Ethan passed out after our monsters’ brutal torture.
His body was so mangled that it was almost unrecognizable.
Of course, he would regenerate to undergo torture again.
Anyway, let’s stop the torture here.
I can’t waste any more time on someone who’s already fallen and whose memory is fragmented.
[Are you going to stop already? If torturing that prisoner is no longer fun, how about trying to torture another prisoner?]
“…I’m good.”
I politely declined Wifra’s suggestion.
I have no interest in torturing others.
Instead of wasting time like this, I should tame one more new monster.
[Mirstin]—I think it would be nice to tame that monster named Wifra too, but oh well.
[Rize Nova]—It can’t be helped. That monster has already been tamed by a previous supported one.
[Yumi]—I’m not disappointed at all.
[Mysticism]—No perverted monsters allowed! 😠
[Pururu]—That one’s just a human with horns. I’m a bit hesitant to tame it.
[Mirstin]—Aren’t there already a lot of humanoid monsters?
[Boglebogle]—It doesn’t matter if they’re humanoid, but I think we should stop taming female monsters for now.
[Luna-chan]—Why? o_O
[Boglebogle]—Just because.
[Mirstin]—These people are seriously overthinking things.
Even though I can’t tame Wifra,
I felt that, given her friendly demeanor towards me, we could maintain a good relationship going forward.
After exchanging a brief conversation with Wifra,
I slowly looked around at the other guards and quietly asked Infernos.
“Hey, North. Sorry for asking late, but it’s okay to tame the monsters in Hell, right?”
[As long as it’s not about dominating them, there’s no problem. The Sublime Bone Fiend is friendly towards the supported one.]
It seems there’s really no issue.
Well, it makes sense.
If taming were a problem, there would have been chaos when I tamed Infernos a while ago.
[Mirstin]—Having the supported one trait is a significant advantage.
[Luna-chan]—Right? Just having that trait seems to earn the trust of the monsters. >_<
[Boglebogle]—Choosing the supported one trait was a smart move.
I asked Infernos again.
“Is it okay to tame the monsters assigned as guards?”
[Of course, it's fine to tame them. Unlike forcibly dominating, your trait is just the ability to befriend them.]
“Then what about the Sublime Bone Fiend?”
[He probably wouldn't dislike making friends. But just to be safe, ask him directly when you meet.]
That’s a relief.
I had casually tossed out a question wondering if the Sublime Bone Fiend was a monster tamed in the past, but his answer suggested there’s no such history.
[Pururu]—But it seems like all the SSS-class monsters we've met so far have been pretty friendly.
[Mysticism]—😮
[Yumi]—Wasn't the Solorb from the plains a dangerous monster?
[Rize Nova]—Not really. It was a monster that forbids killing under its command, so in a way, it has a similar nature to the Sublime Bone Fiend, which upholds the order of Hell.
[Pururu]—What’s the reason for that?
[Boglebogle]—SSS-class monsters are amazing.
[Pururu]—What are you talking about? Damn it.
[Mirstin]—Lol, who cares about the reason? Good is good, right?
[Luna-chan]—So far, we've just been lucky. There are surely hostile SSS-class monsters out there. We must be cautious. (꒪ȏ꒪)
Anyway.
For now, I decided to tame one of the guards.
Taming one monster mixed in with the rest could be helpful someday.
Especially since it’s a large group of guards in Hell.
‘If I tame someone from another organization, it should help maintain a friendly relationship with that organization.’
But I didn’t plan to tame them all.
That might draw some unwanted attention.
And I had a feeling there would be some backlash.
That’s why I was only going to tame one guard.
‘Let’s see. The one who seems most friendly to me after Wifra...’
[Boing.]
“...”
While scanning the guards,
I spotted a cute-looking monster.
Is that one a guard too?
I poked Infernos's leg and asked.
“North. Is that cute one over there also a guard?”
[Hmm? I’m not sure where you see cuteness, but yes, that one is a guard.]
“That one.”
I pointed at the monster I was referring to.
It was a beast-type monster with a long tail and big horns, about the size of a Dog Spider.
Infernos tilted his head after looking at it.
[I don’t know how that’s cute, but... it is a guard.]
[Pururu]—That one? Haha!
[Mysticism]—🤭🤭🤭
[Yumi]—I never imagined there'd be such a cute guard.
[Mirstin]—Lol, it looks super weak.
[Boglebogle]—Don't dismiss it. It might look cute, but it's rated as at least S-Class.
Alice was right.
Despite its adorable and innocent appearance,
that guard monster also had a nerfed danger level of B-Class.
So, its actual danger level was S-Class.
Infernos mentioned that creature’s name was Nightmare.
It serves the role of invading prisoners' dreams to deliver nightmares and doesn’t let them rest when they faint.
Conversely,
I heard it was also possible to give sweet dreams instead of nightmares.
‘But it's been staring at me for a while now.’
Nightmare was gazing at me with a look of grievance.
Of course, that expression had no real meaning.
I heard it just had that look by nature.
Anyway,
It was clear that it found me interesting.
It had been staring intently at me for some time.
I felt no hostility.
After a moment's hesitation, I made my decision.
I would tame the cute-looking guard named Nightmare.
[Boing?]
As I approached, Nightmare wagged its tail.
It seemed to have been waiting for me to come over.
“Hi there!”
[Boing!]
After a light greeting, I carefully placed my hand on the spots on Nightmare's back.
It didn’t reject my touch.
It quietly allowed me to pet its back as if it had been waiting for this all along.
And as expected, the discoloration speed was quite fast.
I didn’t even need to bring the Necro Puppetmaster to use mind control.
While I was taming Nightmare, Artpega Uni-Vaikon started working on the monster index right beside me.
■Nightmare
─Actual Danger Level: S-Class.
─Current (Nerfed) Danger Level: B-Class.
─Ability: Nightmare.
I succeeded in taming Nightmare.
But I had no intention of taking it with me.
Nightmare had a role as a guard in Hell, after all.
“I’ll see you again, Nightmare.”
[Boing… .]
“I’ll come visit often.”
[Boing!]
Not only guards,
I won’t be bringing any monsters tamed in Hell back with me.
Taking monsters from Hell could upset the Sublime Bone Fiend.
*
Sublime Bone Fiend.
I decided to meet him later when I have the time.
To ask if I could build a town in Hell.
Of course,
I had no intention of asking if I could tame him then.
Jumping straight into such a question would surely upset him.
There’s no need to rush.
So I decided to hold back on the topic of taming, build up trust with him, and slowly approach the matter later.
Anyway.
Putting off the meeting with Bone Fiend for another day,
we were currently exploring Hell with the guidance of Infernos.
Along the way, we also met monsters called “Reapers,” who were in charge of soul extraction.
The first Reaper I encountered was named “Worf Reaper.”
As soon as Artpega spotted him, he quickly began working on the index.
■Worf Reaper
─Actual Danger Level: S-Class.
─Current (Nerfed) Danger Level: B-Class.
─Ability: Dimensional Movement, Soul Extraction.
Reapers each have their own methods for soul extraction.
Worf Reaper is said to directly cross over to another world, kill those who have committed sins, and extract their souls.
In other words, it brings back the souls of living beings, not the souls of the dead.
[So you’re the famous Gauntlet. Nice to meet you.]
“Nice to meet you. But am I really famous?”
[Your name has spread across Hell. A very powerful Explorer has come to Hell. Oh, and there’s been an order not to antagonize an Explorer with the supported one trait as well.]
It seems news has already spread everywhere.
Hell is a world ruled by a systematic organization, after all.
The order not to antagonize me…
I assumed it was an order from the Sublime Bone Fiend.
He is friendly towards the supported one and has probably received information about me.
[Luna-chan]—You’ve become famous in no time! ( ̵˃﹏˂̵ )
[Mirstin]—Lol, you’ve turned into the idol of Hell.
[Mysticism]—I’m your first fan! 😃
[Pururu]—I’m the first fan!
Anyway.
Finally meeting a monster that can move between dimensions was a long-awaited event, but unfortunately, I heard that Worf Reaper could only travel alone between dimensions. Moreover, it couldn’t specify which world it would enter, driven instead by repulsive and dirty souls.
In simpler terms, it meant it didn’t know which world it would end up in.
Of course, returning was always possible.
[Gauntlet, I wanted to show you how Reapers extract souls… but I can’t show you the process of this one extracting souls.]
After saying that, Infernos looked around before pointing to another Reaper.
[Gauntlet, let’s go talk to that one.]
Leading the way, Infernos walked over.
He explained that this Reaper, who was sitting and fishing, was named Soul Reaper.
[With that one’s method of soul extraction, you can watch it be done. Soul Reaper uses its unique tools to fish for souls from another dimension.]
Just then,
Soul Reaper suddenly jumped up from his seat and yanked on the fishing rod he was holding.
[Ohhh! It’s a big one… oh wait… damn it.]
Soul Reaper clicked his tongue as he checked the soul.
Then he picked up a lump he’d stacked next to him and stuffed the soul deeply inside it.
Thereupon, that lump began to squirm and soon took the form of a middle-aged man.
[Mirstin]—Huh?
[Mirstin]—That looks just like my uncle who died the day before yesterday!
[Boglebogle]—?
