CH 20

SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon — Chapter 20

“…Haa. Rieul-ssi, please stay away in a safe place for a while. It will be over in a minute.”

Ki Yoohyun let out a light sigh and pointed to the back of the tree.

“Will you be fine by yourself? Even the C-class Hunter’s attack just now didn’t work.”

“It’s all right.”

“Okay, then.”

Without asking twice, I quickly ran towards the place Ki Yoohyun was pointing. Even if I’m with him, a +2 attack shovel won’t help. This non-combatant will hide quietly.

Ki Yoohyun seemed to be making some gestures while looking at the giant slime. Then a net of light fell from the sky and covered the giant slime. The net began to bind the slime to prevent it from bouncing.

Even with such skill, Ki Yoohyun doesn’t seem to be struggling at all.

As expected, this guy is pretty strong….

“…Eh?”

As soon as I touched the ground while watching the scene in front of my eyes, my body fell down.

The problem was that it was difficult to see the ground because of the darkness around. There was a steep slope behind the tree.

“….Rieul-ssi!”

I tumbled down the slope.

“Ugh, Ouch…..”

How much I tumbled? when I came to my senses, there was no place that didn’t hurt. The surrounding area was covered with bushes, and it was impossible to see where it was originally.

“Yoohyun-ssi!”

I called, but there was no answer.

[Party: Kwon Rieul, Ki Yoohyun]

Only the party window showed that Ki Yoohyun was still in the dungeon. It looks like it doesn’t come with communication or GPS functions, so I can’t find his location.

Should I rip this bracelet?

I saw the paper bracelet I received from the entrance. They said that if I tear it up in a crisis, they will come to my aid.

I haven’t got the ethereal water yet, but….

“Kkyuuuuu……”

Then, as I was about to tear the bracelet, a red slime appeared in front of me.

“Aaargh!”

I was startled and swung my (attack: 2) shovel wildly.

But the slime circled around me without attacking me or running away. Not only that, it kept bouncing its body in one direction.

This strange behavior seems to be trying to tell me something.

“Uh … do you want me to follow you?”

“Kkyuu.”

The slime replied. It kept bouncing in front of me.

Can I follow it?

If I follow it, it will probably say ‘Ta-da, you’ve fallen into a trap‘ and then maybe slimes will be pouring around me.

Ugh, I think I’ll lose if I fight it.

I hesitated for a while, but eventually I decided to follow this slime.

In any case, I was separated from Ki Yoohyun and I did not know the way. It’s not like there’s any other way around. This slime in front of me is not showing aggression.

Well, hesitating at times like this doesn’t fit the situation. I’ll follow it and if I think it’s going to be dangerous, I’ll rip the bracelet.

It was dark all around, but it wasn’t difficult to follow the slime with a flash of light.

It was sunset until a while ago, but suddenly it became dark. It made me realize that this is really a different space. Moreover, the red moon in the sky radiated a magical light.

But that bright red moon … it looks like it’s looking at me.

Eh, it’s probably just my imagination.

How can the moon look at me? It doesn’t even have eyes.

Haha, ha….

It’s just my imagination … right?

“Kkyuu.”

After walking behind the slime for a while, I heard the sound of running water from somewhere. After about 5 more minutes in the direction of the sound, a small river appeared through the bushes.

That’s a relief. I was wondering if I should go back without getting the water.

I took out the plastic bottle I had put in my inventory and filled it with river water. The water shimmered softly in the plastic bottle.

Tiling!

[Item: Ethereal Water (★★☆☆☆)

Water rich in ether. It helps the growth of plants.]

The name that appeared in the system window was also clearly ethereal water.

I filled up one extra water bottle and put it in the inventory. Heavy plastic bottles are safe to carry because I have inventory.

It must have been quite heavy to walk with this plastic bottle in hand. It’s good to be awakened like this.

Great. The purpose has been achieved. Now, let’s tear the bracelet and call someone.

There was no way to find Ki Yoohyun in this wide dungeon, and my legs started to hurt.

“Kkyuu, kkyuu.”

However, the slime kept bouncing around me and squealing.

“…Eung? What?”

“Kkyuuuu!”

It would be nice to have an interpreter artifact that translates slime words. I felt stuffy because all I could hear was “Kyuuuu“.

However, the appearance of slime was quite desperate to ignore.

Why, isn’t there a story like this?

The dog suddenly dug in the ground with its front paw, and when I dug the spot with a shovel, I found a lost item. The dog barked and was noisy in the middle of the night, so I came out and found out that the house was on fire.

I tend to believe such a story. When an animal tries to tell you something, you should never ignore it.

I don’t know if this slime can be considered an animal, but….

Perhaps feeling frustrated because it couldn’t communicate, the slime turned toward the bushes and circled around one point. There was some kind of long grass growing there.

“Are you talking about this grass?”

“Kkyuu.”

The slime bounced its body. It looks like I got it right.

On the surface, it’s just plain grass, and it looks a little bit like rice plant….

As soon as I touched the leaf with my hand, a familiar alarm rang.

[The condition has been met.]

[Skill: The Barista’s Eyes (D) has been acquired.]

[The Barista’s Eyes (D)

Details: (Lv.1) You can find the ingredients.]

Suddenly, I have a new skill.

Woah, looking at the description, that’s a pretty good skill. As expected, it was good to listen to the animal (?).

There is a grass pointed at by the slime right in front of me, so let’s try the skill.

‘The Barista’s Eyes.’

Immediately, item information appeared in front of me.

[Item: Dungeon Sugar Cane (★☆☆☆☆)

Type: Plant

A grass commonly found in dungeons. The sap of the stem tastes sweet.

Note: Ingredients for magic sugar.]

[‘Dungeon Sugarcane‘ has been added to the Ether-Wiki.]

The word ‘sugar’ caught my eye at once in the notification window. With ‘magic’ in front of it, it must not be ordinary sugar. Maybe it will give some effect like the coffee mix….

‘Can I take it?’

I think it would be useful if I could make sugar. Once I take it, I’ll figure out how to do it later.

I gently scooped the dungeon sugarcane with a shovel and put it in my inventory. It’s a crappy weapon with 2 attack power, but it was all useful in this case. Since it’s actually a seedling shovel, it’s perfect for digging soil.

I was crouching down in the dark and digging up dungeon sugarcane. Because I was so focused on my work, I didn’t even notice that something was approaching.

Tuk.

“Aaah!”

“Rieul-ssi, are you okay?”

“Huk, ah, yes!”

When I turned my head, there was Ki Yoohyun with a worried look.

Ah, I was surprised. I thought something had appeared.

I was embarrassed to scream for nothing. I shook my knees and got up.

“I couldn’t see you at the drop point, so I went looking for you. Did you get hurt?”

“No, I rolled down, but I’m fine.”

Even though I said it was okay, Ki Yoohyun looked at me with his deer-like eyes.

Ugh, the guilt was no joke when I received the concerned gaze of the handsome man. I was a little sorry that I made him worry for nothing because I was chasing after a slime.

“Then shall we go?”

“Yes, wait a minute … eh.”

Uh, where did that red slime go?

I wanted to thanked it because I got my new skill. Maybe it ran away in surprise when it saw Ki Yoohyun. No matter how much I looked at the bushes, I could not see the shiny round body.

‘I wish we could meet again.’

I left the bushes behind with a slight regret.

After that, I was able to go around the dungeon without much trouble.

Slimes appeared a few times, but Ki Yoohyun melted them all, and I only need to eat the experience points. It felt like I was playing a game with auto-battle turned because the slimes have already been melted even before it came into view.

After walking along the road for a while, I saw the exit.

The exit was in the form of a disk that leaked blue light, similar to the entrance. You’ll be able to exit the dungeon if you get on that disk.

I have achieved my goal, and now I hurried to the exit with a desire to go home quickly.

Then I heard the rumbling sound of the ground behind me.

No way, it can’t be….

I believe it won’t be such a cliche development that a boss monster appears and the party falls into crisis when it’s just around the corner of the exit. Maybe it’s just that the ground is shaking a little….?

[Boss Monster: An Iridescent Giant Slime (???) has appeared.]

Gee, the system notification shattered my hopes.

Almost at the same time as the notification window, a slime appeared on the far side of the bushes.

Maybe because it’s a boss monster, the slime that appeared this time was rainbow-colored and huge. The translucent jelly-shaped body shining in its colorful brilliance was quite intimidating, it looked incredibly strong.

It seems that Ki Yoohyun is stronger than I thought, but … is it possible to kill that slime too? I thought it would be unreasonable to face the boss alone.

It’s not even just Hard. It’s a Special. Special. I am not good at English, but I know what special means.

Fortunately, the giant slime was still far away, and the exit was close.

I looked up at Ki Yoohyun, who was standing next to me. Perhaps Ki Yoohyun was also thinking the same thing as me, as he smiled with a refreshing expression.

We spoke almost simultaneously.

“Shall we run?”

“Let’s run.”

No matter who came first, we started running towards the exit. I was out of breath because I usually didn’t exercise.

“Huuh, Huu….”

I think I’ll be there soon….

No, what slime is that fast? Is it a rubber ball?

A rainbow-colored slime was approaching quickly, bouncing its body. I couldn’t have imagined that such a large body could be bounced like a rubber ball.

The slime was getting closer and closer, there was no time for me to admire it. I ran as fast as I could, looking ahead.

This is the first time I have run like this since my high school physical education exam. And then….

‘It was so hard, I drank milk and vomited….’

Heugh, I almost saw the phantasmagoria. No, now is not the time to think about that.

The moment our feet barely touched the disc, the slime caught up with us.

As I shrank in anticipation of the ensuing attack, a net of light unfolded and covered the slime.