─[Doom Bar, Doo Doom Bar!]
─[Shii Ba! Si Doom Bar!]
I zoomed in on Team 2’s screen.
A human-shaped monster with one arm missing was slowly approaching the dancing monsters. Half of the monster’s skull was covered in a black mass.
And around the one-armed monster lay numerous monster corpses scattered chaotically.
Each corpse had a hole near its belly.
To me, it felt more like a female monster.
No feminine features, just a vibe.
Well, gender doesn’t really matter… for now.
“Hedgehog. Summon the spirits.”
I decided to take charge of Team 2.
I couldn’t let them recklessly act and get wiped out.
─[Doom Bar! By the name of the spiky summoner, Abyss Undead Spirits, come to me across the barrier of death! Awaken by my side and protect me! Doo Doom Bar!]
─[Shii! Si Doom Bar!]
The Hedgehog began dancing more vigorously and summoned five undead spirits.
“Good. Now command the spirits to attack the nearby monsters.”
─[Doom Bar! Got it!]
After the Hedgehog’s command, the undead spirits rushed towards the one-armed monster.
They weren’t sent to win.
The spirits were just bait.
I gave the Hedgehog the next order.
“And while they are fighting, you all escape.”
─[Doom Bar!?]
The Hedgehog jolted, staring at the screen.
It seemed quite flustered.
“What are you doing? If you don’t want to die, run away quickly.”
─[You want me to abandon my precious spirits and run away? No way! I can’t do that!]
The Hedgehog shook its head vigorously and defied my orders.
I expected this level of pushback.
I am not a ruler but a supported one.
I can’t force monsters to follow every command.
“Hedgehog… or should I say Dochi, listen closely. They return to their original world when they die, but if you die, you just vanish.”
─[Doom Bar?]
The spirits can be met again after death.
But you all can’t meet again if you die.
If you fight that monster now, you will definitely die. I don’t want to lose you.
Adding this, the Hedgehog finally understood and complied with my instructions.
─[So that’s the deeper meaning behind the command… I get it! It’s sad, but I’ll escape, abandoning my spirits! And in the future, I’ll follow all commands without doubt! Even if they seem weird, there’s definitely a deeper meaning!]
─[Shii!]
Team 2 retreated back the way they came.
Iris kept the one-armed monster in her sights even as we retreated.
The one-armed monster had already wiped out all the undead spirits but didn’t pursue Team 2, instead crawling on the ground, likely searching for corpses.
It seemed to have a habit of eating the insides of killed monsters.
Unfortunately, the spirits they just defeated leave no trace behind as they return to their original world.
They might not know this.
But seeing the spirits vanish right in front of it while earnest in searching for corpses, it seemed like a rather unintelligent individual.
*
Time passed, and it was mealtime.
The exploration team returned to the hideout.
While eating, I was reviewing the footage of what Team 2 had explored through Iris.
Actual danger level: SS-Class.
The asexual one-armed monster has a nerfed danger level: A-Class.
I didn’t catch it earlier due to panic, but upon rewatching, I noticed a red spot marked on its back.
“Using that spot, I might be able to tame it stealthily.”
I had no intention of confronting the one-armed monster head-on.
There’s a high chance my Dog Spider’s nullification web wouldn’t work, and the other monsters are too low-ranking to compare.
The Black Magma Slime is on the same level, but…
I wanted to avoid battles with a tense balance, not overwhelming superiority.
I don’t want to take a dangerous gamble.
The slime could very well lose.
Even among the same ranks, the slime could be weaker, or the match-up could be unfavorable.
I couldn’t risk losing my current strongest force, the slime, due to a single judgment error.
For that reason.
I planned to stealthily attach my severed arm to its back for taming.
Just because the danger level is high doesn’t mean I can just avoid it.
To conduct smoother explorations, I needed to start taming higher-level monsters.
‘If it’s a dull-witted monster, the probability of success is low, but… since the monster’s power weakens around my arm, it could be worth trying. If I’m lucky, its power might weaken along with its senses.’
After organizing my thoughts.
Just as I was about to switch Iris’s screen back to the present…
［Uum, um.］
The Centauress abruptly thrust her face in while munching on meat.
The Centauress swallowed the meat and stared at Iris intently.
［Was that an explorer from my mother’s generation? Did another exploration team encounter it?］
“Yeah, Team 2 encountered it earlier… wait, explorer?”
［Yes. I’ve never seen this person when they were an explorer, but I happened to encounter them once after they became a monster. My brother said she had the Lone One Trait.］
Hearing that the one-armed monster was once an explorer, I looked back at Iris’s screen.
The one with the Lone One Trait mentioned in the Centauress’s mother’s diary.
That must be that one-armed monster.
‘…Can explorers be tamed too?’
And it seems that the transformed explorer is treated as a labyrinth monster.
It has a red mark on it, after all.
“Not really.”
“Well, it’s a monster now anyway, not a person. So, it doesn’t matter.”
I had no plans to change my course.
Whether the one-armed monster was an explorer or a human, it was just a monster now.
After finishing my meal.
I called in Team 2 monsters, the Hedgehog and Dog Spider, and briefly explained the operation.
The Hedgehog nodded while setting up in the center of the hideout, starting to shake its butt and dance.
［Doom Bar! Doo Doom Bar!］
As a result, an Abyss Undead Spirit was summoned one by one.
［Doom Bar! Doo Doom Bar!］
［Shii Ba! Si Doom Bar!］
The Hedgehog continued the dance.
In support, the Dog Spider also danced along.
With each shake of the Hedgehog’s butt, the number of Abyss Undead Spirits increased.
Soon, the number reached twenty.
［Doom Bar! For now, I’ll stop here!］
It truly has an OP ability.
One S-Class summoned twenty S-Class spirits.
Well, it all ends if the main body dies.
One of the summoned spirits received the command and began gathering my severed arm.
“Alright then, Team 2, let’s head out. For One-Mode Taming.”
［Doom Bar!］
［Shii!］
It was time for One-Mode Taming.
*
─[Doom Bar! That’s the one from earlier!]
─[Shii!]
Team 2 faced off against the one-armed monster again.
“Don’t you dare approach! Only send the spirits.”
I issued commands through Iris.
Focusing on my left arm.
Not the one attached, but the severed left arm the spirit was holding.
‘It can’t fall, so let’s move slowly.’
The cave ceiling.
My left arm, wrapped in the Dog Spider’s silk, stealthily moved between the stalactites.
Below, twenty spirits charged towards the one-armed monster.
As the spirits lunged at the one-armed monster,
Swoosh.
The one-armed monster gracefully left an afterimage and lightly moved to the left to evade the attack.
It’s movements seemed almost like splitting into multiple forms.
─“Excrement… useless… trash, die…”
The one-armed monster’s movement halted.
In the stillness, its presence weighed heavily.
Then,
The one-armed monster lightly rotated in place.
Puff. Puff. Puff—!
In the blink of an eye, shadows of its fingers shot out in all directions.
The speed seemed to warp the very flow of time.
The five spirits surrounding it all had massive holes punched through them, their forms growing faint and disappearing.
As the five spirits vanished, the remaining spirits lunged at the one-armed monster with a roar.
In that chaos.
My severed arm reached the ceiling above the one-armed monster.
When another five spirits were lost.
I released my grip.
The arm that was hanging from the ceiling began to fall.
In that instant, yet another five spirits were destroyed.
Finally.
As the one-armed monster eliminated the last five spirits.
Swoosh—
The threads from my severed arm unfurled and scattered.
Moving as if still alive, the thin threads extended directly towards the one-armed monster’s back.
And then,
Thud!
The threads wrapped around the severed arm lightning-fast.
Securing my severed arm tightly to the one-armed monster’s back.
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