[Author’s Note] If you enjoyed reading, please hit the recommendation button at the top of the mobile screen! With just two seconds of your time, you can gift a happy day to a struggling writer! @[emailprotected]108th Chapter
36. Magical Beasts and the Ultimate Demise Vacuum #2
I escaped from Batus and the Sinai Village.
Batus strolled through the fields, peeking around as if looking for other people.
Once assured that there was no one else around, Batus quietly approached me.
“How does it feel to meet someone other than me?”
His words reminded me of my first job. Back in my clueless rookie days, a senior of mine asked me a similar question.
I decided to say my honest thoughts.
—it’s peaceful.
I took a deep breath while taking in the rolling green barley fields.
The ripening grains, the chirping sparrows perched on the scarecrow, even the sizzling sun felt refreshing, like I was on a vacation abroad.
‘Is this the feeling you get in rural Germany?’
My mind, once tight with urgency and tension, felt as if it was being soothed by the soft breeze.
Never could I have imagined that simply stepping out of the forest would reveal such a different world, and I was purely amazed by the contrast.
“Peaceful, huh? Sure, coming from someone raised in a magical realm, it would feel that way to you, since the inside and outside of the magical realm really are two different worlds.”
—So, what exactly is this magical realm?
“A place untouched by human hands. It’s popularly known as a forbidden territory, a region that has held mysteries since the world was forged from mana and earth. But I have a different opinion. I see the magical realm as a tumor.”
A tumor? Batus nodded to his own words.
“If left alone, it’ll grow so huge it’ll swallow everything. In just 100 years, this field will fall within the domain of the Mother World Tree. Human domains will keep shrinking, and eventually, the world will regress back into a barbaric place.”
I couldn’t quite grasp the meaning behind Batus’s words.
But if I were to hazard a guess, it seemed he was saying that the World Tree’s forest was expanding at a rapid pace, and in a hundred years, all the fields of Sinai would be overtaken by jungle.
“Listen closely, Alpha. There are many magical realms in the world. And the dungeon we’re headed to is part of a small-scale magical realm. To make it easy for you to understand, let’s compare it to plants.”
Batus picked a dandelion swaying beside the barley field.
“If we consider this flower as the World Tree forest.”
He blew on the dandelion stem, scattering the seeds into the air. The yellow seeds flew in all directions, settling here and there.
“Those scattered spores and seeds can be considered as the dungeon.”
—So it’s like the offspring of the magical realm?
“The offspring of the magical realm, huh…”
Batus grinned like he heard something amusing. He then patted my head with a rough hand and said,
“Yes, you could see it that way. Anyway, dungeons are like weeds that have rooted outside the World Tree. It’s the hunter’s job to eliminate them as soon as they’re discovered. Just like the place you and I are going to. It’s an silver-grade dungeon, so brace yourself.”
—What’s that about grades? I heard hunters talking about stuff like iron and bronze.
I glanced at the thin metal badge hanging from Batus’s neck like a dog tag.
It shone like silver, but judging from what people said, it might be a platinum badge.
It seemed hunters were classified based on the material of the metal hanging around their necks.
Batus chuckled and fiddled with his badge.
“You’re pretty curious, Alpha. Other magical beasts didn’t ask this many questions. But that’s fine. Let me put it simply. In a way you can understand, since you were born in the magical realm.”
Batus explained the hunter ranks by comparing them to the beasts that live in The Ancient Nest.
The highest rank, Platinum Hunter, was someone who reached a level comparable to the masters of each forest.
Below that, Gold Grade hunters were descendants with a strong lineage of mythical creatures or were the forest masters of valleys and slopes.
‘So Platinum Hunters would be like Lao-Hoo, Kublai, or Yan-Mite. Then Gold Grade would be like the Monkey Mihuwang, Salome, or Kaah, right?’
As I mentally sorted through this, Batus added more details.
“Silver Grade is like the commander of a small area. It’s the highest rank an ordinary human can achieve through effort. Bronze and Iron are just your average above-average folks.”
—So what’s this grade for the dungeon? You said we’re heading to a silver-grade dungeon.
“Right, dungeons have grades too. A silver-grade dungeon can be managed by silver-grade hunters. The structured classifications haven’t been around for long, not even twenty years. So it’s not extremely accurate, but roughly similar is a good way to look at it.”
—I see.
I nodded along.
A silver-grade dungeon is akin to a lair of a small area’s commander—similar to when I encountered that prickly beast, Belger.
“So, what I’m saying is, I want to know how far you’ve grown, Alpha. This dungeon will be a good opportunity to gauge your level. Understanding your abilities will help form a fitting growth plan for you.”
—I think I can at least hit Gold Grade.
I envisioned myself with a shiny gold badge.
‘Gold-grade magical beast. It feels weird, like I’m talking about A-grade beef or something.’
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough. By the way, I won’t be helping you at all. We’re almost there. Look over there.”
Batus pointed to somewhere in the field with his hand. A giant old tree, or rather, a gnarled tree, was casting shade in one corner of the field.
Underneath its shade, a group of children from Sinai Village was playing, seemingly shaking around a net, perhaps trying to catch insects stuck to the tree.
‘It looks like just a regular tree, but that’s the dungeon?’
I approached the gnarled tree, and the instant the kids noticed me and Batus, they turned from the tree and surrounded us.
“Look, a puppy, a puppy!”
“Mr. Batus, what’s this one’s name?”
“What kind of animal is it…!?”
The kids grabbed my ears and tail, patting me with their muddy hands over and over.
Their small hands didn’t hurt at all, but it was a royal pain when they got my fur all dusty.
Like chasing away a fly stuck to my behind, I flicked my tail around, causing the kids to widen their eyes and take a step back.
“Tail!”
“Shake it again!”
But it must have had the opposite effect; the kids started swaying my tail around like it was a swing.
‘Ugh, they’re just kids, so I can’t even threaten them.’
I glanced at Batus while I let out a small growl, and he finally clapped his hands to gain the children’s attention.
“Alright, enough of that, go play over there. There are lots of General Beetles in that field over there. But don’t wander too far.”
Batus pulled out a cloth bag from a leather pouch tied around his waist.
He untied it and dusted the contents into the palm of his hand. A few round, bead-like candies fell onto his palm.
Batus placed one in each child’s hand, saying, “These are candies made from honey and hardened sugarcane. The General Beetles love sweet things, so you can eat half and use the rest as bait in your collecting net. Now go on.”
With candies in their mouths, the children beamed with joy and dashed toward the field. When I stared at Batus’s face, he shrugged.
“Why? You want one too?”
—I wasn’t going to say that. You sure handle those kids well.
“It’s the other way around. The kids get along with me well.”
After I popped one of the candies Batus offered into my mouth, I was taken aback by the sweet flavor exploding on my tongue.
The sticky honey melted away in my mouth in no time.
I smacked my lips as I turned to Batus with another question.
—So how is this tree a dungeon?
As someone who enjoyed games, I imagined a dungeon would be something like an underground labyrinth. But this gnarled tree looked like just a normal old tree to me.
As I circled around the tree, Batus drew a large sword from his back. He then swung it down toward the base of the tree with all his might.
The soil erupted like shrapnel from a bomb, leaving a hollow in the bottom of the tree.
After tilting his head once, Batus began tapping the root area with the steel-toed boot.
“If you keep tapping like this, you’re bound to find a spot that sounds hollow and empty. You try it too.”
Batus instructed me to give it a go. I cautiously tapped the ground near the roots with my front paw.
After quite a while of tapping, just as doubt began to creep in about the overall solid ground I was feeling,
Thud.
A strange sensation under my paw pulled my focus.
It was as if a thin stone slab lay beneath the earth, camouflaged with soil on top.
When I scratched away the dirt with my paw, a wide, flat stone slab appeared.
“Alright, found it! Guess being born in the magical realm gives you a good instinct.”
Batus wedged his sword into the gap between the appeared stone slab and, like a lever, applied force to lift the stone.
As it slowly shifted aside, a surprisingly large hole revealed itself beneath.
“Kids are playing around here, and something like this exists.”
Batus alternated his gaze between the kids in the distance, capturing the General Beetles, and the hole, clicking his tongue.
‘What the heck is this?’
I frowned as I peered into the tunnel hollowed under the tree. The passage looked big enough for two adult men to squeeze in.
Batus plunged his sword deeper into the ground to widen the hole, speaking, “Reports have come in about a beast destroying crops and livestock near the Sinai fields. As the exploration team reported, there’s said to be a beast’s nest beneath this tree. They’ve described it as stronger than expected, indomitable for ordinary hunters. Max, the platinum hunter, was supposed to handle it, but he’s off somewhere lounging instead, leaving the job to me.”
—So you want me to handle it?
“Yeah, it’ll be a good chance to see how you fight and what skills you possess. It’s two birds with one stone.”
‘You’re not just trying to ditch your responsibilities by making me do it, right?’
A moment of doubt crept in, but I was also quite intrigued by this ‘dungeon’, so I decided to slip inside the tunnel first.
*
Inside the tunnel, the roots of the gnarled tree supported the caverns like the foundation of a mine. Batus ducked behind me, entering the tunnel.
“It’s dark in here.”
Batus pulled out something resembling a glass vial from his waist pouch.
After tapping it a few times, some buzzing, winged insects inside started fluttering, releasing bright light.
‘A lantern of sorts.’
In a world without batteries or flashlights, it appeared to be a light source utilized by hunters.
With the light brightening up the tunnel, Batus and I advanced carefully.
“I can’t hear any footsteps at all. Stealth operation? That’s quite handy. Is ambushing from the shadows your primary strategy?”
Batus, with his keen ears, accurately deduced the type of skill I possessed just from the absence of my footfalls. As he said, I had indeed been hunting and fighting by attacking from behind.
I silent my steps, disappearing from sight with my stealth skills, using my sharp claws or powerful tail to take down prey in one strike.
If it came to a face-to-face battle with a larger opponent, I wouldn’t hesitate to use nearby objects, obstacles, or even other beasts to my advantage.
‘In gamer terms, I guess I’d be a rogue or a backstreet thug.’
Clack, clack.
Sounds of hard objects colliding came from deeper in the tunnel.
I instantly knew it was the cause of those who made the tunnel—this dungeon’s master.
—Reeeeeeee!
