into the hole! Manticore-san, you're not just fighting one enemy here...

"Guueeee..." The Manticore's grotesque face stared straight up to Heaven as it howled in agony then slash--! Fer released a Claw Slash from his right forefoot, the Manticore's upper body was chopped into small pieces and it was all over, a few seconds from the start of the one-sided battle. Oof... you guys were merciless, weren't you?

After the remains of the Manticore disappeared I collected the drops, a large magic stone, a skin and a Poison Stinger.

"Well, let's go down to the next level." I said. There was no point hanging around here now.

"Umu." Fer said, his paw already on the teleportation magic circle next to where the Manticore had stood. I climbed on his back carrying Sui-chan while Dora-chan clung to me as before. There was a moment of blackness and a disconcerting sensation of falling and then we arrived at the 28th level. What the...

"Eh?! Is the entire 28th level like this?"I said, looking around our arrival point. A swamp spread out as far as the eye could see.

Ch 142 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 142 -- Level 26 Boss Battle


Our next fight was going to be with the level's boss, it seemed so today's lunch would be...

"Fer, are we going to fight the boss now? If so l'd like to make a meal using ingredients from the Net Super so we all get a Status boost. How does that sound to you?" If we were going to fight this level's boss, a monster that Fer described as "strong" I thought it would be wise to raise everybody's levels as much as possible.

"Anyone who eats different world food can become stronger?" Dora-chan asked.

"That's right." I said. "Fer says the monster up ahead is a strong one. Eating Net Super food will make you stronger and so you're more able to defeat it without problems." I hoped.

"Umu." Fer said, his gaze never wavering from whatever was waiting up ahead for us to challenge it. "Dora and me have a blessing from the War God so there's no way we would lose but eating other world food sounds like a good idea anyway." Oh yeah, I had forgotten that the two of them had Vulcan-sama's blessing. Because Fer and Dora-chan were both strong monsters to start with I didn't really know what extra powers that blessing gave them. Of course Fer thought that eating food from the Net Super was a good idea any time...

I didn't know what sort of monster we were going to have to defeat (and I didn't want to die, obviously) so getting stronger beforehand was definitely a good idea even if it was a cheat, sort of.

"Right then, would you like the other-world steak we ate before?" I suggested.

"Oh, that sounds good." Fer agreed, licking his muzzle. Domestic wagyu Japanese beef steaks it would be, then. Eating something like steak this early in the day seemed a bit excessive to me but these guys would have no problems of course. I opened Net Super and purchased a large amount of Japanese wagyu beef. I added some other kinds of meat from the Net Super for variety, roast duck crusted with black pepper, lemon salt pork, yakitori, Vienna sausages, liver and various ready-grilled meats on skewers and so on. I sliced up the roast duck and slid the liver etc. off the skewers and piled them in bowls while I got busy with my Black Magic Cooking Stove, grilling the sausages and the pork and cooking the wagyu beef steaks in a large frying pan, adding just salt and pepper. Being the cook I got first taste of everything -- the lemon salt pork was tangy, the sausages were crisp to bite into and juicy inside. I put the bowls out and stepped back.

"It's ready." I announced as they dived in (literally, in Dora-chan's case). "Eat up, eat up. This will help you fight the boss." Watching them eat made me feel hungry too so I made a sandwich of the various meats to eat and coffee to drink while I cooked more and more meat for Fer and Sui-chan. Dora-chan was satisfied with one serving as usual which made things a little bit simpler for me. Finally they were all finished.

"Fu, all the different world meats are delicious." was Fer's verdict.

"Hmm, all this was from another world?" Dora-chan added. "Really quite delicious, wasn't it?"

"That was delicious-" Sui-chan concurred.

'Delicious' was all fine and well but my real concern was what sort of boost had the feast of other-world meats provided for the three of them? Time to use Appraisal.

[ Name ] Fer
[ Age ] 1014
[ Type ] Fenrir
[ Level ] 911
[ Stamina ] 9890 (+5002)
[ Magic Power ] 9534 (+4675)
[ Attack Power ] 9118 (+4483)
[ Defence Power ] 9814 (+4907)
[ Agility ] 9732 (+4856)
[ Skill ] Wind Magic, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Ice Magic, Lightning Magic, Sacred Magic, Barrier Magic, Claw Slash, Physical Strengthening, Physical Attack Resistance, Magic Attack Resistance, Magic Power Consumption Reduction, Appraisal, Battle Enhancement
[ Protections ] Wind Goddess Ninril’s Blessings, War God Vulcan's Blessings


[ Name] Dora-chan
[ Age ] 116
[ Type ] Pixie Dragon
[ Level ] 129
[ Stamina ] 915 (+459)
[ Magic Power ] 2935 (+ 1448)
[ Attack Power ] 2703 (+1342)
[ Defence Power ] 886 (+445)
[ Agility ] 3345 (+1673)
[ Skill ] Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Wind Magic, Ice Magic, Lightning Magic, Recovery Magic, Bombardment, Battle Enhancement
[ Protections ] War God Vulcan's Blessings


[ Name ] Sui
[ Age ] 2 months
[ Type ] Big Slime
[ Level ] 21
[ Stamina ] 1079 (+ 538)
[ Magical Power ] 1063 (+529)
[ Attack Power] 1058 (+533)
[ Defence Power ] 1061 (+525)
[ Agility ] 1080 (+540)
[ Skill ] Acid Bullet, Restorative Medicine Creation, Growth, Multiplication, Water Magic, Smithing
[ Protections ] Water Goddess Rusalka's Blessing, Blacksmith God Hephaestus' Blessing


Wow, Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan's base stats were all higher than before. Well, after diving in a dungeon and fighting top-ranked monsters for the past 25 levels it would be strange if they didn't go up. But the Status boosts from the Net Super food, maybe I'd gone a bit too far... but then again we were going to fight the level boss now so maybe it was for the best.

After tidying up we moved on, encountering various monsters and dealing with them in passing while I collected their drops. After a short while, Fer stopped as we came out of the forest into a large clearing.

"That's the level boss." Fer said, looking at... I gulped. An immense cobra was coiled up in front of us. It opened its mouth, its slender forked tongue waving in the air while it hissed as it caught sight of us.

"What's that..." I tried using Appraisal.

[ Vasuki ]

S-rank monster.


Oh, S rank... its gigantic body was at least thirty metres long, maybe more, a true monster. I saw it was exhaling a mist from its mouth. When I Appraised the vapour specifically I found out it was called [ Vasuki's Poison Mist ]. So it was poisonous, an immediate-death poison for sure but thankfully we all had status abnormality invalidation due to our various blessings. It still looked really bad.

"A Vasuki, is it? They're pretty rare. I've only fought them three times before." Fer said, still not taking his eyes off the monster.

"Oh, you've fought against that sort of monster before..." I said slowly. "It's huge and it's spitting out poisonous mist..."

"Huh, that poison mist is nothing." Fer explained. "Its bite is even more poisonous, it can swallow you whole and it will crush you in its coils if you're not careful."

O- oh, is that so? I really wanted to step back into the nice safe forest behind me where only Murder Grizzlies, Giant Centipedes and Killer Hornets lurked.

Fer shrugged. "Well, I could deal with this guy by myself, of course but I'll let Dora and Sui take part too if they want." He cocked his head at my other two contracted monsters.

"He's plenty big enough for everyone to get a piece." Dora-chan said pugnaciously, staring at the Vasuki. "Let me at him!"

"Sui will do her best too-" Sui-chan said, sniper tentacle at the ready. Was I the only one scared of this giant poison-spitting snake monster? Just look at it, who wouldn't be terrified? but my three contracted monsters moved resolutely forward to face the Vasuki as I cautiously stepped back behind a tree to wait out the coming battle. On you go guys, I said silently, I'll just stay here until it's over.

As Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan confronted the Vasuki it opened its mouth further. Shhhhh-- the Vasuki's Poison Mist flooded out almost obscuring the giant snake from view. Of course the Vasuki's poison had no effect on any of us since we all had total status change invalidation but seeing it chilled my stomach.

Crash! Crackle crackle crackle-- Fer replied with his rapid-fire lightning magic, blasting though the obscuring clouds of Poison Mist and striking the Vasuki around its head and upper body. Meanwhile Dora-chan had flown off to one side and, wreathed in fire magic, was using Bombardment to blow gaping holes in the side of the Vasuki's coiled-up body, blam blam blam!

I saw Sui-chan aim carefully as she fired off her Acid Bullets, hitting the holes Dora-chan had blown in the Vasuki's thick scaly skin and penetrating deeply into the monster's body, dissolving it from the inside. Dora-chan and Sui-chan were working really well together, I realised, using their special abilities in a way that maximised their effectiveness while Fer kept the enormous creature distracted with lightning attacks to its head. I felt oddly proud watching my kids fighting like that, and simultaneously terrified they'd get hurt-

There was a sudden loud hiss as the Vasuki reared up to an impossible height and then it limply collapsed to the ground with an earth-shaking Crash! The beat-up corpse of the S-ranked Vasuki thrashed for a few seconds more and then lay still, lying totally defeated before its conquerors. The one-sided battle had taken less than a minute from start to end. It was almost embarrassingly easy, I thought to myself as I stepped out from behind my sheltering tree. The only attack the Vasuki had been able to launch was its Poison Mist, after that it never had a chance. I bowed to the giant snake's corpse, hands together. Sorry, Vasuki-san.

"Hiyah! I did it! !" Dora-chan was zooming around madly, looping the loop and spinning so fast I felt dizzy trying to follow him.

"Yatta! I defeated the big snake-san!-" came Sui-chan's proud thought as she pyon-pyoned in front of the dead Vasuki.

"Huhhun, of course we won." Fer added with a triumphant grin on his doggy features.

The Vasuki's enormous corpse had gaping holes in its side oozing liquified entrails while its head and upper parts were scorched and burnt from Fer's lightning magic. I felt oddly sorry, almost tearful looking at it and thinking how it had died so easily despite it being a ferocious and dangerous monster. I'm really sorry, Vasuki-san. I really didn't need to stuff my contracted monsters with Net Super food to defeat you after all, did I? Namu amida butsu namu amida butsu, go to Buddha Vasuki-san. As I finished my silent prayer the dead Vasuki grew transparent and then disappeared. Yosh! Now where are the drops? An S-ranked monster and boss, there's got to be... Ah, there they are! I collected an enormous bluish-green snake skin, a huge magic stone and a giant fang and tucked them away in my Item Box. Once that was done I looked around for the stairs down to the next level but there was nothing in sight, just the clearing we were standing in.

"Hey, we've beaten the boss." I asked, puzzled. "How do we get to the 27th level now? I can't see any stairs."

"In a level like this..." Fer said thoughtfully, pacing over the rock-strewn ground where the Vasuki had been coiled waiting for us. "Ah, here it is." He stopped at one particular location. I followed him and looked down at a large flat rock in front of him. There was some sort of inscription carved in the top surface.

"The round pattern drawn on this rock is a magic circle of Teleportation." Fer explained. "We will be transported down to the next level when we put some magic energy into the pattern." Oh, so that's how it works... "There's no other connection to the next level, this is the only way we can get there." Fer added when he saw I was a bit reluctant to use this magic Teleportation circle.

Ah well. Fer didn't seem to be worried so it was probably safe. Safe-ish. "Dora-chan, Sui-chan, we're going to go down to the next level using this magic circle." I explained. Would we have to go one at a time though? I asked Fer about this and he shook his head, explaining there was a recharge time for the circle after it was used and we didn't know what was waiting for us on the next level so we should all go together. As long as we were all touching each other it would work in one shot, he said.

Thump! Dora-chan hugged me from behind. "Are you ready?" I asked him over my shoulder and Dora-chan agreed. Okay, let's go. I picked up Sui-chan and held her firmly in both arms before I climbed up on Fer's back.

"Right Fer, please do it." Fer put his right forefoot on the stone circle and cast magic into the pattern. For a moment I felt a floating sensation like being in a fast elevator going down and then suddenly...

I blinked. "This is the 27th level, right? It's a forest, just like the 26th level." Had we gone round in a circle?

"Umu." Fer swung his muzzle left and right. "It looks to be the 27th level, sure enough. More small fry though." I wished Fer would stop saying that... "We may as well head straight for the level boss again, heh?" Fer was obviously spoiling for another boss fight. Dora-chan and Sui-chan agreed, excited by their battle with the Vasuki a few minutes before. I couldn't say anything against that sort of united opposition so 27th level boss, here we come.

 Fer set off through the woods at a dead run, Dora-chan flying alongside and keeping up with no problem. I'm sorry, I apologised in advance to the monsters we encountered in our mad dash. It didn't stop me collecting their drop items though.

Fer was running faster than ever due to the effects of his feast of Net Super food and he told me at this pace that we'd be facing this level's boss before tomorrow evening. So soon? Right, I decided, we won't eat any more Net Super food this time around. It was too dangerous.

Ch 141 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 141 -- Water Assault


The next morning after eating breakfast we started off, heading through the forest in the direction of the level's boss area. To keep the Gluttonous Trio from bickering I imposed the same rota as the day before, they would fight the monsters we encountered in order starting with Fer then Dora-chan then Sui and back to Fer and so on.

The first monster we ran into after we left Fer's Barrier was a Murder Grizzly like the one Dora-chan defeated so gorily yesterday then a group of Giant Killer Mantises, thirty strong this time followed by a Giant Centipede like the one Sui-chan had defeated in a single hit back in Ishtam forest, only bigger. Next up was a bunch of about fifty Wild Apes, B-rank monsters. There were other creatures, moths and birds and such that were defeated in passing as we progressed rapidly through the forest but the only monsters populating the 26th level worthy of mention were generally of A-rank and B-rank. Even monsters of that level were easily dealt with by my contracted monsters, of course. Fer spent much of the journey muttering about 'small fry'...

The high-ranking monsters dropped items quite often once they had been defeated and I spent a lot of time collecting those drops and packing them away in my Item Box. I didn't bother trying to keep track of them figuring I could sort them out once we had cleared the dungeon and we were safely back on the surface in Doran. It didn't seem like my Item Box had any real limit to what it could hold, after all. It was still going to be a pain though... While I was thinking about trivial things like that, Fer stopped abruptly.

"There's a Killer Hornet nest up ahead..." he announced. Is a Killer Hornet a monster like a regular hornet, or something worse? If Fer was being this cautious I guessed 'something worse' was the correct answer.

"Ah, Killer Hornets? I'm not good at fighting that kind of monster." Dora-chan said with some distaste. "There's always a lot of them and they can fly about as well as I can." That was quite an admission from the Pixie Dragon who was always boasting of his flying ability. If Dora-chan said something like that then it sounded like the Killer Hornets would be a problem for him to deal with. But Fer could handle them, right?

"Sure I can." Fer agreed with some reluctance. "I don't think they're strong individually but they keep buzzing around and it's hard to aim at them, like Pixie Dragons." Dora-chan gave Fer a Look which the Fenris monster totally ignored. "Knocking them down one by one, it's annoying..."

Well, if they had a nest up ahead then it was likely there'd be a lot of Killer Hornets to fight all at once and I could see why Dora-chan and Fer would be less willing to just charge in and deal with them. Their fighting styles and magic attacks worked best against large individual monsters or small groups of such monsters that didn't dodge around a lot. How many Killer Hornets would there be, I wondered -- dozens, or maybe hundreds?

"Well, we can start with the normal way to deal with a nest of these guys." Dora-chan said.

"Yes." Fer agreed. "We attack and destroy the nest first then get rid of the Killer Hornets outside the nest after. That way they don't get any reinforcements."

That sounded sensible, kill all the Hornets still inside the nest before they can get out. If we attacked the Killer Hornets outside the nest first then the ones inside would come out and we'd have to fight them as well. Get rid of the ones inside the nest somehow and it becomes easier.

I asked Fer where the nest was. He led us to a gap in the trees where we could see the nest up ahead, a bulbous structure about the size of a wagon attached to the base of a particularly large tree. Some Killer Hornets, coloured yellow and black like wasps but 30cm in length were buzzing around the nest on patrol. We wouldn't be able to sneak up any closer without being detected by the guards, Fer said at which point all the Killer Hornets inside would come out and attack us.

"The next monster subjugation is Sui's turn." Fer said, studying the nest off in the distance. "Because Sui's attack is Acid Bullets and water magic... hmmm, attacking the nest at this distance with Acid Bullets is going to be tricky. We really want the nest to be destroyed in one shot to stop the Killer Hornets inside from coming out. Water Cutter, hmmm, that won't do it either. Busting up the nest will just anger the Hornets inside and they'll come out. Maybe one of us two should deal with it."

"No way no way-. It's Sui's turn to beat the bad guys." Sui-chan interrupted. "Sui will do it by herself-"

Could she really deal with such a problematic target by herself though? I wasn't sure...

"Hey, Sui, don't be selfish." Dora-chan said. "What Fer just said is right. Your magic isn't the best for this sort of fight so just be patient. You can get the next monster to come along after these ones." Certainly what Fer and Dora-chan had said was true but I didn't want sweet little Sui to miss out.

"Unnnh, even though it's Sui's turn... sniffle..." Oh, Sui's voice... Sui-chan, don't cry. Let me think, Sui has Acid Bullets and water magic ... water, water, water, hmmmm... ah, that's it!

"No, Sui can do it by herself." I said. "It's her turn after all."

"You know, you shouldn't spoil Sui." Fer grumbled. I could see he was ready to launch one of his overpowered magic attacks on the nest in the distance and I quickly held up one hand to forestall him. Yeah, I spoiled Sui outrageously but she's so cute I can't help it.

"I won't deny that I spoil Sui but I've got a plan. She can use her water magic to deal with the nest in one shot."

I explained my idea to Fer and Dora-chan. Sui would make a large water ball and wrap it around the nest, drowning the Killer Hornets trapped inside. It would take some time for them all to die but we weren't in any real hurry. The water would do all the work for us.

"…you know, that's a really sneaky trick." Dora-chan said after I finished explaining how Sui's water magic could deal with the nest. Why thank you, Dora-chan. The Pixie Dragon's attacks tended to use his fire magic and lightning magic, blam! blam!, punching holes in the opposition but that wouldn't succeed with the Killer Hornet nest. Sneaky would work.

"Suffocating them in water is not a bad idea." Fer agreed. "Go on and do it, Sui."

"Sure thing, Fer-ojichan-" Sui-chan bounced happily.

We all stood back as Sui created a giant ball of water then moved it quickly into position to completely enclose the Killer Hornet's nest.  A few of the Killer Hornets inside crawled out of the nest and some even made it out through the water ball but they were thoroughly soaked and couldn't fly, thrashing around feebly on the ground.

"If we wait a bit all the Killer Hornets left in the nest will suffocate and die. The ones still left outside..." my belly clock grumbled. Oh, was it that time? "Hey, is anyone else hungry?" I asked somewhat redundantly. If I was hungry the Gluttonous Trio would be too. Sure enough...

"Yeah."

"I'm hungry too"

"Sui's belly is empty too-" So we were all agreed, time to eat. However a lot of the Killer Hornets were still buzzing around their nest, much angrier than before and the soaked ones on the ground were drying off and might be able to fly again soon.

"Hey Sui. The Nest is getting drowned nicely thanks to you, we've just got to wait. The Killer Hornets outside the nest need to be dealt with though. Are you OK with letting Fer-ojichan," I felt Fer's disapproval at me using the name only Sui-chan was supposed to use, "and Dora-chan help you get them? If you do then we can eat dinner quicker."

"Yeah, I want to eat soon, that's fine-" Sui-chan agreed. She had defeated the nest with her water magic after all and that was enough for her. "Fer-ojichan and Dora-chan, please-"

The two of them set to work, knocking down the flying Killer Hornets first with Claw Slash and lightning magic before turning their attention to the waterlogged Killer Hornets crawling around on the ground near the waterballed nest. As they did so some other Killer Hornets flew into the area where the nest was located, returning from scouting or foraging trips perhaps. Had they felt something was wrong with their nest and hurried back? Fer and Dora-chan dealt with them as efficiently as they had dealt with their stay-at-home siblings. Me? I collected drops from the downed Killer Hornets, once the coast was clear and Fer and Dora-chan had eliminated all the opposition. Safety first after all. The common drop was a poison stinger, not surprisingly.

I decided it would be a good idea for Sui to keep her water ball in place around the nest as it was likely the Killer Hornets trapped in there might not be quite dead yet. Safety first, as I said before. No reason why we couldn't eat now though. Wyvern meat beef bowl, that would do nicely. I had made it back at the inn and stored it in my Item Box piping hot and ready to eat. A beef bowl wasn't really a beef bowl without THAT ingredient though... I looked around rather pointlessly to check but we were on the 26th level and there were no other Adventurers around so I opened up Net Super and bought a few soft-boiled eggs to top the bowls with. I didn't bother with an egg on the serving I set out for Fer but the rest of us got a runny-yolked boiled egg on top of the Wyvern meat heaped on the rice underneath.

Of course the Wyvern meat was delicious, especially when served up as a salaryman favourite dish like gyuudon. Even Dora-chan took a second serving and of course Fer and Sui-chan had Thirds and more. As we took a break after finishing eating Sui suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, it looks like I beat it good-" We turned to see that the Killer Hornet nest inside the water ball had vanished. Did that mean it was 'dead'? I supposed so. I had Sui-chan remove the water ball while Fer and Dora-chan stood ready just in case but the only thing left was a drop item.

"Is it another poison stinger?" I wondered, maybe from the Killer Hornets trapped in the nest... I Appraised it from a safe distance just in case.

[ Killer Hornet's Royal Jelly ]
Very nutritious.

Royal Jelly? I went over to collect it, discovering it was a whitish substance in a bottle. Was it some kind of health food or maybe, remembering my elder sister's beauty obsession, some kind of cosmetic material? I wished again my Appraisal Skill was a bit better in telling me what I wanted to know about such things.

"Ah, don't you know that's some really good stuff?" Fer seemed to know about it though. "It can be collected from a real nest on the surface if you defeat all the Killer Hornets inside." That reminded me that we were in a dungeon where the monsters weren't 'real' but entities the dungeon itself created as a challenge to Adventurers hence the drops left behind as a reward after they were killed. Dungeon monsters couldn't be disassembled for their parts and meat. "Royal Jelly restores vitality a lot if you eat just a little bit of it."

I decided I might just keep this drop item for myself if it really would restore my energy like Fer said. I put the bottle of Royal Jelly into my Item Box beside the poison stingers I had collected earlier and we headed off into the forest again. The slaughter continued, bird monsters, beast monsters, bug monsters, they all met defeat in short order with Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan taking turns while I, as usual collected the various drops. When it got dark we made camp inside Fer's Barrier and then the next day we set off early heading towards where Fer said the level's boss was waiting for us. We soon found a treasure chest which yielded up two gemstones, a sapphire and an alexandrite. Shortly thereafter Fer stopped, his muzzle pointed unwaveringly ahead of us at something still obscured by the trees in our way.

"The level boss is just up ahead." Fer said in a low quiet voice. "And he's strong."

I resisted the temptation to say something sarcastic like, "What, not a small fry?" and slid off Fer's back. What sort of a boss was waiting for us?

Ch 140 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Chapter 140 -- This Dungeon Is Being Unfair


The first enemy monsters we encountered in the densely forested 26th level were a dozen or so large praying-mantis-like creatures, over two metres long. When I Appraised them....


[ Giant Killer Mantis ]

B-rank monster.


Eh, just that, nothing more? Well, before I levelled up I'd only see the name of the monster using Appraisal so I supposed learning its rank was a bit more useful.

"What, not more small fry. Tsk..." Fer grumbled before blasting the Giant Killer Mantises to Kingdom Come with bursts of lightning magic. The dozen or so Giant Killer Mantises burned up and died almost before I had finished Appraising them.

".........Fer" I said reprovingly. He had just fired off his lightning magic without warning us or discussing how we were going to fight the monsters. Seeing the results it was clear the Giant Killer Mantises were no real opposition but still, it was rude of him not to consult with the rest of us or share the fighting effort.

"Hoi, big guy. Give the rest of us a chance to fight them, will ya?" Dora-chan complained.

"Fer-ojichan cheated-" Sui-chan added. Dora-chan and Sui-chan were obviously annoyed at Fer's high-handed actions.

"Is that kind of small fry really worth arguing about?" Fer tried to justify his selfishness. "There will be stronger monsters along real soon, I'm sure."

"It's no fun if only one of us does all the fighting, big guy. You're a meanie." Dora-chan said accusingly.

"Sui wants to fight too-. I'll pew-pew the Bad Guys and buzz them with Water Cutter and knock them down a lot-"

I couldn't understand why they were all battle maniacs, did they love the sight of blood so much? I needed to sort things out before they ended up arguing and getting in each other's way in a fight. I didn't want to see Dora-chan getting hit by one of Fer's Claw Slashes by accident or Sui-chan get hurt by Dora-chan's lightning magic.

"Right then,  we'll do it the same as before. You can all take turns to fight, OK?" I pointed at Dora-chan. "You fight the next monsters we meet and then it will be Sui-chan's turn. Does that sound fair?"

Both Dora-chan and Sui-chan were reluctant to agree to this but soon acquiesced. Fer's attempt to interrupt and jump the queue were met by three harsh stares and he quickly backed down.

"Next time is me, the boss says so." Dora-chan said happily.

"If you say so, Aruji, Sui will wait because Sui is a good girl-" Sui-chan agreed.

Now that was settled I picked up the drops from the Giant Killer Mantises and we went deeper into the woods. By the way, the drop items were a small magic stone and the front-leg sickles from a Giant Killer Mantis.

The next monster we ran into in the woods was a Murder Grizzly. To me it seemed bigger than the one Fer had subjugated earlier on the surface. When I asked Fer about this afterwards he told me that monsters in a dungeon tended to be larger and stronger than the same kind of monsters outside in the surface world. It was something to do with the concentration of monsters down here and maybe the way the dungeon created them to fight Adventurers. Only the biggest and baddest would be suitable.

"Guaaaargh!" The Murder Grizzly spotted us and lumbered towards us, the big heavy monster moving deceptively quickly.

"Hey ho, here I go!" Dora-chan sang, flying straight into the Murder Grizzly's body like a small artillery shell. Dosh. The Murder Grizzly collapsed in a furry heap as Dora-chan erupted out its back in a spray of blood and organs. And that was that. I collected the drop, a Murder Grizzly fur and we moved on.

The next monsters we met were a flock of Paralyse Butterflies, according to my Appraisal. They were B-ranked monsters, butterflies about one metre long with orange wings spotted with blue polka-dots. They usually flew around in groups making them more dangerous than individuals. There were maybe thirty or so butterflies in the flock coming towards us. Since these were the first monsters of this type I'd ever encountered I quickly asked Fer about them. He explained that after sprinkling a paralytic poisonous dust on their targets and immobilizing their prey they sucked out their bodily fluids while they were still alive.

Sucking out someone's bodily fluids while they were still alive... I shuddered at the thought. This time it was Sui-chan's turn to deal with these horrible creatures and I wanted her to do a thorough job before the Paralyse Butterflies could get close to us.

"Sui, the bug-sans that are coming scatter a powder that makes your body stop moving. Don't let them get close, you should attack them from a distance. "

"Yeah, I understand-" Sui-chan's sniper tentacle was already swinging on target. Pew pew pew! Sui shot down one Paralyze Butterfly after another with Acid Bullets, never missing and finishing the entire flock off in less than a minute.

"Aruji- all knocked down-" Sui-chan said, retracting her sniper tentacle.

"Yeah, you did great, Sui!" When I said that, Sui jumped around me happily pyon pyon. Ahhhh, cute Sui-chan, such a source of healing in this killer dungeon. We still had to keep going though so I collected the drops from the Paralyse Butterflies, the paralysis powder they used on their victims (for safety's sake it was in a number of sealed vials) and we moved on.

As we advanced deeper into the forest beast-type monsters and bird-type monsters would appear and attack us but lose every time against Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan in turn, with me left to collect the drops. As time was going on I mentioned we should stop and make dinner soon, but...

"Huh? There's no safe area on this floor?!" I had intended to get Fer to guide us to the level's safe area so we could eat in peace but it turned out that in this sort of forest level no such safe area existed.

"There often aren't safe places in a level that looks like this." Fer explained -- levels consisting of forests, swamps, deserts and the like in what he called 'field' dungeons usually didn't have such rest areas where monsters wouldn't attack the Adventurers. This dungeon was big enough that it had at least one level like the one we were in and Fer had confirmed with his monster sensing ability that it lacked a safe area. The usual process in such levels was to stop and rest and set up a camp with lookouts keeping watch in turn while the others slept. In a field dungeon there was a lot of space for strong monsters to move around in and attack Adventurers from any direction so that made the levels more dangerous. The lack of a safe area for Adventurers to rest, sleep, eat and recuperate was just an extra difficulty factor to deal with. This far down in Doran's dungeon we could expect only high rank monsters would appear so we couldn't let our guard down even for an instant. This wouldn't be like camping in a normal forest.

"Don't worry. It will be fine once I set up my Barrier." Fer said. Oh, that's right. If Fer has his Barrier around us we won't have to worry about being attacked out of nowhere. I looked around, this place would do as well as any other.

"Well, let's eat here then." I said. "Can you set up your Barrier, Fer?"

"Yeah, I got it." he said. Once Fer's Barrier was up I started preparing dinner. But what? Oh, that will work, I think... The boiled fatty Orc General meat I had prepared for ramen noodles later would do nicely as a rice bowl topping, I decided. I cut some of it into thick slices, filled bowls with rice then topped them with the pork slices so they were completely covered. I cut soft-boiled eggs in half and added them, letting the runny yolks dribble over the pork and it was done.

"Hey, it's ready." I announced. Fer, Dora-chan and Sui dived right in.

"Oh, this is delicious." Fer said telepathically, his jaws hard at work in the depths of his first serving. "The meat just disintegrates in the mouth. The flavour is really good too." Fer seemed to like the boiled Orc meat.

"Unm-!" Dora-chan was working his way down though his own rice bowl. "This meat, it's really juicy and soft and the juices are soaking into the rice. It's yummy." Dora-chan approved too.

"This sweet and sour taste- the meat is soft and the egg salty- this is delicious~" Sui-chan liked it as well.

It was popular and easy to prepare once I had boiled the Orc meat and let it marinate in the soup stock overnight back in the inn. Now for my own dinner. I added shredded cabbage to the rice before topping it with boiled pork and a soft-boiled egg sliced in half. My first mouthful, yes, eating your own cooking made it taste even more delicious somehow. The soup stock I had boiled the Orc General meat in had really softened the pork-like meat and impregnated it with the sweet and sour ingredients I had added. That sauce, oozing out of the tightly-bound meat into the rice just made every mouthful taste better. The cabbage added a crunchiness and texture and the sharp sourness of the egg was the perfect topping.

I managed three more mouthfuls before ""Seconds"" came from Fer and Sui in unison. I wondered for a moment just how they could be so well synchronised every time given their differing sizes and appetites but I just dished out more rice, boiled pork and soft-boiled egg for them before returning to my own dinner.

After that there were more demands for ""Seconds"" and by the time Fer and Sui were satisfied the boiled Orc General meat was all gone. I had made it quite a lot of it but it was popular. Maybe next time I'd make a lot more, there were a lot of ways I could serve this sort of meat up. Ramen, for example, if I had the time to make noodles properly...

We took a short rest break to let the meal settle before setting off through the woods again. We ran into more monsters which Fer, Dora-chan and Sui beat in turn while I collected the various drops. As time wore on I noticed it was getting darker. What was happening?

"It's getting dark in the dungeon here. I thought it stayed the same brightness all the time?"

"Ah." Fer explained, "In this sort of level there's a day and night just like outside. When it gets dark out there it gets dark here too." Fer looked around, probably using his monster sensing abilities. "When night falls the nocturnal monsters become active, of course. " Nocturnal monsters? What, like bats and such?

"Geh, is that right?" I looked around too, trying to see anything in the dark forest around us. It was becoming scarier and scarier as the light failed.

Fer, I wonder is your Barrier perfectly good?" I asked nervously.

"Huh, of course it's fine. As I said before, my Barrier can stop anything." Fer paused. "Well, almost anything. If a Dragon should come along that's a different matter entirely."

I felt relieved. No, wait... "If a Dragon should come along, you said. Are there any Dragons around here?" I started looking around frantically but the forest was now totally dark and impenetrable to my sight. What was that noise?

"I wish there were some Dragons." Fer said, licking his muzzle in memory of the Earth Dragon steaks he had consumed at Elland-san's place only two days before. "But no, there's no sign of any Dragons on this level."

You might be disappointed, Fer but I'm relieved. I'll be able to sleep safely knowing there aren't any Dragons around. Tomorrow we'd continue but how long was it going to take for us to reach the next level?

"This level seems to be very big. Can we really complete the entire thing?" I asked Fer who swept his head around again before answering.

"If we cleared the entire level of monsters it would take us more than a month." Fer said finally.

"Wow, that long?" Did we have enough food for that sort of exploration, and did we really want to spend that much time down here anyway?

"Yeah. It looks like it could be fun but I want to fight Behemoth as soon as possible." Fer announced. "I've got a line on the boss area of this level, the place leading down to the next level." His muzzle pointed off to one side of our line of travel. "That way, I think. There's a lot of monsters in front of us but with Dora-chan and Sui along we should get there tomorrow evening."

I wanted to do a bit more exploring on this level but spending even a couple of weeks fighting, collecting drops and searching for treasure chests on a single level seemed a bit excessive. I decided we'd just give up and head for the boss area on this level -- it wouldn't be a room like in the tunnel levels of the dungeon. It would still take us two days to get there even if we hurried, and then the boss, what would it be? That worried me, knowing the strength of the boss monsters we had already encountered previously.

That night's supper was mainly fried food, minced pork cutlets, kaarage and the last of the pork miso soup. I knew Fer and Sui especially liked deep-fried food and, as it turned out, Dora-chan was a fan too after his first bite, stuffing his little cheeks with kaarage and cutlets as fast as he could manage.

After we finished eating dinner I tried to make a house with earth magic to sleep in but for some reason it didn't work. The magic seemed to slide off to one side of the ground I aimed at and didn't activate. I tried again, to no avail.

"Hey, I can't make a house..." I complained to Fer.

"Earth magic doesn't work in a dungeon so you can't make your little house." Fer explained.

…What? How does that happen?

"I told you before that a dungeon is considered to be a living thing." Fer continued. "This soil," he scratched at the ground with his paw, "isn't really soil, it's actually part of the dungeon's, well, body if you like. You can still do earth magic like Stone Bullet but you can't use Stone Wall or anything that manipulates the material of the dungeon itself. That's why folks say that a party member who can use Earth Magic is not so useful in a dungeon."

Well, I hadn't heard that. It seemed unfair that I couldn't use earth magic in this dungeon. It was like the dungeon was cheating, somehow.