Chick 189
by Cristae189
“Uuuuaah!”
As soon as Gruu slipped through the gate, she slid down a long chute—splash!—and landed in a ball pit.
Panting, Gruu climbed out of the balls, looked around the dungeon, and cried out in wonder.
“Wowww…!”
Unlike other dungeons, the kids’ dungeon felt like Santa’s workshop, bustling elves, and all.
Boing! Boing!
The slimes leaping joyfully around the factory wore ribbons on their heads. They were adorable!
Boing-boing!
The slimes’ ribbons fluttered temptingly, as if beckoning the kindergartener to untie them.
‘A present?!’
Gruu dashed over, poked a slime with her fork—poke!
“Kwaaek!”
(X_X)
A tiny gift box appeared inside the pudding-burst slime.
‘A gift!’
Gruu eagerly opened the present box.
[Blank Scroll (A)]
A scroll that can store a skill inside it.
Oh, an A-rank Blank Scroll?
It was an item that allowed even A-rank skills to be stored and used at will.
‘Big brother Dan said these were super expensive…’
In this world, skills were everything.
To be able to store a skill in a scroll for use later was a great advantage, making blank scrolls naturally valuable.
Which meant—
‘Mighty Hero Gruu just landed a huge one!’
Ta-da—!
As Gruu waved the scroll like a national flag, brimming with pride—
Nearby, she heard a sniffle, someone stifling sobs. Then a small whisper:
“Why’d it have to turn out like this…?”
That voice?
“Heeyeon?”
The sniffling and nose-wiping ceased, and then suddenly the name was called.
“G-Gruu…?”
“Heeyeon!”
Heeyeon was crouched down, hiding beneath the factory conveyor belt.
Gruu rushed over and poked her face down next to Heeyeon’s.
Heeyeon, eyes brimming with tears, raised her head.
“G-Gruuya. Sniff! Hic! Gruuyaaaang…”
Relieved to see someone she knew, her tears burst forth like a faucet turned on full.
“What are you doing here?”
“I-I d-don’t kn-know… I was just running and ended up in here…”
It seemed Heeyeon had stumbled into the dungeon without realizing it had appeared.
“But there’s something… something scary in here… sniff!”
“Something scary?”
Suddenly, a huge presence loomed behind Gruu.
Boiiing—thump!
Something massive landed with a jiggling, pudding-like bounce, advancing right at Gruu.
Booooiiing—thump!
The hair on the back of Gruu’s neck stood on end.
‘A boss…!’
By the boss slime’s side, sixteen smaller slimes bounced into view.
Not that the little slimes were small—each as big as Gruu herself.
“T-that’s it…”
Heeyeon, hushed nearly to a whisper, continued:
“We have to hide. Come over here.”
Heeyeon scooted aside to make room.
She pulled Gruu close, mouth trembling with anxiety, then sniffled and said in a determined voice,
“L-let’s hide until the adults come… they’ll notice we’re gone soon… then my daddy will come save us…”
But Heeyeon’s face was overflowing with worry, even as she said it.
Gruu knew well the source of that anxiety.
Entry only permitted to ages 7 and under.
That was the dungeon’s rule.
No adults could be summoned to this kids’ dungeon.
‘That means it’s up to us to get out of here…’
Heeyeon was compatible with magic but had not yet awakened. In other words, she couldn’t fight back.
Boooooiiiing—THUD!
The boss slime slammed down again, shaking the very floor.
‘Right in front of us!’
The boss slime was now close enough to swallow both Gruu and Heeyeon at any moment.
Heeyeon clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.
Just then, one of the smaller slimes bounced over, rolling its eye across the floor.
Heeyeon met its gaze, and before she realized it, she let out a shriek.
“Hyaaaaah—!”
Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!
The smaller slimes hopped in excitement, signaling the boss, like they’d found prey.
Convinced it was all over, Heeyeon squeezed her eyes shut.
But at that moment, a gentle voice whispered by her ear.
“It’s okay, Heeyeon—”
Somehow, Gruu had slipped back out in front, grasping her fork with resolve.
Gruu crouched between Heeyeon and the boss slime and beamed reassuringly.
“—Gruu will protect you.”
Heeyeon’s eyes trembled.
The boss slime sucked in a deep breath—then began to swell even larger.
The already giant boss slime was now as tall as a building’s first floor.
Gruu pressed a hand to her rapidly beating heart.
‘This is what Hunters do!’
Nowadays, dungeon appearance could usually be predicted, and civilian accidents were rare.
But if an accident did occur, rescuing civilians was always a Hunter’s top priority.
Gruu was a Hunter, too—and she would face things like this again.
She wouldn’t ride the bus forever.
‘Gruu will defeat this herself! And do everything to save Heeyeon!’
Gruu slid her fork away and took out her duck-shaped snow tongs, squeezing a snow-duck firmly in her hand.
‘This kids’ dungeon is the frost bloodline’s domain!’
First, hit it with the snow duck to lower its defense!
The snow duck arced through the air toward the boss slime.
Thwack!
(X_X)
The boss slime’s eyes went cross, its defenses weakened. The little slimes beside it furrowed their brows in anger.
“Hmph!”
Gruu summoned her fork again and jabbed one of the pudding-like little slimes.
Smack!
The slime burst, and a gift box dropped out.
‘So easy.’
Gruu swung the fork in a wide arc, felling five slimes in one go.
Thud-thud-thud!
Gift boxes clattered to the ground.
The difference in power was overwhelming.
The boss slime, sensing danger, hopped frantically away in fear.
Eyes glinting with wild glee, Gruu wiped slime ooze off her hand with a chilling grin.
“Here I come!”
Gruu caught her breath, then exhaled deeply.
“Whooooo—”
Beneath Gruu, piles of jelly-like slime remains were stacked high—a testament to the fierce battle fought in the toy factory.
Standing atop the giant slime’s corpse, Gruu brandished her reward.
[Blank Scroll (S)]
‘Mighty Gruu, victorious 17 to 1!’
And her level?
She opened her status window, and saw that her level, which had stalled in the tens for ages, had shot up to 30.
Name: On Gruu
Level: LV. 30
Title: ■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ (Access denied)
Strength: 2
Endurance: 2 (+14)
Agility: 2
Defense: 2 (+88)
Magic Power: 32
The stats screen didn’t show decimals, so every basic stat had finally risen to 2 after all that growth!
All the stat points from leveling up were invested in magic power. All skill points went to ‘Knead-Knead.’
Skill grades progressed as follows:
Novice Skill [ Intermediate Skill [ Skilled Skill [ Advanced Skill [ Master Skill
The skill ‘Knead-Knead’ was now not just advanced, but had reached ‘master!’
Once you surpassed master, your skill rank could go up.
With ‘Knead-Knead’ at E-class, once it surpassed master, Gruu would be able to use D-class Knead-Knead.
And magic power had risen to 32!
‘Gruu is evolving into a true powerhouse!’
A bit more, and maybe it really would be: “Step aside, Amakusa!”
While Gruu basked in thoughts of her mighty ambitions, smiling in satisfaction—
Ding—
[Calculating contribution ranking.]
[new Dulmandeun Bear mk.1 entering global top 500.]