Chapter 37 – Buffalo Dungeon (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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After two hours riding a limousine bus meant for Hoakin Academy cadets, we arrived in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, where the Buffalo Dungeon was located.

If it were up to me, I would’ve liked to get there in one shot through a subspace gate, but gates couldn’t be used for personal business.

Even if they could have been used, the other party members probably would’ve opposed it, especially Speed Weapon, who suffered from terrible motion sickness.

After getting off the bus, I stretched long. Then the other party members started getting off one by one as they each grabbed their things.

‘We got here early.’

Even accounting for the fact that the bus was comfortable and the ride felt shorter than it actually was, I still hadn’t expected it would take only about two hours from Seoul to this place at the very edge of Gangwon Province.

That made sense, though. On Earth, Cheorwon might’ve been treated like some remote backwater of Gangwon, but among the heroes of this world it was a famous spot.

The farming dungeons that had sprung up here one after another and taken root.

Their origin was unclear, but according to what I’d heard in mythology class, it all began in the mythic age before humanity had even become apes, when monsters settled here to avoid the holy realms.

That was why, in ancient times, it had apparently also been called a demon cave. Though in the modern age it had fallen to the status of a farming hotspot.

It had plenty of so-called efficient dungeons, where the clear difficulty wasn’t that high and the rewards were pretty decent.

Apparently even higher-ranked heroes visited this place from time to time, so the asphalt roads were neatly laid, and I could even spot a few high-rise buildings that looked out of place for a rural settlement.

After stretching my neck this way and that, I turned my head and gave the party members a quick once-over. Chloe had the katana from before strapped to her back. And in both hands she was rolling around a small crossbow. I’d thought she specialized only in melee weapons, but maybe because she was an assassin, she didn’t seem to care much about weapon category.

I shifted my gaze toward Saki Ryozo. She had a weapon wrapped up in cloth slung over her left shoulder, almost the same height as she was. Looking at her half-vacant eyes, I couldn’t help thinking she was impressively consistent.

When I looked at Saki Ryozo’s weapon for a moment, Chloe puffed her cheeks out with a pout. Then, saying we still had a long way to go, she took the lead with energetic steps.

“I’m always the scout, so I’ll walk in front!”

That sight made a small laugh slip out of me. Just a month ago, she had been such a timid little girl, and now she was confidently taking charge of the front line.

Without a word, we followed behind the yandere girl.

“Geom-ma, what’s with all that baggage you’ve got?”

Walking beside me, Weapon glanced at my backpack.

Apparently the rattling sound from the backpack slung over both my shoulders every time I walked had been bothering him. Without saying anything, I opened the bag and showed him what was inside.

Inside was a coping saw and a bundle of kitchen knives tangled together. Daiso sashimi knives I’d bought with the ten million won I extorted from the blacksmith.

“…Did you come here to start a knife business?”

Weapon asked in a half-joking tone. I let out a low laugh.

“Better safe than sorry.”

“…The way you talk really makes you sound like some middle-aged guy. Still, you probably have your own reasons if you prepared all that.”

When I turned my head to the side, I saw Saki Ryozo holding her knees and catching her breath for a moment. She met my eyes, then suddenly spoke.

“I’m tired.”

“Looks like it.”

“If there were something sweet, I think I’d get a bit more energy….”

I let out a deep sigh and pulled a handful of candy from the front pocket of my bag, which I’d packed as snacks, and held it out to her.

“…Candy’s kind of meh. Don’t you have any yokan?”

“Did I leave any with me for you? You brought your own, didn’t you?”

“I’m saving that for later, hehe.”

She was really grinning like that? I clicked my tongue and started walking again.

At that, Saki Ryozo lowered her brows like a puppy curling its tail and reluctantly tossed the candy into her mouth. She acted like she didn’t want it, but as soon as it was in her mouth, her eyes started sparkling, so apparently it suited her taste after all.

After chatting as we walked the narrow path for about ten minutes, we soon arrived at the dungeon entrance.

At the checkpoint, which looked like a highway toll gate, two sturdy employees were standing there. The tanned employee gave our school uniforms a quick once-over and said in a low voice.

“You’re from Hoakin Academy. If all four of you write your names here in the visitor log, that’ll be enough.”

Starting with Chloe, the party members each wrote down their names in the roster. The employee checked their names with a sidelong glance. Then, the moment I wrote the three characters of my name last.

I could clearly see that the employee’s eyes trembled, only slightly, but definitely.

I looked straight into his eyes. He quickly adjusted both his expression and his gaze.

My eyes narrowed at the sense of incongruity. In the meantime, the party members who had already gone in through the dungeon entrance were waving at me to hurry up and come.

Forcing myself to look away, I started walking toward the entrance. Then, after taking a few steps, I only half-turned my head.

Through the narrowing gap of the dungeon entrance door as it closed, I saw the employee sticking only his head out and watching me from the corner of his eye. Suppressing the sense of unease welling up in me, I pulled my outer coat tighter around me.

The blade against my chest inside my clothes.

The sword-note of Murasame rang faintly along with my heartbeat.

* * *

The inside of the dungeon was developed so neatly it shattered the common prejudice that dungeons were supposed to look like caves.

A high ceiling, a broad cavern, and cool air that washed away the early summer heat as if an air conditioner had been turned on. If you looked only at the environment, it actually felt more pleasant than outside the dungeon.

Still, since it was a dungeon cadets frequently visited, the walls had childish scribbles all over them like posters saying things like so-and-so was here and Chulsoo loves Younghee.

Even so, since it was still a dungeon in name, the rows of flickering torches hanging along the walls in place of fluorescent lights gave it a fittingly eerie atmosphere.

After walking for a few minutes like that, Chloe, who was taking the lead, suddenly stopped short. She pressed her ear close against the ground and murmured lowly.

“Three… no, about five monsters are rushing this way from around 200 meters away!”

Sensing the presence, Chloe lifted her ear from the floor and spoke. Weapon nodded.

“Let’s just stick to the plan. They’re not dangerous if we do that. Saki and Chloe, I’m counting on you. I’ll put enough buffs on you that you won’t feel shortchanged.”

Weapon thumped his chest boldly. Saki idly rolled the candy around in her mouth and unwrapped the cloth covering the weapon slung over her shoulder. My eyes widened.

The S-rank weapon Red Bow White Arrow.

A magnificent longbow whose red body and string were lined with gold like bands. Even to me, who was ignorant when it came to bows, it looked anything but ordinary.

That said, it was hard to place much trust in those sleepy-looking eyes of hers even after entering the dungeon. Though I supposed that itself was proof of how relaxed she was…. Still, as a party member, there wasn’t much to do but trust her.

Looking drowsy as ever, Saki Ryozo tested the bowstring a few times and then suddenly paused.

“Ah, wait.”

With that, she pulled out a piece of yokan from her skirt pocket and peeled off the wrapper. Watching her was enough to make the faith I’d managed to build in the last few seconds start disappearing again.

After taking a big bite, she gave Weapon an okay sign. At the same time, Weapon brought the recorder hanging around his neck to his lips and started blowing into it forcefully.

Piii-rii-rwik.

The off-beat notes stabbed directly into the ear. His playing was even worse than before, enough to make me click my tongue in disbelief.

Saki Ryozo seemed used to it and paid it no mind. Then she let out a long, calm breath.

Dududududu!

The fierce pounding of hooves echoed out of the darkness. The heavy noise shook the wide cavern.

“The buffalo herd is 100 meters ahead, straight ahead!”

Chloe shouted at the top of her voice. Soon after, five buffaloes burst through the darkness and charged toward us, snorting violently.

In appearance they were more or less like cows, but they were about twice as large, and their temple horns had branching tines like deer antlers.

Their red eyes were drawn out menacingly, and they moved with a speed utterly unfitting their bulk. As expected, they were monsters on a much higher level than those fish-bastard mermen. Once he’d finished the buffs, Speed Weapon shouted toward Saki and Chloe.

“Take down those buffalo bastards!”

At those words, Chloe leapt up, gripped the crossbow in both hands, and fired at the buffaloes.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

“Mmmooooooo!”

One buffalo, struck in the left eye and having lost its sense of direction, crashed into the wall beside it. But the other four took no damage. Maybe the crossbow still didn’t fit her hand, because Chloe’s expression didn’t look very satisfied.

Even so, the buffaloes accelerated and kept charging.

Chloe kept firing while springing high into the air, but the buffaloes shook their horns and deflected the incoming bolts.

Clicking her tongue briefly, Chloe grabbed the hilt of the katana strapped to her back.

“I’ll slow those bastards down from the front.”

“Chloe, you can’t get close to those things!”

At that, Weapon, who was still playing the recorder, stopped her.

“But….”

Chloe stared at the herd of monsters charging in ferociously.

The pressure of the monsters, full of killing intent, could be felt. They had to be stopped before they got close. Otherwise we’d be skewered on those barbed horns or trampled under their hooves.

Disappointment was obvious on Chloe’s face. But biting down on her lip, she stepped back behind Saki Ryozo.

‘…If it comes down to it, I’ll had to step in.’

I opened the backpack on my shoulders and pulled out several sashimi knives. Since the kinds of weapons I could use were limited, I intended to use the sashimi knives as throwing blades.

I turned my head and glanced over Weapon and Saki.

Weapon was immersed in his own performance, and Saki Ryozo was regulating her breathing.

There wasn’t the slightest wavering in her eyes, and in her right hand four arrows were nocked on the bowstring one below the other in sequence.

Gone from her face now was the childish side of her that dozed off at the drop of a hat and constantly whined for yokan.

She drew one long breath, then closed her right eye. Then she slowly drew the bowstring back.

Giriik.

The string of Red Bow White Arrow touched the center of her pale red lips. Her half-narrowed left eye was fixed on the target. Holding that posture, Saki Ryozo stayed still for several seconds.

With the string drawn all the way to her chest, she gave a faint smile through her pursed lips. A strange light flashed in Saki’s eyes.

“I’ll put them through the brow.”

As Saki’s fingers flicked, a fresh wind rose.

Her sky-blue hair spread out like a fan.

Piyung.

At the same time, the four arrows leaving her right hand all at once pierced exactly between the eyes of the monsters.

“Mmmooooooo!”

One buffalo let out a cry like a scream and staggered as it lost its balance. That threw the formation into chaos, and the remaining buffaloes soon began slipping across the floor as if their footing had tangled.

‘Ranged DPS carry.’

They said you couldn’t stop a skilled ranged DPS, and honestly, it made me want to applaud.

“Whew.”

Saki wiped the sweat running down her forehead with her sleeve. I started to lift a thumb toward her with a somewhat dazed expression, then stopped. In the tiny span of that moment, she’d already lost patience and was stuffing yokan into her mouth again, her face all slack.

When I stared at her for a moment, Saki shoved the yokan fully into her mouth as though afraid I’d take it away. I was about to say something in disbelief, then shook my head.

Practically speaking, she’d taken down five buffaloes all by herself, so I wasn’t in much of a position to complain.

Then one of the buffaloes that I thought had already fallen suddenly jolted upright and charged straight at Saki Ryozo.

“Saki!”

It looked like it was determined to drag at least her along with it to the road to the underworld.

Apparently caught off guard, Saki looked shocked and tried to hastily nock another arrow, but the buffalo came barreling in, snorting violently.

Just before the buffalo with the arrow lodged in its brow rammed Saki with its horns. I drew the blade from its sheath.

Shhk.

The cow-shaped monster suddenly stopped its sprint. Then a red line was drawn vertically between its brows, and it split apart on its own into two halves.

Thud.

Blood oozed out of the clean cross-section like juice. After wiping the blood from the sashimi knife, I turned my eyes toward Saki Ryozo.

“You okay?”

Saki stared at me with wide eyes.

“Hic!”

She tried to nod, but instead hiccuped without meaning to.

“Hic!”

* * *

After confirming that the monster herd showed no sign of getting up again, the party members took a break and wet their throats. I walked over toward the fallen buffaloes.

Except for the one split in half, the remaining four buffaloes were sprawled out weakly, their nostrils flaring. Their eyes were slowly turning grayish-white. They blinked their long lashes as though trying to say something.

‘……’

I felt no particular emotion. To me, they were nothing more than materials that would help strengthen my weapon.

Looking down at them with a cold gaze, I pulled out the coping saw I’d brought with me. This was the reason I’d come here in the first place, to harvest materials from monster corpses.

Skritch-scratch.

With just two passes of the saw, the buffaloes’ horns came off like tofu.

After I’d been sawing away for a while, Saki quietly walked over and crouched down beside me. Then she suddenly spoke in a soft voice.

“Thanks for earlier.”

Without a word, I just kept sawing and nodded.

“This is in return.”

Saki suddenly held out a piece of yokan. When I took it reflexively, she gave me a strange smile and walked away.

“……”

I took a bite of the yokan. It was sweet enough to make my tongue melt.

Why the hell did she even eat this stuff?