Chapter 22: The Man from the Martial Arts World

The hero surveyed the Arkan Basin.

The Golden Leaf investigator also headed towards the Arkan Basin.

After being appointed, the Golden Leaf investigator has authority comparable to an elder.

Moreover, she was also a special envoy of Elvenwood, so she would be treated as an honored guest in any kingdom on the continent.

If she were human. She probably wouldn't have come to such a dangerous place alone.

She would have received cooperation from the nearby Greyrim territory, and in that process, she might have been accompanied by the hero Gunter.

But Iris Selena was a fairy.

Among fairies, she was an ascetic of the great forest living alone like an isolated island.

That's why she came to the Arkan Basin alone.

If the place Zain and the Guard Captain visited was the western border of the Arkan Basin, Iris, who departed from deep within the great forest, arrived at the eastern border.

The sunset was approaching.

The sun in the great forest with its high temperature is much redder than the sun in the west.

It was as if the sun was burning the sky and clouds.

The shadows of everything on the ground were lengthening in real-time.

An elf's eyesight is no less than an eagle's.

Her eyes scanned the entire basin.

That doesn't mean she could immediately find Pelerian's dungeon.

But Iris had experience.

The light observed even from the World Tree.

And the signal detected through the crystal ball.

The approximate coordinates and direction derived from that were in her head.

She also had knowledge of where that old magician liked to build dungeons.

Iris jumped off the cliff without hesitation.

A stark contrast to the Guard Captain and Zain who carefully rappelled down.

Thud.

It was a height sufficient for a fatal fall, but only a light landing sound was heard.

Iris did a slight leg stretch and immediately started running.

Her movements were as light as a deer's.

She searched the Arkan Basin.

Even with Iris's knowledge and experience, the basin was vast.

She searched the suspected areas one by one, starting from the closest.

The process was meticulous to the point of being mechanical.

Finally, she found Pelerian's dungeon.

For the first time, her eyes showed signs of life.

Pelerian's dungeons are so numerous that it's difficult to determine their exact count.

He numbered his dungeons.

The number of the dungeon believed to be built most recently among the discovered ones is 623.

There were traps installed on the floor tiles of the passage leading to the dungeon.

Iris lightly breached those traps.

"... An early dungeon."

She thought so upon seeing the shallow traps installed in the dungeon.

A stone door appeared.

"Cockatrice?"

There was a completely decayed corpse of a Cockatrice.

The monster had made Pelerian's dungeon its dwelling.

But was that monster also hunted by someone?

There were traces of being eaten all over the rotten body.

Iris was disappointed.

It seems Pelerian is not in the dungeon.

If he had been here, he wouldn't have let such a monster settle in, and if Pelerian had disposed of the monster, not even ashes would remain.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock-

Seven knocks.

And the stone door opened.

Iris examined the interior of the dungeon.

And she discovered an important fact.

"Someone has been here..."

There were clear traces that someone had stayed.

Iris approached the front of the half-twisted safe door, as if an earthquake had occurred.

'It is an early dungeon... but this safe is on a different level.'

It's a strange dungeon.

The design style and crude traps were typical of Pelerian's early dungeons.

But this magic safe was something found in Pelerian's later dungeons.

Considering that the time gap between early dungeons and later dungeons is hundreds of years, it's strange.

A hypothesis can be formed.

The dungeon was built hundreds of years ago, but it seems Pelerian stayed here within the last hundred years or so.

A hundred years might be an incredibly long time for humans, but not for elves.

"A narrow miss... I should have come a little earlier."

Iris muttered so.

It would be an absurd statement to a snake-like species that considers living 15 years as longevity. Sёarᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Iris began to dismantle the safe.

The door was twisted, creating a gap, but it wasn't a space a person could pass through.

The width was barely enough to fit a fist.

All clues about Pelerian had to be gathered. There might be valuable items.

Dismantling that safe was an extremely difficult task.

Iris succeeded in breaking the exposed hinge after spending a full two hours.

Crash!

The broken door fell over.

Iris entered the interior of the safe.

Only then did she notice that nothing remained of the safe's contents.

"..."

Just a few books were lying around.

Clear dust marks only showed the traces of a thief.

'How on earth...'

Iris began to search the dungeon.

She discovered many things.

First, there was an interception golem that had shut down while wearing a helmet and cloak.

"..."

For a moment, she wondered if it was a dream.

She couldn't imagine why it had been disposed of in such a manner.

And a shattered aquarium.

Here, she noticed that Pelerian had created a chimera.

She even found the chimera's molted skin.

The experiment must have failed, as the chimera had escaped on its own.

"I'll have to eliminate it."

'Eliminate the chimera and recover the specimen.'

Iris set her future course of action as such.

As she was about to leave the dungeon with a regretful heart, her feet stopped.

A portrait hanging on the wall stopped Iris.

True to his narcissistic nature, that old monster Pelerian had hung his own portrait.

A wrinkled face unlike an elf. A confident smile.

Because time had passed, thick dust had accumulated on that portrait as well.

However, someone who had stayed here had scribbled on that portrait.

Probably writing made by wiping away the dust on the painting with a finger.

But that writing was something Iris couldn't recognize with her knowledge.

'What is this writing? No, is it a drawing?'

To describe what was written:

──────────────

עשרים איש

൸ഐ

──────────────

What kind of script is this supposed to be?

"... Runic letters?"

Iris was relatively lacking in magical knowledge.

Being Pelerian's dungeon, it might be some kind of magical marking.

Anyway, for some reason, it's an endearing mark.

Iris's eyes met with Pelerian in the painting.

It made her feel dirty.

She slightly unsheathed her broadsword.

Papapapapak!

Though she only swung once, consecutive sounds of tearing were heard.

Soon, Pelerian's shattered portrait fell with a clatter.

Iris turned around with a cold expression.

The fairy investigator will hunt the chimera.

==

Wheeee.

Today, the wind is a bit noisy.

It feels like a man's ambition is growing vigorously.

Suddenly, I remembered the knight who kissed my ring and felt a bit dirty. That crazy bastard, to a clear and obvious man like me.

A leaf flew and stuck to my face.

I brushed it off and looked at the sky again.

The weather is clear and bright.

The fact that I can see a clear sky means this is a good place to hunt the chimera.

That beast always appeared in open spaces like this, even though it crawls underground anyway.

The reason I met it near a cliff last time was also because of this.

At first, I didn't know why, but now I can guess the reason.

It digs tunnels.

And the large trees of the great forest usually spread their roots deep underground.

Of course, it would dig tunnels avoiding those roots.

It was evidence that I had completely grasped its habits.

That chimera is not very intelligent.

If I set traps, it shows up every time.

Or is it so confident that it thinks it can overcome them anyway?

I will finish it off today.

Actually, I tried licking the blood it shed last time and sucking on the flesh of its severed leg, but the evolution tree didn't update.

I guess the condition is only met if I gulp it down properly.

Even if I catch the chimera, surely the condition won't fail to be met, right?

For now, I'll have to try my best.

Of course, I prepared bait to lure it out.

The ground was soaked with monster blood, and on top of it, I had prepared a mud model in the shape of a wild boar.

Yes, it wasn't a real monster but a mud model.

It was a wild boar model I made with basic elemental magic that had just reached level 4.

That thing underground will swallow the wild boar model without knowing anything.

And it will be surprised by the taste of mud.

But I didn't go through all this trouble just to surprise it with taste.

It took me a full day to make that.

Thud thud-

Yes, come.

I have 'prepared'.

Thud thud thud thud thud-

It burst out, breaking the ground.

Ah, doesn't it ever get tired?

It always tries to swallow in one bite without even chewing.

This time, that gluttony worked in my favor.

It swallowed the mud doll with a crunch.

This is the chimera that remained fine even after swallowing a wild boar injected with lots of neurotoxin.

But this time was different.

"Queeeeek!"

The chimera let out a scream of pain.

Blood spurted out of its mouth like a fountain.

How did I do it, you ask?

Well, because I had packed the mud doll full of swords, arrows, and spears.

I made it like a chestnut bur with the blades I recovered from the soldiers and covered it with mud.

Of course, I also applied plenty of neurotoxin.

"Queek!"

It kept vomiting blood from its mouth and started to go berserk.

Still, there's no sign of it dying instantly.

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[Status]

[Enraged], [Berserker], [Poisoned], [Killing Intent], [Post-Molting], [Vulnerable]

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That thing evolved its 'Carapace' skill into 'Iron Armor' skill a few days ago.

But after molting, that hard carapace becomes soft, which is a weakness.

Two full days have passed since the last incident.

Its carapace still doesn't seem to have hardened.

"Saaaack!"

I shouted a battle cry and charged forward.

It still hasn't come to its senses.

Now was the opportunity.

It's time to test the skill I honed by dedicating another full day.

I approach quickly using acceleration.

And in my tail was none other than a short sword.

The Elven Broadsword. That peculiarly light sword.

Now I can even run while holding it.

Given my body structure, it's naturally impossible to swing it properly.

But I could get help from skills.

──────────────

[Skill]

[Billy's Horn lv4: Slash lv1]

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It's a skill I borrowed from the chimera last time.

A higher-level skill than Cutting.

And after several experiments, I found out.

When holding a proper blade, the effect of the Slash skill is doubled.

I succeeded in crawling between its legs.

「Activating Slash lv1.」

The force swinging the sword was probably weaker than a child's.

However, the sword imbued with the power of the skill fulfilled its purpose.

Swish-

The sword precisely cuts through the joint of the leg.

Psshhhh-

Blood spurted out like a fountain from the cut joint.

I pass by avoiding it.

Once more, Taichi sword technique!

Thwack!

This time I couldn't cut the joint precisely.

But nevertheless, one leg was cut off from the middle.

It was also shocked and tried to catch me.

It frantically moved its remaining legs as if doing a tap dance.

It might look funny from the side, but not to me who was directly involved.

Bang, bang, if I get stepped on even once by those legs stomping the ground, I'd die right away.

But a swordsman's senses become more acute in dangerous situations.

My mind finally entered the stage of mental focus.

Ugh!

I really almost died.

Just one more, just one more time.

「Activating Slash lv1.」

This skill consumes quite a lot of mana.

But my sword finally cut off another leg.

It tilted diagonally.

Swish- Kuuung!

With three out of eight legs cut off, it had no choice but to collapse.

"Queeek!"

Seems its fighting spirit is still alive.

Come at me.

I, a novice swordsman from the martial arts world, will face you.

Ting!

Ah.

The broadsword flew away after being hit by its leg. It's because the gripping strength of my tail is weak.

Well, my specialty isn't swords anyway.

Actually, I never imagined I could cut off three legs.

Now the real cooking begins.