Chapter 46. Chicken
I gave Azeras instructions to wait for now.
It wasn’t because Azeras was weaker than those guys.
Azeras was SS-rank.
The orangutan and chicken were S-rank.
Even if I let my guard down, the gap was insurmountable.
There was only one reason I gave such an instruction.
I didn’t want Azeras to waste any energy.
Wouldn’t it be nice to handle everything comfortably?
There was no reason to rush in and fight two energetic monsters when I could just deal with one exhausted one later.
So, I let them beat each other up.
Once one was defeated, I would ambush the remaining one.
Oh, by the way.
None of the monsters in the area where Azeras was, including Azeras herself, were nerfed.
I hadn’t entrusted my arm to Azeras.
─“I will wait… a little longer.”
Azeras sat down in midair.
She then lifted her head to watch the monsters fight.
─［Uwo! Uwooo!!!］
The orangutan spewed blood from its thin tail.
─［Kko-kki! Kkochiyoooot!］
【Pururu】─?
The chicken flapped its wings, stirring up a fierce wind.
The orangutan monster was called a “Blood Orangutan.”
After naming the chicken “Chicken,” I leisurely watched their battle while working on my monster encyclopedia.
─［Uwoo!］
The Blood Orangutan swung its arm.
The crimson blood it summoned slashed through the air.
─［Kkochiyoooot!］
【Pururu】─What’s with this chicken? It keeps saying “kkoch-kkoch.”
【Yumi】─It’s not “kkoch”; it’s “kkochi.”
The chicken let out a sharp scream and twisted its body.
With a single flap of its wings, it created razor-sharp winds.
*Pahng!*
The blood wave and wind blade collided.
The gusts died down in an instant, and the crimson waves scattered like flower petals.
Then, the Blood Orangutan stretched out both arms and assumed a peculiar stance.
The orangutan mumbled something quietly.
At that moment, the entire space around the Blood Orangutan turned crimson.
A blood-covered domain formed.
【Pururu】─Huh?
【Pururu】─”Ryōiki Tenkai”…!
【Yumi】─What’s that?
【Pururu】─Don’t you know about domain expansion? You’ve lived a wasted life.
【Mysticism】─🤔
The space around the Blood Orangutan was entirely dominated.
The orangutan swam freely through the blood-soaked space, swinging its arms to control the blood around it and shooting it toward the chicken.
Not to be outdone, the chicken spun rapidly in midair, transforming into a drill-like figure.
The blood aimed at the chicken was deflected by its rotation.
【Rizenova】─They’re evenly matched.
【Yumi】─This battle is on a completely different scale. They seem stronger than any monster we’ve seen so far.
【Pururu】─Probably because they’re not nerfed.
【Mysticism】─😶
The battle continued relentlessly.
But neither side could gain the upper hand.
Even within the same rank, there should have been differences in strength, yet these two were perfectly matched.
They seemed to be completely equal.
The fight had already gone on for ten minutes.
─“Doesn’t seem like it’ll end soon…”
Azeras yawned as she lay down in midair.
─“Boring…”
Another ten minutes passed.
Still, the battle between the Blood Orangutan and Chicken continued.
“I didn’t think it’d take this long.”
─“At this rate… they’ll fight forever…”
Azeras stretched and stood up.
She looked at Iris and spoke.
─“I will just finish them off.”
It wasn’t a declaration.
Judging by how she wasn’t moving immediately, she was waiting for my permission.
“…Yeah. Go ahead, jump in and finish them both.”
Azeras, who had been waiting for orders, smiled and nodded.
Then, she kicked off into the air,
*Pwoong!*
with a sharp sonic boom as she shot into the sky.
─［Uwo?］
─［Kko-kki?］
Azeras had intervened between the two.
The monsters, startled, hesitated as they looked at her.
But only for a moment.
Soon, they both roared and launched a simultaneous attack on Azeras.
Azeras lightly waved her arm.
*Swish, swish.*
With a casual motion, her arm nullified the orangutan’s blood and the chicken’s windstorm.
【Pururu】─What was that? How’d she do it?
【Rizenova】─It’s the pinnacle of martial arts. She waved her arm and erased everything around her.
【Yumi】─Huh? Really? Is that even possible?
【Rizenova】─Honestly, I’m not sure. I was just making it up.
【Yumi】─?
【Pururu】─Wanna die?
【Mysticism】─😠
Azeras turned her head to the left and locked eyes with the Blood Orangutan.
In that instant,
Azeras disappeared from sight.
【Pururu】─Where’d that chick go?
【Yumi】─She suddenly vanished.
It wasn’t long before Azeras reappeared in the same spot.
This time, holding the Blood Orangutan’s head.
【Pururu】─Huh? Huh???
【Yumi】─Wait, what?
I checked the spot where the orangutan had been flying.
The body of the headless Blood Orangutan was plummeting toward the ground.
─“One down.”
Azeras tossed the orangutan’s head like it was trash.
Then she disappeared again.
She reappeared in less than a second, holding the chicken’s head this time.
─“Two down. Done.”
Once Azeras got involved, the battle was over in less than 20 seconds.
I should have just done this from the start.
Well, at least I had time to enjoy the show.
■Blood Orangutan
─Real danger level: S-rank.
─Ability: Blood manipulation.
***
Meal time.
The exploration team returned to the hideout one by one.
［Mapping is hard. Kiriik.］
［Bweep, bweep.］
Team 1.
The Psycho Clown and Medical Mushroom came back empty-handed.
［Siii, siii!］
［Today’s meal is sweet and sour apples!］
Team 2.
The Dog Spider and Hedgehog Summoner had captured a Poison Apple.
They danced merrily.
【Pururu】─Our little one learned some weird dance moves from that hedgehog girl. 😭
【Yumi】─But she’s cute, right?
【Pururu】─Yeah, she’s my favorite monster. I’ll love her even if she evolves and changes.
【Mysticism】─🤭
A bit later,
Team 3 returned.
［We’ve returned, Explorer!］
［Pii!］
The Centaurides and Jellyfish had captured the Pig King.
The Centaurides smiled as she looked around at the other teams.
［Hehe. What we caught is the biggest.］
Her smile didn’t last long.
Behind her, Team 4—Azeras—was dragging in the corpses of the Blood Orangutan and Chicken.
When she saw them, the Centaurides’ jaw dropped.
［N-no way! Two of them…!］
The Centaurides gritted her teeth.
She was frustrated.
Frowning, she approached Azeras and lowered her voice in warning.
［Azeras. I know you’re superior to me.］
“…?”
［But I formed a connection with the Explorer first. So, that means I’m the senior. Therefore, I’ll be the one to mate with him first. Keep that in mind.］
“……”
Whoosh.
Azeras turned her head away, ignoring her.
Good job.
Dealing with people like her was just a headache.
Azeras dragged the captured monsters over to me and asked,
“What will we eat first…?”
“Obviously, we’ll eat the chicken first. By the way, I didn’t get an answer earlier—do you like chicken?”
【Pururu】─I like it!
At my question, Azeras nodded slightly.
“I like it.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“But, this one.”
Azeras pointed at the chicken.
Her expression was full of regret.
“It’s small. A shame. The original size… was much bigger.”
“Have you seen one at its original size?”
“I saw one before coming to the labyrinth… It was hundreds of times bigger. Probably.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do. Monsters that are originally large get nerfed in size in the labyrinth. But was the chicken you saw outside the labyrinth just as strong as this one?”
Azeras nodded.
“It was about the same. And back then, I was about as strong as it was.”
So, before coming to the labyrinth, Azeras must have been around S-rank.
Anyway.
Since we had chicken, it was time to start cooking.
【Pururu】─Geon, how’re you gonna cook it?
【Yumi】─Maybe he’ll grill it?
【Pururu】─Fried chicken tastes best. And you can’t mess up fried food. Even fried shoes would taste good.
【Mysticism】─Fried chicken is the best!
【Pururu】─Oh? This girl spoke.
【Yumi】─Oh! She did!
【Rizenova】─Ah, so you weren’t someone who couldn’t write after all.
“Oh, this is the second time Mysti’s typed in chat, right?”
【Mysticism】─🤐
【Pururu】─Look at her clamming up again.
【Yumi】─Mysti! Type in chat again! It’s amazing!
Mysti went silent once more.
“Well, if even Mysti, who usually only uses emoticons, went out of her way to ask for fried chicken, I guess we have no choice but to fry it.”
I was planning to fry it anyway.
***
While the monsters were deboning the chicken,
I received support from my assistants.
【Rizenova】─I just asked someone I know to make something special for this.
Rise sent a large, wide cauldron.
【Yumi】─These are groceries I just bought at the store. I’ll send them in separate deliveries because of the handling fee limits.
Yumi sent cooking oil, eggs, and milk.
【Mysticism】─😃
Mysti sent flour.
【Pururu】─ㅇㅅㅇ
Pururu sent disposable gloves.
“…The gloves are useless, though.”
【Pururu】─?? If you didn’t need them, you should’ve said so earlier. I wasted the handling fee. 😡
She was getting mad even though she sent them on her own.
I placed the massive cauldron over the broad surface of the Magma Slime.
［Sss, sss~］
【Pururu】─I can’t tell if it’s a cooking tool or a monster anymore.
【Rizenova】─It’s versatile, that’s all.
Next, I poured all the cooking oil into the cauldron.
In a basin, I mixed the flour, eggs, and milk to make the batter.
After draining the blood from the deboned chicken, I dipped the pieces into the batter.
Finally,
I tossed all the chicken into the bubbling cauldron of hot oil.
【Pururu】─This seems a bit sloppy.
【Yumi】─It can’t be helped. Geon’s not a professional cook, so he’s doing well enough.
【Pururu】─Well, fried food is good even when it’s made haphazardly.
I didn’t just sit idly by as the chicken fried.
Using a bone from the orangutan’s wings as chopsticks, I flipped the chicken to ensure it fried evenly.
I also worked on the encyclopedia in between.
After some time,
I pulled out a piece of perfectly golden-brown chicken.
“Azeras, try this first.”
“Me… first…?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I didn’t make this because I wanted to eat it. I made it because I wanted you, the newbie, to have something tasty. So you should be the first to try it.”
“…Thank you.”
Azeras’ eyes teared up slightly.
She seemed a little touched.
【Pururu】─Smooth talker. Just using her as a taste tester.
Azeras took the chicken in her bare hands.
【Pururu】─She just grabs it with her hands. Isn’t it hot?
【Yumi】─She’s not as fragile as we are.
【Pururu】─Strong body. Wow.
Azeras stared at the chicken in her hands.
She cautiously brought the chicken to her mouth and took a bite.
*Nom.*
She chewed the chicken.
Munch, munch.
She savored the flavor, filling her mouth.
Then, after swallowing, she slowly lifted her head and looked at me.
“It’s… delicious.”
“Is it? That’s a relief.”
The meat’s quality must have been good.
It didn’t seem to have any gamey smell.
Well, Pig King’s meat didn’t smell either.
【Pururu】─Good (Now I can eat in peace).
【Yumi】─No, he means it’s good because it suits Azeras’ taste.
【Pururu】─Haha, really?
【Mysticism】─🤭
【Rizenova】─Looks tasty.
Azeras took another bite of the chicken.
For the first time, a small smile appeared on her usually expressionless face.
I was glad I made chicken for her.
“All right, everyone, let’s eat too.”
I said to the monsters as I headed back to the cauldron.
Setting down the monster encyclopedia I had just updated.
■Chicken
─Real danger level: S-rank.
─Ability: Wind manipulation.