Chick 334
by Cristae334
It all happened in a single instant.
Dozens of railguns fired simultaneously in a straight volley.
Pshoooo—
Steam rose from various places.
Standing among the fallen monsters was a child, gripping a fork tightly in her hand.
Chick Drones hovered around her, as if protecting her.
‘What on earth…’
Theodora swallowed hard.
How could a kindergartener possibly take down so many monsters at once?
Surely…
“So, you’re the hunter known as Fakeclaw.”
Now the reason for Fakeclaw’s hidden identity was clear.
Biting her lip, Theodora prepared to attack.
Suddenly, the dungeon’s subspace warped, and as a hole opened in midair, two figures abruptly entered the dungeon.
They headed straight for Gru.
“Gru!”
First, a white-haired child dove into Gru’s arms.
“Master.”
The other, with black hair and hands in his pockets, nonchalantly looked over Gru.
It was Mephisto and Bailach.
“I told you to stay at the shop.”
“Sorry. We were worried…”
Mephisto replied, face buried in Gru’s shoulder, subdued.
Thanks to that SSS-grade Filial Supplement made before, Mephisto could now freely return to his original form.
Bailach, not pleased with Mephisto’s clinginess, pried them apart with both hands.
“Off. Off.”
Mephisto hugged Gru more tightly, glaring coldly at Bailach, who in turn narrowed his eyes to meet the challenge.
Before they could start fighting again, Gru pushed Mephisto away.
Meanwhile, Theodora, seeing the children’s relaxed behavior, bristled with rage.
‘How dare you act so complacently before someone who’s become SSS-rank!’
In a flash, Theodora launched an assault.
Her fist struck at them, as sharp as a spear, with every intention of pulping the children.
But—
Mephisto calmly extended his small hand, effortlessly blocking Theodora’s attack.
“…How?”
Narrowing his eyes, the boy spoke.
“You’re not a Familiar.”
Gru tightened her grip on her fork at those words.
Not being a Familiar meant that even if the frozen field was opened, she couldn’t wield the Monarch’s power.
Theodora Weiss, unlike other Familiars, would not submit.
“I’ll handle this. Mefi, back away.”
Gru moved a step forward, but Mephi smiled brightly.
“No, it’s all right.”
And then, he balled his fist.
At the same time—
Krrrrack—
A massive dungeon had suddenly appeared at Justicea International School.
Because of it, all the Hunters gathered in a rush.
Inside the hastily erected field tent in front of the great dungeon,
the Strategy Team Ones from all the major guilds—the highest-ranked raiders—were assembled.
After a brief rundown of the dungeon’s facts, the Association President cleared her throat.
A dungeon of this scale, appearing without warning, was unprecedented.
No one knew what monsters might be inside, nor the nature of the zone; so the first priority was to organize an advance party and send them in to assess the situation.
Then, with information secured, they would select the strike team.
But in situations like this, the advance team faced far more risk than the assault squad.
This was not just any dungeon—it was a great dungeon.
To leap blindly into an unknown space, without a shred of information, was terrifying.
“What’s with this great dungeon all of a sudden?”
“Could it be another mutation?”
The Hunters murmured amongst themselves.
Even though they were top-class Hunters, their voices betrayed clear anxiety and unease.
As the Hunters quietly waited, the Association President spoke, and all focus was on her.
“For this advance team…”
Countless eyes silently wished not to be chosen.
“Well, first—”
Just then—
Before she had finished, Joorim, who had been checking her watch, spoke up.
“I’ll go alone and check things out.”
Without waiting for any answer, Joorim headed straight out of the tent.
“…?”
The Association President was left gaping in astonishment.
But from the other Hunters, sighs of relief erupted.
Now, some even made a show of saying, “I could have gone myself,” as though they hadn’t just been relieved.
Behind Joorim, Gidan and Sergey exchanged small whispers.
“Hey, should we follow?”
“Don’t get in the way. Let’s be wallflowers for once.”
“Wallflowers, really.”
Meanwhile, Joorim stood before the great dungeon’s gate.
Of all places, the gate had opened at Justicea International School.
Normally, she wouldn’t be the first to act, but this time was different.
If this was a mutation dungeon, there was no telling when it might become a Red Gate.
She wanted to settle things as fast as possible.
For the children at Justicea—
No, in truth, for Gru.
By now, the kids would be evacuating inside the building.
She would go to Gru the moment this was over, she decided, stepping into the gate.
But the moment she entered the dungeon, she realized how deeply mistaken she had been.
Inside was a laboratory reeking of chemicals.
In the center sat three children, huddled together.
Between them was a giant ostrich egg.
Joorim checked the egg’s information and frowned.
[Modified Theodora Weiss (SSS)]
SSS.
It was clearly the dungeon boss.
But the platinum-blond girl, poking at the SSS-class egg with a fork, spoke nonchalantly.
“What should we do?”
“Eat it!” Mephisto shouted.
“This time it’s me! It’s not fair if Mephisto gets everything every time!” Bailach grumbled off to the side.
“Hmm.”
Gru stroked her chin, then nodded.
“Okay. I’ll fry the egg and split it between you.”
Gru pulled a pink frying pan from her inventory.
“Yay! I want some!” Mephisto said, excited.
“This time, I’m eating all of it!” Bailach huffed, dissatisfied.
Watching the three children crouched over, Joorim felt dizzy.
Was this really her child—the one suggesting eating a dungeon boss egg in a place where even veteran Hunters were afraid to tread?
She knew Gru could transform monsters, but seeing it in person was far more overwhelming than secondhand accounts ever were.
And to see the kids arguing over who’d get to eat it, it was enough to break any parent’s composure.
“…”
Finally, she strode over and snatched up the egg from the barbaric little beasts.
“Hey!”
“On Joorim?”
“Dad!”
Mephisto, Bailach, and Gru all cried out at once when they spotted her.
The moment they saw the egg in Joorim’s hands, all three scrambled to cling to him.
“I want it!”
“Hand it over, On Joorim! That’s my nutrition!”
“Dad! Don’t hold it like that!”
Holding the egg above his head, pale as a ghost with the three children dangling from him, On Joorim said sternly:
“Hmpf. You can’t just eat anything you want.”
“I want to!”
“Why am I always the only one who can’t?”
“No, Dad! We’re going to fry it before we eat it!”
Was the real SSS-rank disaster not the boss monster in his hands, but the three brats clinging to him?
He needed to settle this before other Hunters walked in and saw this scene.
He immediately reduced the egg in his hand to dust.
Despair flashed across the children’s faces in an instant.
“On Groo.”
“Yes…”
“Don’t just feed animals anything.”
“Whimper…”
Was this really the right way to educate them?
Joorim was once again struck by how difficult it was to raise an extraordinary child.
“Who are you calling an animal?!”
“I’m a bird, so I can eat it!”
Bailach, who’d just insisted he wasn’t an animal, now glared with contempt at Mephisto, who proudly declared himself a bird.
Mephisto, with a face that said “why, what, what?” met the gaze with shameless composure.
Meanwhile, Joorim quickly crushed the remaining core in his hand, then used an item to hide the children from view.
If someone happened to see this scene, he wouldn’t even know where to start explaining.