Retire 409

409 Layer Upon Layer of Mountains (2)

“Get a hold of yourself!”

I understood how Robinson felt. My own mind was reeling.

I’d suspected there might be monsters in the river at the bottom of the gorge, but that didn’t mean I actually wanted there to be one.

A dungeon with three kinds of monsters?

Sure. It’s not unheard of. Rare, but there are dungeons with multiple monster species. But as Hope once said, mindless beasts are just prey.

If there are multiple types of monsters, there will be predators and prey. Including monsters, it becomes a kind of ecosystem.

But just now? What about the monster that just leapt out of the water?

It lives in the water.

It’s enormous.

It can leap up here in a single bound.

Judging by its sharp teeth and the way it swallowed a gorilla whole, it’s carnivorous.

Just the first two traits alone would rate it as A-rank. But with all the rest…

Slap!

I looked at Robinson. Both cheeks were bright red. She slapped herself a few more times.

Her trembling eyes returned to normal. She bit her lip hard, then looked up at me.

“I’m okay now!”

“…Good job.”

Robinson grinned.

She was still tense, but this was better than I’d hoped for. If she’d panicked here, there’d be no hope.

I checked the river. The giant eel was lingering near the surface; I could see its dark shadow.

I hadn’t seen it earlier. Judging by the eel’s size, the river was much deeper than it looked. It would be better to climb up the cliff than go down. That’s not an option.

Should I have avoided jumping down the cliff in the first place?

I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head. There was no terrain nearby where we could have avoided the flock of pterosaurs. That’s why Han Taekyung got carried off. When the trees were shorter, there were no pterosaurs, but that was too far back.

Just then—

“M-Monsieur Woo!”

Robinson grabbed my arm.

I frowned. Gorillas were falling from the sky. One. Two. Three. The pterosaurs began screeching.

Splash!

The eel leapt up again.

There was no need to look down to confirm it.

It shot up to nearly our height in a single bound. With its sharp teeth, it snatched the gorilla tossed by the pterosaurs. But those massive eyes—each as big as a human torso—shifted and fixed on Robinson and me.

They weren’t the kind of fish eyes you’d expect, but more like jewels set in its head. It was hard to tell exactly what it was looking at, but a chill ran down my spine. It was watching us. Watching. Watching.

A monster I’d never seen before. Weaknesses? How tough were those jewel-like eyes? Usually, the eyes are a weak point, but with that look, I couldn’t be sure. Maybe it’d be better to target the flesh around the eyes, or use a spear to gouge them, or throw a disposable sword at its gills for more damage…

Squeeze.

I looked at Eva Robinson.

She still hadn’t let go of my arm, gripping so tightly her fingertips were white, trembling all over.

……

If I were alone—no. Even alone, I’d have to choose the safest option.

With someone else? Same thing. What could I do with this quaking duckling in tow? We’d have to play it as safe as possible.

That eel had no business appearing in a C-rank dungeon. Now I had even less idea what the so-called investigators had actually investigated.

Once I get out, I’ll make sure the rest of their lives are hell.

I checked the sky. The pterosaurs that had brought the gorillas were now eerily silent, no longer shrieking.

The answer came before I could even voice my suspicion.

Boom.

“Ah!”

Robinson let out a small scream. I caught her as she nearly toppled over.

Boom.

The ground shook again.

Ground? No, that’s not right. Where were we? A crevice in the cliff. It wasn’t the ground shaking, but the entire cliff.

Thud. Boom. Thud. Thud.

Pebbles rained down from the ceiling. The interlocked stones slid with an ominous grinding sound, as if about to collapse.

The shock could be felt not just as vibration underfoot, but as a deep rumble. I crouched lower and looked down.

The tremors grew stronger. I had a suspicion what the cause was, but I didn’t want to believe it. If I was right…

“H-huh. W-what is that?!”

Robinson, crouched low like me and crawling to the edge of the crevice, peered down and recoiled in horror.

Thank goodness. She was honestly scared, but her recovery was quick. If she could just get the right experience, she’d become a skilled hunter, just as I’d hoped.

Yes. If she could just get the right experience.

This counts as experience, I suppose… but I wouldn’t want my students at school to gain experience like this. After graduation, it can’t be helped, but until then, it’s better if I check things myself before they go in.

I’d never heard of Eva Robinson before, and given that Lambert was working as Michel’s bodyguard rather than a hunter at this time… this duckling probably never had a chance to gain normal experience. I wasn’t around then, so she never would have entered an Okinawan dungeon. Still, to have a reliable hunter by your side in a dungeon like this… If anyone said that in front of me, I’d have sneered and asked if they were really that confident in their skills.

“Listen carefully, Robinson.”

“Y-yes!”

“From now on, you do exactly as I say, no questions. Can you do that?”

Robinson looked at me. Her face was pale, shoulders trembling.

But her gaze didn’t waver.

“Yes.”

“We can get out safely.”

“Yes!”

Thud! Boom!

Even as we spoke, the shocks continued.

I carefully surveyed the sky and the cliff below. If we stayed here, we might get unlucky and be buried alive. That’s exactly what that… eel wanted, and what the pterosaurs wanted by feeding it gorillas.

The eel, shimmering like the night sky, was ramming its massive body against the cliff. Its translucent scales didn’t look particularly tough, but despite all that battering, it wasn’t injured at all.

Boom!!

Damn monster bastards.

Every time the eel moved, its scales and eyes glittered. The pterosaurs began flying again. Their raspy cries sounded almost like laughter.

I clamped my mouth shut before a sigh could escape.

Damn it. Next time Kim Chaemin offers free labor, I’m not going to refuse.

---

A dungeon is a world beyond human understanding.

We’ve tried to systematize it to make it easier to grasp, but it’s never a perfect fit. Dungeon rank is measured by the toll, but sometimes high-ranked dungeons have no monsters, and sometimes low-ranked dungeons contain monsters that massacre hunters.

That’s why you need an investigation team. The advance party. Not to clear the dungeon, but to identify what monsters live inside.

The toll for this Okinawan dungeon was C-rank. The gorilla-type monsters, likely the prey in this ecosystem, were just right for a C-rank dungeon.

But pterosaurs?

That’s at least B-rank.

Aside from the toll, what determines dungeon rank is the monsters. The harder a monster is to defeat, the higher the rank. Among those, flying monsters and giant monsters are the worst.

But look—this dungeon has both. That alone makes it S-rank, no question.

If I were in charge of this dungeon, it would be top priority for a raid. The toll is low, but it’s S-rank? That’s just a recipe for hunter casualties. If it were just me, Han Taekyung, and Kim Chaemin, I’d have found the core and destroyed it before leaving, no matter what.

But even I’m not crazy enough to try that with a duckling in tow.

“…This is why hunters always carry a variety of weapons and tools.”

“For emergencies?”

“It’s best if you never need them, but look at this. Did I expect this dungeon to be like this?”

“True…”

Despite the shaking, Robinson focused on tying a rope to a stake.

These were the things I’d used back in the mud dungeon. After I’d gone in with Hong Seokyoung and brought back a ton of gear to find the exit on the other side, I’d forgotten to sort it all out. Never thought I’d use it here. Let’s call it foresight.

The mud dungeon was much wider, but it was still a gorge. So I planned to use a similar method to make a foothold.

“Be careful not to fall.”

“Will it be okay if we climb up…?”

“Better than going down.”

Robinson hunched her shoulders.

“If it were just ground, maybe, but with water down there…”

“And just because we only see one, who knows how many more there are.”

Robinson probably realized the true rank of this dungeon by now.

“…You’re going to make a foothold and climb up?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that dangerous? That fish jumped all the way up here.”

“If we stay here, this place will collapse. Even if it doesn’t, a monster that can jump this high could do anything.”

And there’s another crucial factor in dungeon difficulty.

Monster intelligence.

The prey—the gorillas—were dumb. But the pterosaurs and the eel? The pterosaurs gave the eel food, or a bribe, and the eel responded. I didn’t know how they communicated, but they managed it somehow.

If even one fairy-like creature appears in a dungeon, it’s automatically S-rank, because of their intelligence. I hadn’t seen any humanoid monsters here, but who knows what’s in the rest of the dungeon.

No. Think about that after we get out. No matter how powerful a monster, it can’t leave the gate.

I got to my feet. There wasn’t much time. We had to move quickly.

“Judging by how the pterosaurs don’t come below a certain height, the eel probably can’t jump any higher than this.”

“…So above that, the pterosaurs will attack?”

“Most likely.”

“Ugh…”

“I’ll set up the rope, so if you fall, grab it and climb back up immediately. It’s magically reinforced, so it can handle a fair amount of shock.”

She hesitated, but remembering our promise, Robinson didn’t shake her head.

“I’ll handle the attacks. Just focus on climbing the cliff. As soon as I set the rope, follow me up.”

“…What if the eel cuts the rope?”

“That’s why speed is important. The first few will be to gauge the eel’s reaction—”

“Kiiiiiiiiiik!!!!!”

I stopped talking. The pterosaurs were in an uproar.

I didn’t know why. The pterosaurs perched along the cliff edge began flapping their wings in agitation.

“W-what’s going on?”

“……”

Then, just like the gorillas before, a pterosaur with torn wings plummeted. As it passed the crevice where we were hiding, the eel stopped ramming the cliff and leapt up to snatch the pterosaur.

What was that?

The answer soon shouted up from the bottom of the gorge.

“Are you alive, sunbae!!!!”

Han Taekyung, who’d been carried off by a dinosaur, had returned.

That duckling’s foolish idea to wait for Han Taekyung had turned out to be the right answer. It was infuriating.