Chapter 143

Ch 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 .