"Wha... how is this possible..."
Senshi's hand, gripping the ladle, trembled slightly. He stared fixedly at the contents of the pot, unable to look away, as sweat instantly poured down his forehead.
"Senshi? Are you alright?"
Laios, who was cutting the side dishes, noticed the Dwarf cook's abnormality and asked with concern, "Are you too tired? Let me handle it."
"No..." Senshi shook his head heavily and slowly, his gaze still focused on the meat chunks and foam floating in the pot. "This smell... this texture... No, but how is it possible..."
Ryu had successfully sniped the Hippogriff. What was commendable was that he hadn't damaged the internal organs, preserving the edible parts to the greatest extent. The meat quality was also exceptionally fresh—it is said that the meat of beasts that die in fear becomes unpalatable, but the Hippogriff hadn't even known where the attack came from.
From its appearance, a Hippogriff is a combination of a bird of prey and a horse, but in reality, it is the hybrid offspring of a Griffon and a mare—referring to those born naturally; those created by magic are a different story.
Since Griffons feed on horses, the mating between the two is roughly equivalent to a human getting it on with a fish or a sheep (which, apparently, isn't that rare either). Consequently, their numbers are extremely scarce, to the point where they are considered monsters that exist only in legends.
For Laios, this was a precious experience. Facing this carcass, he deliberated carefully and finally decided to use different parts for stewing and grilling, with the grand finale being a Sukiyaki pot paired with Harpy eggs.
Senshi was responsible for pre-processing the meat—removing the gamey smell and astringency, and skimming off the foam. This should have been a very simple task, yet for some reason, it plunged the Dwarf cook into an inexplicable panic.
Laios didn't understand the cause, and getting no response when he tried to talk to Senshi, he scratched his head in distress.
Meanwhile, on the other side, while Ryu was cutting meat blocks for cold storage, he quietly focused his attention on Senshi, whose expression had changed drastically.
He watched with his own eyes as the Dwarf gritted his teeth, trembling slightly as he added a small amount of salt to the soup pot. Then, without doing any further processing, he simply ladled out a bowl of broth that still had quite a few impurities floating in it.
Senshi took repeated deep breaths. The Dwarf, who showed no fear even when facing a Red Dragon, was now as immature and timid as a child... Finally making up his mind, he opened his mouth and let the scorching liquid flow into his body.
"——!"
The soup bowl nearly hit the ground. The scalding liquid splashed onto his hand, but Senshi remained completely oblivious. He froze as if hit by petrification magic, completely losing the ability to speak.
"Ugh..."
"Senshi!"
Laios was the first to notice and rushed over to support him. "What's wrong? Is there a problem with the Hippogriff meat? But how could the meat of large avian and mammalian creatures be poisonous..."
"No... it's not that, Laios, I'm fine... Ugh! I'm fine!"
Hot tears streamed from Senshi's eyes. The bitter liquid dripped continuously into the bowl, rippling the grease floating on the surface, which shimmered under the sunlight. Scenes from the past flashed before him like a revolving lantern.
The first half of his life was all in this bowl of meat soup!
"I finally found it... This taste is exactly the taste of that bowl of soup I've always wanted to eat again! I understand now, I finally understand... That was a Hippogriff! It was a Hippogriff!
It wasn't a Griffon or anything else, it was a Hippogriff!"
"Eh?" Laios looked at Senshi, who was crying bitterly, and appeared at a loss, having no idea how to comfort him.
Marcille and the others sensed the anomaly and hurried over as well. Chilchuck went straight to angry scolding: "Laios! You bastard, did you do something weird?!"
"Why suspect me?"
The group was noisy and chaotic. Senshi laughed and cried amidst the crowd, taking quite a while to calm down. Ryu, who had watched this scene expressionlessly from beginning to end, finally revealed a slow, gratified smile.
Isn't this quite nice, too?
After Senshi calmed down, he relievedly told everyone the story of his past, moving the two girls to tears and filling the others with emotion.
Regardless of everything, this was ultimately a story of "continuing hope." The Dwarves in that desperate situation did not resort to cannibalism but instead entrusted the hope of survival to the young one... This was why Senshi was happy to help young people and even dared to accompany Laios's team to slay a dragon.
Wanting to eat Red Dragon meat was one aspect, but the condition of Laios's squad at the time was truly unbearable to watch. Without an expert in monster cuisine, they would absolutely have failed to obtain sufficient nutrition during their journey.
Especially with Laios, who dared to put anything in his mouth—he might have eaten something poisonous and kicked the bucket right there!
Now, Laios had saved his sister, Senshi had untied the knot in his heart, and Ryu had helped them in the process. In turn, everyone was helping Ryu fight against his "family curse" and devising ways to suppress the Dungeon.
Passed from person to person, it doesn't diminish like money but instead grows stronger and stronger—this is "hope"!
Afterward, everyone happily enjoyed the Hippogriff soup, Sukiyaki, and skewered eagle meat~
Incidentally, the taste of the Hippogriff was much better than the Red Dragon. After processing, the meat quality was even superior to real horse meat, so Ryu deliberately saved a bit more of it.
For the entire day, under Ryu's command, everyone hid various treasure chests all over the deserted island, waiting for adventurers to come and find them.
No one could refuse this kind of genuine "treasure hunt," and since adventurers are filled with jealousy and greed, surely quite a few incidents would arise when the time came, right? But that had nothing to do with Ryu anymore.
Interestingly, following the experience and techniques of the [Monster Slayer], Ryu found the Hippogriff's nest. He had originally intended to see if there were any eggs and try to tame this monster (after all, it really looked suitable as a mount).
However, around the nest, he discovered a natural tunnel leading straight into the mountain's interior, seemingly connecting to an extremely deep place... I'm afraid Ryu "unfortunately guessed right"; this island really did have an entrance to the depths of the Dungeon!
Ryu felt this might be the [Treasure Hunter] taking effect, guiding him imperceptibly when he chose the island. Walking in now might lead directly to the bottom layer of the Dungeon, so he very happily—
Blew up the tunnel entrance!
While it was certainly possible that he just had good luck, it was also very likely that the Dungeon's behind-the-scenes BOSS, the "Winged Lion"—that Demon who devours desires—was playing tricks!
As the source of the Dungeon's power, the Winged Lion's tentacles extended to every level. It had absolutely noticed Laios and Ryu himself before this.
Although the Winged Lion couldn't directly interfere with the outside world due to the seal, being a master of human nature and desire, it could lure people into a trap step by step with just a little tinkering.
Of course, this wasn't necessarily the Winged Lion's handiwork, but it was never wrong to be careful~
Ryu had absolutely no desire to have contact with such an ancient and dangerous entity. Its power and value were certainly tempting, but the moment you think, "I'll just be careful and I won't be backlashed," you are actually already walking on the edge of a cliff!
You look at the Demon's interest rates; the Demon looks at your principal~
Aside from Guilliman, who embodies "You dare speak, I dare believe," and Laios, who embodies "You eat me, I eat you"—aside from such god-like figures, people with normal brain circuits should not think about taking advantage of a Demon.
Leaving this matter aside, Ryu silently blew up the tunnel entrance without telling anyone. Laios and the others, hearing the noise, were merely told that the explosion was to create obstacles to hide the treasure chests.
Having finished all preparatory work, Ryu and the others embarked on their return journey. By the time the fishing boat was drifting on the sea, a clear and beautiful bright moon hung in the sky, and brilliant starlight gently sprinkled over the ocean surface. Having been busy all day, everyone relaxed, quietly enjoying the cool comfort of the sea breeze...
"With this, the adventurers will be busy on the deserted island for at least ten to fifteen days. That's enough time for us... The only thing left is how to defeat the Lord of the Dungeon, right?"
Marcille lay on the deck, resting her head on her staff. "What should we do?"
"We'll have to go down into the Dungeon after all, won't we?" Falin shook her head. "I can't think of any other way."
"It doesn't have to be that troublesome."
Ryu walked over from the bow of the ship and sat cross-legged opposite Falin.
"Miss Falin knows teleportation magic, right?"
"Eh? Indeed... but trying to conquer the Dungeon relying on teleportation magic is impossible."
Falin scratched her cheek in distress. "Not only are there many restrictions, but the interior of the Dungeon changes constantly. Without stable coordinates and a sealed environment, forcibly using teleportation is very dangerous~"
When Laios's squad faced the Red Dragon and was nearly wiped out, Falin had cast a mass teleportation to send the others to the surface, saving their lives. However, that was gambling with their lives at a critical moment of life and death; generally, teleportation cannot be used inside the Dungeon—because one cannot accurately control where one ends up!
Under normal circumstances, teleportation magic, like resurrection, requires a large number of preconditions to succeed:
First, at both ends of the teleportation, a stable and sealed room is needed, and the doors and windows cannot be open.
Second, magic items like paintings or mirrors are needed as "doors" to connect both sides, and such things are often quite precious.
Finally, one can only teleport from within the Dungeon to the outside, not from the outside in.
Because the internal coordinates of the Dungeon change frequently, the coordinates left last time might have now turned into a magma pool or a monster nest. Going in rashly is simply seeking death!
(There are also those who ignore these rules and teleport forcibly... such as the completely fearless Captain of the Canaries.)
For Falin, a human, to master mass teleportation at this age, she could absolutely be called a genius. But she had never thought of relying on teleportation to conquer the Dungeon—it wasn't that no one had tried, but the endings were all tragic.
The significance of teleportation magic in the Dungeon is merely to arrive directly at a surface "stronghold" during the return trip, saving a lot of effort on the road.
And this is a playstyle for the rich, not suitable for adventurers who are poor enough to clink when they walk.
This is because it requires renting a sealed room long-term and hiring someone to watch it to ensure no one intrudes.
"Oh, rest assured. I don't intend to use it on people. I just want to send some things into the Dungeon."
Ryu asked seriously, "Can it be done?"
"Send objects into the Dungeon?" Falin and Marcille muttered quietly for a few moments, and finally nodded.
"It's possible, for example, using 'Object Replacement'... but it's hard to control the location. It would be completely random."
"That's fine. As long as it ends up inside the Dungeon, there's no problem—of course, the deeper the better."
Ryu smiled very brilliantly.
"The Mad Mage will definitely love the gift I'm sending him."
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