<105 - The Stronger the Adventurer, the More Dangerous the Monster>
Jigoku was feeling confident.
“Ha ha! Scaredy-cat. Have you suddenly lost your confidence after coming this far?”
“I’m opening this because I’m worried about what kind of demonic beasts might be inside.”
“Demonic beasts? Seriously, who’s dumb enough to trap a demon in a warehouse? They’re not rare animals, you know.”
“This is the Gift Academy, after all.”
“…Is that so?”
Jigoku, overflowing with energy, thought that in a place like this academy, it was possible to have a Monster Warehouse.
“Well, yeah. There were scholars who constantly asked pirates to catch rare sea monsters or strange races inhabiting the islands to sell.”
In various nations, there are indeed high-ranking individuals who offer hefty rewards to pirates, who unashamedly enter dangerous areas that others avoid.
“Jigoku… Did you do something that bad…?”
There are different kinds of pirates. Some are survival pirates who rob merchant ships just to make a living in a poverty-stricken seaside village, while others are devilish pirates who enjoy doing evil deeds and treat people like slaves.
Then there are privateer pirates who collude with the government to act as pirate hunters and sometimes legally plunder the merchant ships of enemy nations.
Jigoku is a privateer pirate.
She believed that was the case, but there might have been some variable that caused her to transform into a devilish pirate. That’s the tricky essence of [Graduating from the Academy by Luck].
“What do you think you are, huh?”
Thwack!
“Ouch!”
“You need to be punished. How dare you treat me like one of those trash?”
“Ugh. I’m sorry.”
“Even if I’m bored and want to shoot my gun or kick the legs of passing weaklings while tap dancing, I don’t touch slaves! Got it?”
“Yes…”
But did I really do something wrong?
Still, isn’t your punishment too harsh? Or is it just my imagination?
That’s what I want to ask, but I held it back.
Jigoku was stronger than she looked.
She could hold her own even against Son Ohchun in an arm wrestling contest.
In fact, while Son Ohchun tends to be tough, he’s more about resilience than raw strength.
Regardless, since Son Ohchun is no average adventurer, the fact that Jigoku, with less muscle mass, could win in a strength contest hints at one thing:
She’s a practitioner of the Mana Refinement Technique, which drastically increases the limit of strength one can exert!
Compared to land-based Mana Refinement Techniques, those for sea are even rarer, making it hard to find someone who can match Jigoku at the Maritime Field, not even throughout the entire Academy beyond Class 981.
At the Maritime Field, she is counted as a 0 tier (1st ~ 5th place).
“So, should I open it?”
“Oh no!”
Yet, despite that, the reason Jigoku was only a 1 tier (11th ~ 15th place) even in the Maritime Field where she could truly shine was because of her unpredictable and carefree nature.
Bang!
With the sound of a gunshot, the door creaked open.
From the dark Monster Warehouse crawled out the Filthy Sluggers, munching on the ground.
“Did you really get scared of this little thing?”
“There’s more to come!”
Following them was the small creature Claw Man, emerging from the wall with long, knife-like claws.
“Ha, you’re just being dramatic.”
Adventurers also have their ranks.
Stone-tier, Bronze-tier, Iron-tier, Silver-tier, Gold-tier, Platinum-tier.
Filthy Sluggers were the easiest monsters encountered by stone-tier adventurers doing sewer clean-ups.
However, a Monster Warehouse usually contains basic filthy sluggers.
They help clear the mess made by other monsters, creating a more sanitary environment.
The concern lies with the Claw Man.
Wait, isn’t it a monster that usually doesn’t stay in a warehouse since it injures other monsters?
It’s usually hunted by Bronze-tier adventurers due to its aggressive nature, making it a must to isolate.
Yet, it was placed in the same storage because it could be controlled.
Controlled by other monsters inside the warehouse.
“Aaaah!”
“Huh?”
Seeing the monster sharply growling behind the Claw Man, Jigoku’s expression stiffened.
A land monster, notorious even among pirates on the sea, appeared.
It was the Red Fanged Mushroom, a monster with the difficult traits of Fungi, Man-eater, Parasite, and Gas.
With teeth as sharp as a shark’s, growing out of a mushroom stem, it bites into creatures.
“Get away, Oknodie! We need to shoot it dead now!!”
“No! If we injure the Red Fanged Mushroom, it’ll go crazy and unleash spores everywhere!”
Monsters of the fungus type are indeed terrifying.
If you kill it carelessly, you could end up getting poisoned by the bio-gas spreading around, causing small mushrooms to sprout inside and outside your body.
Those who heard horrific tales of a Red Fanged Mushroom devouring the flesh of an unfortunate being it killed nearby would undoubtedly agree.
That the most common yet most terrifying monsters are mushroom monsters.
And that’s not all.
“Aaaah!”
“Kyah! Kyah!”
Multiple Red Fanged Mushrooms continued to pour out.
Thud. Thud.
Beyond that, a much larger mushroom monster was pushing its face against the door of the warehouse.
Mother-class Red Fanged Mushroom.
The higher tier organism that spreads spores just by being present, even without being attacked.
A Mother-class Red Fanged Mushroom had appeared.
“Run, Jigoku! Go get the instructor now!”
“What about you?”
“I understand the cry of the mushrooms when they act docile.”
Just like the Giant King Crab is afraid of the cries of its natural enemy, the octopus, the Red Fanged Mushroom also fears the cries of its predators.
Even mushroom monsters that parasite to seek revenge against their targets have their natural enemies.
Fire Elementals.
They burn the spores with fire, and even if they attempt to attach, they cannot parasitize since their bodies are made of fire, making them a hard counter species that cannot have nutrients drained by ordinary mushrooms.
Among the most common fire elemental creatures, there’s the Fire Dog!
“Yip! Yip!”
The mushroom monsters retreated in surprise at the barking of the fire-type dog.
Jigoku bit her lip when she realized I wasn’t lying when I said I’d let her live.
“Anyone who dies first is going to die by my hand!”
“Yip!”
As it barked back, Jigoku bit her lips and rushed toward the academy’s main building.
10 seconds. 20 seconds. 30 seconds.
When it seemed she was far enough away, I stopped barking.
“Phew. I was surprised myself!”
Upon closer inspection, the mushrooms were wearing fungal suppression devices.
The operation of their internal fungal-launching mechanism was suppressed, which meant they wouldn’t spray spores unless they attacked first, and their aggression was under control despite not showing hostile behavior.
Even the Claw Man, snapping its claws like scissors, was possibly being controlled by the mushrooms, acting according to their will.
Tremble.
In fact, they looked terrified every time they made eye contact.
Originally modified to be unable to expel spores when captured by humans, they were trapped in the dark Monster Warehouse.
They may be afraid of humans, but they would never dare to attack.
Yet, the reason for their acting like they were in a crisis…
“Hmm. Jigoku needs to learn her lesson.”
This was to correct Jigoku’s bad habit of recklessly opening the Monster Warehouse.
If something really dangerous had been inside, it could’ve been a disaster, right?
If they hadn’t been well-kept friends, it would’ve been a serious crisis!
Even now, it’s true.
By realizing the mushrooms’ condition, I stopped the urge to attack, calming things down.
If Jigoku had charged in with a one-dimensional mindset that every monster has to be attacked, she could have been overwhelmed by spores before the instructors or professors arrived.
If she were to die before rescue could reach her, it would result in a dead end.
Even if she was fortunate enough to be saved, she wouldn’t escape the concentrated treatment room.
The points spent on treatment would be hefty, along with the penalty points for missing lectures.
Since I saved her from those, a bit of anxious heart-racing was worth it!
Jigoku couldn’t resent her background as someone from the sea more than now.
“All I thought was that it would be mimics or something.”
Sea monsters are powerless once they come onto land.
Though land monsters may vary in difficulty, she thought it would be easy, based on her own experience.
Her reckless judgment led to an accident.
The dangerous mushroom monster she should never attack.
On top of that, the aggressive Claw Men were present too.
Oknodie would have to fend off countless Claw Men while making sounds to scare away the mushroom monsters.
Until she returns.
Until the instructors or professors arrive.
Continuously, alone, in this pouring rain and the ominous entrance of the dungeon.
“Help!!! Anyone! Please, help me!!!”
Running frantically, she shouted for help.
The main building was way too far.
It already took 30 minutes just to get there.
Even if it could be shortened to 3 minutes while running, that still felt long.
Would Oknodie manage to hold out for 5 minutes, 3 minutes, or make a mistake and collapse in just 1 minute?
Nothing could be guaranteed in combat situations.
‘Who would sympathize with a loser like me? I’m garbage!’
Only last week, Oknodie received a lucky bullet for feeling pity for her, despite being young and undergoing actual underwater training, and now, she endangered Oknodie herself.
She wanted to cry.
She wanted to die.
But right now, it was only herself she could rely on.
If she took too long to gather help to save Oknodie, then it might really be the case where Oknodie could die or get seriously hurt.
“First, calm down.”
A refreshing voice forcibly calmed Jigoku’s anxious heart.
“You are… the examiner from the first gate of the entrance exam!”
“Do you remember So?”
“Buddhist monk!”
“…Close. I’m Myung So.”
“Oknodie is in danger. The Mushroom Monsters and Claw Men from the Monster Warehouse have poured out into a place full of dungeons!”
Myung So smiled kindly, putting her at ease.
“I’ll handle the back. Jigoku, New Student, it’s best if you request medical support from the main building just in case.”
The monk, wearing a loose robe.
Myung So, with her mysterious aura resembling that of both a monk and a sage, strode into the distance, covering dozens of meters as if using some magical technique and disappearing from sight.
Jigoku, stunned by the spectacle, quickly regained her composure and ran toward the main building again.
‘Oknodie can survive!’
Her heart was filled with hope and relief.
In contrast, Myung So’s face, moving toward Oknodie, grew cold and hard.
‘This is going to be a serious problem.’
Ironically, the stronger the adventurer when encountering the mushroom monster, the higher the chance of dying.
Weak adventurers can’t even muster the courage to fight and flee, while awkward ones cautiously withdraw, not assured of victory.
But strong adventurers tend to fight whenever they think a monster is worth catching.
Those who know the fearsome reputation of mushroom monsters wouldn’t commit such foolishness, but what about those who don’t?
They drown themselves in more parasites and die faster.
Sadly, Oknodie was immensely, overwhelmingly strong, making it difficult to compare her even among first-year students.
With a single punch, she could burst a mushroom monster and cover herself with spores.
If that were to happen…
In the seconds it would take for her to reach, she could die instantly.
Myung So quickened her pace.
