The two dishes made from the Blazing Red-Feathered Roc left everyone completely satisfied.
But after a full meal, the group quickly returned to work.
Marusil and Chilchack were carefully collecting the Roc's feathers, attempting to craft a fire-resistant cloak from them.
Meanwhile, Bai Mo and Senshi were deep in discussion about other ways to cook the Roc—and soon, their conversation branched into analyzing every monster they might encounter on the second floor.
As for Laios, having nothing else to do, he carefully jotted everything down in his copy of The Maze Cuisine Guide.
He wanted to record all of Bai Mo and Senshi's recipes from that day.
Who knows? Maybe this humble guidebook would one day evolve into a full-fledged Maze Monster Recipe Encyclopedia!
After spending the night resting in a tree hollow, a new day began—ushered in by Marusil's startled scream.
"Sorry, I had a nightmare... I dreamt we were all eating monsters!"
"Huh? You still dreaming?" Laios asked with a puzzled expression. "Didn't you eat quite a bit yesterday? Especially that grilled chicken rack Bai made."
"No! Don't bring that up again!" Marusil waved her hands frantically. "But... I have to admit, that Blazing Roc really did taste like regular poultry, so it didn't feel too bad..."
"But I still really want to eat some real food!"
Sniff sniff~
As Marusil spoke, the scent of roasted salted meat drifted through the air.
"There's another adventurer team nearby having breakfast," Chilchack said, his nose twitching.
Following his gaze, they saw a five-man team grilling meat and bread over an open fire.
After lightly toasting the ingredients, they sliced the bread, placed the meat inside, and topped it with what looked like a small block of delicious-looking cheese.
Seeing this, Marusil's eyes welled up with tears of joy. "This is the food I remember!"
However, Senshi scoffed dismissively. "Pitiful, really. Their diet is so poor."
"According to my research, most dungeon explorers live off preserved goods that are easy to store—flatbread, salted meat, dried grapes... foods like that.
But these lack essential vitamins and minerals. Malnutrition is more dangerous than any monster—especially in a sunless underground dungeon."
"But things are different now that we have Bai with us," he added.
"With his spatial magic, we can store more perishable, nutrient-rich ingredients!"
"For the sake of our future exploration," Senshi said seriously, "we need to start collecting more nutritious ingredients. Eggs, for example—rich in nutrition and very versatile!"
Everyone nodded in agreement with his plan.
Since they had eaten all the food the night before, they only drank a bit of juice made from cobra lilies before setting off.
As they traveled through the forested second floor of the maze, they noticed that aside from carnivorous plants, the most troublesome creatures were goblins.
These grotesque creatures had a hint of intelligence and often ambushed adventurers at suspension bridges.
However, even beginner-level adventurers could handle them with a bit of caution—let alone Bai Mo's group.
Beyond the goblins, the most common creatures in this forested section weren't beast-type monsters—but rather rats and bats, both of which reproduced rapidly.
Senshi tried to convince Bai to store a few dead giant rats for later use.
But seeing Marusil already looking pale, Bai politely declined.
After all, they weren't that desperate—especially considering these magical rats could be carrying unknown diseases.
Senshi shrugged it off. He was just being frugal, and honestly, the rats didn't taste all that great anyway.
After winding along a series of suspension bridges for nearly half an hour, they finally spotted a ruined tower up ahead.
"That area is known to be the territory of the Serpentine-Tailed Rooster," Senshi said. "Keep quiet and stay alert!"
The group crouched down and scanned their surroundings carefully.
Bai Mo, whose vision was sharp, quickly spotted something pale and grayish tucked beneath a bush near the ruined castle.
"Is that the egg we're looking for?"
"Yes! That's it!" Senshi said with excitement. "That's the egg of the Serpentine-Tailed Rooster! I can't believe our luck today!"
Sure enough, when they reached the site, there was no sign of the creature—so the group wasted no time collecting the eggs.
"Looks like we've got around twenty or so," Senshi said, delighted. "Enough to last us for a whole week!"
He then cast an envious glance at Bai. "Man, having spatial storage magic is seriously cheating."
"It's just a simple storage spell," Bai replied modestly.
Marusil curiously picked up one of the eggs, but immediately made a face. "Why is it long and soft to the touch? Is this really a chicken egg?"
"What are you talking about?" Laios said as if it was obvious. "It's a snake egg, of course! The Serpentine-Tailed Rooster is primarily a snake—the chicken part is just its tail!"
"Gulp..."
Marusil swallowed hard, unable to look at the egg the same way anymore.
She had originally thought the chicken part was the body, and the snake was just the tail—but clearly, she had it backwards.
Still... eggs are eggs, right? Snake eggs are edible too, aren't they?
As Marusil wrestled with that thought, a loud cluck-cluck! echoed nearby—interspersed with eerie hissing sounds.
"Quick! Gather the eggs and let's go! The real thing is coming!" someone shouted.
Not long after, two panicked adventurers ran past them—closely followed by the Serpentine-Tailed Rooster itself, a horrifying hybrid of rooster and serpent.
"Hey! That's the same group we saw this morning!" Chilchack whispered from behind the bushes. "Looks like there's only two of them left now..."
Just as he said that, one of them—wearing leather armor—was struck down by the beast's razor-sharp talons. Only the golden-haired elf holding a staff remained.
To be fair, she was quite attractive—perhaps even worthy of a named supporting role.
Bai vaguely remembered her. She was a half-elf hired by the "Canary Squad" to monitor the dungeon's outer perimeter.
But he didn't pay her much mind. Compared to the not-yet-arrived Canary Squad, the creature in front of him—the Serpentine-Tailed Rooster—was far more intriguing.
It looked delicious.
----------
T/N:
Access 30 chapters in advance on my Patreon:patreon.com/multiversalfeast [Images Included]
You'll also get 5 extra chapters just for being a free member!