Chapter 120

Chapter 120: The Broken Fortress Wall

I had created the dungeon, but I didn't enter it right away.

Theoretically, it took time for monsters to be drawn into the Hunting Dungeon.

Four days later,

"I'll open the Gate Portal."

"Yes, Master Seon-u."

The group gathered behind the Rift house.

The elder Sword Saint, Eriksson, Neville, Benny, Garrett.

And Bell.

"Arf!"

Former Vice Commander Garrett looked at Ria, who had come out to see us off.

"Lady Ria, please don't worry. We'll take good care of Master Seon-u."

"Yes, please do."

As much as I overprotected Ria, Ria overprotected me.

I wasn't that fragile anymore, but still.

Still, I couldn't let her worry.

"Don't worry. I'll stay to the back. I'll be right back."

"Mm, be careful."

I kissed Ria on the cheek,

then stepped into the Gate Portal.

The others followed behind.

They surveyed the dungeon interior and exclaimed in awe.

"Wow... it's enormous."

"The passageways are quite wide. And the ceiling is high."

I told them,

"I made it wide and big on purpose. I want large monsters to be drawn in."

"Large monsters, why?"

At Eriksson's question, I scratched my cheek.

"Among ingredients, our stock of monster meat is running low. Some are already depleted."

The Horn Rabbit Chieftain meat had been used up long ago.

The Krakpus, that octopus-like monster, had also run out of stock recently.

And there wasn't much Cockatrice meat left either.

There was still some Drake meat.

The one saving grace was that, thanks to Benny rearing Horn Rabbits well, there was no issue with the Horn Rabbit meat supply.

'Most of the restaurant's sales come from the buff and stat dishes, so I have to secure a steady meat supply.'

If monster meat for stat dishes didn't come in on time, sales would plummet.

Like the graph of a stock or coin that had crashed in an instant.

So hunting was very important, too.

For that reason, the bigger the monsters, the better.

That was how you got lots of meat.

Though the monsters had to be edible ones, of course.

Anyway, we set off.

"Awoo!"

The pathfinder was, as always, Bell.

Bell sensed the presence of monsters and led us to where they were.

"Orcs."

As the elder Sword Saint said, the first monsters we encountered were orcs.

Classified as Low-Grade monsters.

"I'll handle them."

Eriksson stepped forward and dispatched four orcs in an instant.

"Can you eat orcs too?"

"Come now, how could one eat orcs?"

The elder Sword Saint stopped Eriksson.

After extracting only the Magic Stones from the orcs' carcasses, we continued on.

Over about two hours of traveling, we encountered many types of monsters.

From Lowest-Grade up to High-Grade.

Neville then asked me,

"We've come quite a ways, so how far along is the dungeon exploration?"

"Well, extrapolating from the map, it'd be about one percent?"

"What...? A dungeon you made yourself is that large?"

"Yes. Well, that makes sense—I made it at the maximum size."

"Remarkable. Exploring all of it would be difficult."

"It would."

Now that I was actually inside, I could feel just how big I had made it.

'A shame to use it only for our guild.'

Should I place entrances at several points in the dungeon and open it to other Hunters for a fee?

You didn't have to use a Hunting Dungeon—you could go out from the Fourth Floor outpost and hunt normally, too.

But the central plains of the Fourth Floor didn't have that many monsters.

You had to go beyond the central plains—east, west, south, or north—for the monster population density to increase.

But unless your party or guild had strong combat power, leaving the central plains to hunt far afield was very dangerous and burdensome.

'That's why some are even arguing the Fourth Floor is useless.'

The Fourth Floor was definitively a high-efficiency hunting ground.

But looking at the central plains alone, the question became "Really?"

Some were even saying the central plains were less efficient than the Third Floor.

'It's all because of the Named Doppelganger.'

That creature had cleaned out the monsters of the central plains, wrecking the ecosystem.

Still, it had recovered quite a bit.

On average, guild members on watch atop the walls spotted at least twenty monsters per day.

'But the population still isn't large.'

By contrast, the Hunting Dungeon had quite a large population of monsters.

Even—

WHOOOM!

From the side of the large cavern where we were briefly resting, a portal materialized in real time and a massive monster crawled out.

The elder Sword Saint looked at the monster and said,

"A Highest-Grade monster—a Stone Snake."

Stone Snake.

I had seen it in the monster encyclopedia.

A monster with exceptionally high defense and destructive power.

It also regenerated quickly even when its body was destroyed.

'To slay it, you have to destroy the black core embedded in its head.'

The elder Sword Saint stepped forward.

"I'll take this one and offer it to you, Guild Master."

I was about to stop him—hunting a Highest-Grade monster alone was dangerous—but the elder had already drawn his sword and was charging.

Thus began the battle between the elder and the Stone Snake.

KRAKOW! KRAKOW!

Thunderous crashes echoed through the cavern, as though dynamite were going off.

The elder's powerful sword strikes were pushing the Stone Snake back one-sidedly.

But its occasional tail counterattacks sent chills down the spine.

Being struck by that heavy, solid tail would likely break multiple bones at minimum.

But the elder nimbly dodged and didn't permit a single attack to land.

Then—

CRACK!

The elder's sword, not missing an opening the Stone Snake left, pierced deep into the black core atop the snake's head and destroyed it.

The Stone Snake's gray eyes rolled back and it collapsed to the ground.

Instant death.

'Clean as always.'

His movements were clean, precise, and without waste.

And the sharpness with which he stabbed, never missing an opening.

Watching the elder's combat, there was much to learn.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

Former Vice Commander Garrett applauded.

"Truly outstanding swordsmanship, Brother."

"I'm still lacking. You're more skilled than I am, little brother."

Garrett addressed the elder Sword Saint as "Brother" because he was eight years younger.

Former Vice Commander Garrett was in his late fifties.

The elder Sword Saint was in his mid-to-late sixties.

Given their ages, the two were close.

The dungeon exploration continued.

In total, we spent nearly six hours exploring.

'Lowest-Grade to Mid-Grade monsters were most common. High-Grade was encountered twice, and Highest-Grade only if we were very lucky.'

The difficulty was similar to the Third Floor, and the monster population was far greater.

This looked like a very good hunting ground.

'Parties or guilds with strong combat power can hunt far beyond the central plains, and those seeking relatively safe, stable income can use the dungeon hunting ground.'

With that, we concluded the exploration and opened a Gate Portal back to the Rift house.

***

Another building went up at the outpost.

A Portal Station, where four portals leading to the Hunting Dungeon had been installed.

The portal fee was one Low-Grade Magic Stone per person per use—one and a half million won.

'It feels money-grubbing, but the dungeon is well worth it.'

The Portal Station was operated by our guild, and revenue was split 50–50 between me and the guild.

'Like the other venues, I had wanted to do it at 3–7 as well, but the guild officers strongly objected, saying that since the dungeon was made entirely by my ability, I should take at least half.'

So we had compromised at 50–50.

When we first opened for business, there were almost no users.

But after a few guilds came back from hunting, word of mouth spread and users increased dramatically.

"To use the various facilities in the outpost, we'll have to make money."

"I'll earn hard and eat every single stat dish!"

"By the way, some of the stat dish ingredients are running low! If you don't hurry, you won't get to eat even if you want to!"

Reactions from Hunters heading out on hunts.

Hunters returning from hunts also reacted:

"Earned a lot today—let's go to the bar for a drink!"

"I'll buy tons of bread."

"Made some money, too—I want to sleep in a comfortable bed. When does the tree house open?"

As soon as they made money hunting, they thought about how to spend it.

And—

"You could settle here, hunt moderately, and earn money leisurely, and it'd be great."

"Right. Where's the limit of Chef An's abilities, I wonder?"

"He's surpassed the limits of a Hunter already."

"I'd love to join the Wind Forest Guild... they've got great benefits."

"Dream on! Even if you're high rank, not just anyone gets in."

The Wind Forest Guild was becoming every Hunter's dream guild.

'Sure enough—the Frost Flower Guild, which Han Se-a had left, is now deeply regretting not merging with my guild.'

Apparently, they had even gone to Han Se-a and asked if they could merge with us now.

But Han Se-a had coldly refused, saying she didn't have the authority and that it was far too late.

Meanwhile, the former Frost Flower Guild members who had followed Han Se-a out and into the Wind Forest Guild were in a festival mood daily.

Being able to come and go from the Fourth Floor at will and use all the facilities at the outpost at guild-member discounts were significant privileges.

'At any rate, the Hunters' reactions are great.'

I had worried the fee would feel burdensome, but when I wrapped my face with a hood and used Silent Footsteps to minimize my presence and check reactions, I could see that they were very satisfied.

Even the maps—sold separately for one Lowest-Grade Magic Stone each—hadn't drawn a single complaint.

'More customers are wanting lodging, so we should open the tree houses soon.'

The tree houses were nearing completion.

Currently in the final stages of interior construction.

Not only tree houses—we were also building a general inn-style lodging that could accommodate many guests.

And also rental buildings that guilds or parties could use as offices.

'Maxim and the Eckard clan dwarves are truly thrilled.'

They worked without rest and in high spirits.

Seeing the outpost township develop must have filled them with energy.

'Anyway, the restaurant, the businesses, the township development—all important. But the most important thing right now is Ria.'

Ria had entered the thirty-fifth week of pregnancy.

So for the time being, I'd focus only on lunch service and leave everything else to the elder Sword Saint.

I had decided to focus exclusively on my wife.

***

Ria's face still seemed to glow,

and her hair was lustrous.

Looking only at the shoulders up, one would never guess she was a full-term expectant mother.

"Is there anywhere uncomfortable?"

"Mm, not a bit."

"Anything you want me to do for you?"

"No. I can do everything myself."

"Anything you want to eat?"

"Hehe! I like anything you make, Seon-u. My mouth is spoiled every single day."

"Hmm."

I couldn't sit still like a puppy needing to pee.

I wanted to do something for her.

"Just being by my side is enough. So don't try to do anything—rest comfortably."

"Then let me at least massage your shoulders gently."

"Really now... all right."

Ria reluctantly accepted the shoulder massage, but she looked very pleased.

As we spent time like that,

Bell started howling loudly outside.

"Why is Bell doing that?"

"Who knows."

We went outside to check.

Bell came running toward me, tilting her head westward.

"Yip! Yip! Awoo!"

"Bell, what's wrong? Do you sense something in the west?"

"Awooo!"

Bell nodded vigorously, as if to say yes.

"Near the house?"

This time she shook her head.

"The outpost, then?"

"Awoo!"

She nodded.

It seemed Bell had sensed some presence in the direction of the outpost.

Whether it was a monster or something else, I'd have to go to find out.

But whatever it was, the presence was formidable.

"Ria, I'm going to the outpost."

"I'll come too."

"No, stay at the house."

"..."

"I'll be right back."

"All right, come back soon."

"I will."

Leaving Ria behind, I rushed with Neville, Benny, and Santos—who had come running at the sound of Bell's howling—through a Gate Portal to the rooftop of the guild at the outpost.

To see the situation from above the building.

A thunderous roar reached us immediately.

BOOM—!

The roar came from the south wall.

Turning my eyes south, an unbelievable sight unfolded.

Part of the wall—solidly stacked from Erdotte Stone—was collapsing.

Then another roar came.

BOOM—!

A section of the wall crumbled down.

When the dust cleared, red eyes glowed from the breach in the broken wall.

And massive horns, like those of a bull.

"That's..."

I knew instinctively.

That was surely a Transcendent-Grade monster.

I remembered what Fenrir had once told me.

Long ago, the eastern desert zone of the Fourth Floor of the Rift had been ravaged by the rampaging of a Lich.

In that process, the Transcendent-Grade monster that had ruled the desert zone had died.

Even after Ashley's mother, the Silver Dragon, had slain the rampaging Lich, the desert zone's throne had remained vacant.

That vacant throne had been expanded into—by the ruler of the southern volcanic zone, a Transcendent-Grade monster that had extended its territory all the way to the eastern desert zone.

That monster's name was—

'Behemoth.'

According to Fenrir, a monster also called the Tyrant, the Beast of Despair, the Destroyer.

A thought crossed my mind.

'Could I cook and eat that monster?'