Chapter 154: Ensnared Again

Chapter 154: Ensnared Again

Man, how great is it to not have to eat leftovers for once.

Really? I dont mind at all.

Mei-chan had prepared breakfast as if it was the obvious thing to do, and unlike the gratuitous feast of Roylopse yesterday, it was a breakfast oriented meal that was easy on the stomach.

By the way, whered you get these dumplings for the soup?

For ingredients she was only supposed to have meat, potatoes and some vegetables. Where exactly did she get dumplings from?

Ah those, I made them using bananatato starch. They taste vaguely different from actual potatoes, but I dont think it turned out bad do you, not like the taste?

Perish the thought.

That reminds me, Japanese cooking starch is made with flower bulbs from a plant called the dogtooth violet, but most of the store bought stuff is actually potato based. I sort of remember learning this in home economics class in grade school, maybe, I think.

Anyway, this meant that as long as we had potatoes, we could process them into starch. Now this Id have never even hit upon. And this processing was made possible only because she had Witchs Cauldron at her disposal.

Its delicious! No really, I cant believe you made dumplings!

One of the awesome things about Mei-chan, she had the culinary know how to put an array of variation with just a few ingredients and in addition, had the skill and experience to put that knowledge to use. Ive seen variety shows on TV where a professional cook makes masterworks of food with very limited ingredients, much to the elation of the in-studio audience. Just goes to show, pros are pros even when you take away the fancy stuff.

And this, I wanted to make herb tea, what do you think?

Hmm, the taste is a bit tangy, but it totally works as tea.

I see, yeah, the flavor is a bit strong huh. Im going to have to rework this one.

Hey, its great enough to have something other than water for once, you did great!

Along with this after-meal tea, this was probably the most satisfying breakfast Ive had in the dungeon.

Now that thats done, lets head out.Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com

Okay!

GUGAGA!

The two of them replied energetically to my proposition, and we set out to continue exploring our surrounding areas. We didnt have any intention of heading for the next Fairy Square, so all our Roylopse meat, the collection of Witchs Cauldrons that was Mei-chans Kitchen and the bath was left as is.

I wanted to make a porter Rem, and a few more extras, so wed be staying in that Square for another 2 to 3 days at least.

So anyway, today we headed the opposite direction from yesterdays factory.

This side had rows and rows of what appeared to be civilian housing. There werent any large buildings like the factory that stuck out like a sore thumb. Most of these were box shaped 3 story apartment building types.

Ok, lets check out that big one there.

The only one that stood out to me was this tall building that looked like a 10 story apartment complex. Though, it could turn out to be something else once we get close. Hoping for some treasure boxes.

5 minutes after we started walking.

Ah, look Kotarou-kun, theres Jajas.

Wed come across a small herd. There were smaller once with them, children I guess.

This kind of, nature overtaking a ruined town and animals roaming about really perfected the whole post-apocalyptic image. Like, there were zombies and everything.

We still have a lot of Roylopse, so lets let those ones go.

Oh, but I think itd be better to have some variety, you know?

She had a point. Us kids who were born in an era of consumption are quick to get bored of the same old food. We wanted variation in our meat too.

Alright, but we cant carry them now. We can get one if we see a herd on the return trip.

Ugh, alright, makes sense.

We simply couldnt afford to hunt down all the prey that came our way if we wanted to actually do some exploring. That Tendou-kun with his Item Inventory storage skill. Such a cheat.

Mei-chan gave a last regretful glance at the Jajas, and we went on our way.

Kyoaaaahhhhhh!!

A sudden piercing cry. Id heard one of these just yesterday.

High Zombies!

And there they were. A pack of High Zombies with their red, bulging outer muscles started sprinting out of the alleys between the civilian buildings. I dont know if they sensed us by sound, smell or mana, but these undead were running right at us with perfect athletic form.

Great, I can test my staff on them

Aaahhhh!

Looking upwards, I could see it, the monster with a humanoid upper body and spiders torso and legs, an Arachne. The creature was stuck to the wall outside the highest floor of the building.

So apparently they appeared in this zone too. I guess the tall buildings made better dwellings than even forest dome trees.

Anyway, Rems arrow had luckily, no, I guess I should call it a trained skill already, so Rem had skillfully shot into the Arachne that was now trying to escape. The arrow hit it in its human halfs stomach.

Kiaaaahhh!

It screamed, reeled, and then, fell but quickly got back to its senses and used its 6 spidery legs to hold itself to the walls once again.

Dont, touch, Kotarou-kun Aaaahh!!

And before Rem could ready a second shot, Mei-chan roared, grabbed her trusty halberd and launched it skywards.

The dark halberd accelerated parallel to the wall at a tremendous speed, its large axe blade crushing into the dumbfounded Arachne.

Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!

The creature was detached from its hold. It descended, screaming in a feminine voice. And falling the whole 30 meters and Crash!.

Its body made a painful sound as the Arachne splattered hard into the ground.

A moment later, the halberd that Mei-chan had sent up to hunt down the creature was similarly descending, while spinning. Crap, its gonna-!? But it looks like only I was concerned of the danger as Mei-chan casually raised up a hand and, without even looking, snatched her weapon from the air. What the actual fuck.

Kotarou-kun, are you alright!? Are you hurt?

Her berserkers wrathful glare that shed directed at the Arachne was all but gone as it was replaced with one of worry, like that of a mother towards her child, as she came up to me.

Im fine. Thanks for the super quick save there, Mei-chan.

I still cant believe she rescued me from an Arachnes surprise trap. That was some outrageous reaction speed.

Like, I even began thinking she could handle it if I was shot with a sniper rifle.

Really? Youre sure youre not hurt anywhere?

Nope, Im fine, just got tied up a bit. Actually, can you help me out of this?

Oops, on it!

Thats right, I was still wrapped up nice and tight by spiderweb. We can talk and what not after I get this off of me.

Thanks for that. Yeah, if you werent here, Id be spider food already.

No, Im sorry, I didnt think something would attack from so high up I almost didnt make it, you know?

Yeah, I guess we needed better countermeasures for surprise attacks like that one.

But man, shes a lifesaver. If Id gotten forcefully kicked from the party like that again, I dont think Id have the willpower to continue anymore.

Well, anyway, this monsters just what I needed actually.

GUGAGA.

Rem agreed. The two of us already knew how useful Arachnes are.

One corpse doll, coming right up!

Once I finished up making my new Arachne Mark II, we continued where we left off before the surprise attack. We searched all over the 10 story building but no luck. We found 2 treasure boxes, empty. Theyd probably been emptied by other students or some stupid Goves.

But for me personally, grabbing the Arachne made the trip worth it.

Nice, thisll work perfect for transport!

I was currently looking at the 2 empty treasure boxes we found, now securely tied on to Arachne Mk. IIs back for transport.

I have this little theory that these mana powered boxes have the ability to store and preserve items inside for a long time. They have the ability to open and close via mana, so it wasnt a big leap to assume some high tech storage functionality too.

Basically, Im saying that we didnt need to keep only treasure inside, but also anything else we wanted. Food definitely, and there was also Ointment A and all my other meds. All my shamanic pastes didnt exactly have a long shelf life, so I could preserve their quality by storing them in these boxes.

Oh, using treasure boxes as mini fridges, thats pretty smart, Kotarou-kun.

Haha, well I was looking for a new box anyway, and these definitely fit the bill.

Feeling all warm and fuzzy with Mei-chan slathering on the praise, we began heading back to our home Square.

Ah, Jajas! I see Jajas!

Great timing, we have Arachne to carry it too, so go for it.

I watched warmly as Mei-chan went Yaay~ and dashed off with her halberd, eager to bring back one of those docile herbivores as her prize.

I had Arachne use its webbing to tie up the Jaja and carry it back to the Fairy Square.

Just a little more now. Well be finally setting out from here once were well and fully prepared.