Chapter 59. The Fifth
The monster that Team 2 encountered had the appearance of a fusion between a human and a giant snake.
To describe it more precisely:
A human body without a head.
On top of the neck, a giant snake was perched, as if parasitically controlling the body.
In other words.
It wasn’t a monster with a snake’s head, but rather a monster where the head was entirely a snake.
Additionally, the nerfed danger level was B-rank.
We roughly decided to call it ‘Snake Head.’
The Hedgehog Summoner sent out his spirits and spoke to the Jellyfish.
─ Doom-ba! Doodoomba! Jellyfish! My spirits will hold it down, so blow up its body with explosion magic!
─ Pii?
─ What’s wrong?
─ Pii, pii!
─ Doom-ba! Are you saying we can’t kill it because we’re trying to tame it?
─ Pii!
─ Don’t worry! Even if that thing loses its body, it won’t die! The body part regenerates! I know because I’ve met it before!
─ Pii! Pii!
【Pururu】─ Does it have good regenerative power? Like Rize?
【Rizenova】─ I don’t look that ugly.
【Yumi】─ But how do you two communicate?
【Mysticism】─ Through gestures!
After their exchange, Hedgehog and Jellyfish launched a coordinated attack.
Hedgehog summoned five spirits to engage in fierce combat with the Snake Head.
Meanwhile, Jellyfish, a bit further away, began forming multiple explosion spheres, combining them into one and compressing it with great care.
The sphere, now compressed to the size of a baseball, was densely packed.
─ Pii!
Jellyfish swung its tentacle, launching the compressed explosion sphere.
It wasn’t particularly fast.
But the Snake Head, distracted by the undead spirits, failed to notice the incoming explosion.
And then.
Boom-!
The sphere hit the Snake Head’s abdomen, causing a small but intense explosion.
It seemed to be a special explosion sphere, with a minimized range but maximized power, likely to ensure Hedgehog’s safety.
─ Ooooh… ssssss.
The explosion obliterated the Snake Head’s body, leaving only the snake portion.
This showed the true strength of Jellyfish’s explosion magic: not in the size of the blast but in its concentrated destructive power.
【Pururu】─ Wow, it worked even with a small explosion.
【Yumi】─ Right? That’s amazing.
【Rizenova】─ It seems like a compressed explosion. When targeting a single enemy or a tough opponent, a compressed blast like that is more effective than a wide-range explosion.
【Pururu】─ How do you even know that?
【Rizenova】─ There’s someone in my world with a similar ability. By compressing energy, they can reduce the range but maximize the power. It’s a useful ability, but the downside is that it takes some time.
【Pururu】─ Who cares? I didn’t ask.
【Rizenova】─ ?
【Mysticism】─ 🤔
Hedgehog’s spirits pressed down on the snake, preventing it from escaping.
Hedgehog climbed onto the snake’s head, doing a victory dance as he shouted.
─ Great! Jellyfish, bring the gauntlet arm!
─ Pii!
─ Now, place it on this creature’s body!
─ Pii? Piii?
─ Doodoomba? Where to place it? I don’t know that either!
─ Pii?
【Pururu】─ Is Jellyfish stupid?
【Yumi】─ Really?
【Pururu】─ No, obviously not.
Ah. Now that I think about it, I was the only one who could see the spots, right?
For a moment, I mistakenly thought Hedgehog knew the location of the spot since he recklessly blew up the body under the snake.
Turns out, he just wasn’t thinking.
Anyway, I decided to inform them of the location.
Since only I could see the spot, and without providing the location, taming couldn’t proceed.
Fortunately, the spot wasn’t on the exploded lower body, but on the still intact snake portion.
“Hedgehog, can you hear me?”
─ Loud and clear!
“There’s a spot slightly to the right of that creature’s head. Place your hand there.”
─ Okey-dokey!
“Where did you even learn that phrase?”
─ Mysti taught me!
【Pururu】─ Mysti, stop teaching weird things.
【Yumi】─ Such unnecessary knowledge.
【Rizenova】─ There’s no such thing as useless teachings. Every lesson has value.
【Pururu】─ That one doesn’t.
【Mysticism】─ 🤭
Hedgehog placed the severed gauntlet arm on the snake’s head.
The position was a bit off.
It was slightly away from where the spot was.
“Not there, a little more to the right.”
─ Doom-ba? Here?
“No, that’s the left. Try the other direction.”
─ Doodoomba? Here?
“Just a little more to the side.”
─ Doodoodooroomba! Here?
“Yep. Perfect. Good job.”
─ Doom-ba!
─ Pii!
The severed arm was placed over the spot.
As the palm touched the spot, a slow discoloration began.
Naturally, the rate of discoloration was extremely slow.
*
■Snake Head
─ Actual Danger Level: S-rank.
─ Current (Nerfed) Danger Level: B-rank.
The Snake Head still wasn’t fully tamed even though I’d finished documenting it.
I glanced at my watch and muttered.
“This is taking longer than expected.”
【Pururu】─ Let’s just go smash its skull.
【Yumi】─ That’ll only make things worse. Do you want to make this take even longer? ㅡㅡ
【Pururu】─ Keep your eyes open.
【Yumi】─ ㅇ.ㅇ
While checking the time, I suddenly remembered the 10 lower-tier invitation tickets I sent earlier.
“Now that I think about it, it’s almost been 3 hours.”
【Pururu】─ What’s been 3 hours?
【Yumi】─ I think he means it’s almost 3 hours since he sent the tickets.
【Pururu】─ Oh, right.
【Pururu】─ Wasn’t that supposed to be delivered by mail or something?
【Yumi】─ A letter.
【Pururu】─ Same thing.
【Pururu】─ Anyway, don’t get your hopes up, Geon. Who would be crazy enough to eat a suspicious letter? Lol.
I had already explained to my assistants how the invitation ticket delivery worked.
And I made sure to mention it would likely be a dud.
“I’m not expecting anything. I was just saying there’s not much time left before the tickets disappear.”
【Pururu】─ Sure, but I know you’re secretly hoping for it.
【Mysticism】─ 🤭
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything.
A sane person who received a letter like that would probably think it was a prank and ignore it.
There’s no way someone would trust the contents of such a letter.
The recipient might be someone I barely exchanged glances with, whose name or face I didn’t even remember.
They’d have no reason to help me.
Plus, they could have thrown it away without even reading it.
If the letter didn’t appear mysteriously in front of them, why would anyone care about a random piece of paper?
If someone responded and came to my broadcast after receiving that letter, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
An impossible, extraordinary event—a miracle.
【Pururu】─ Hey Geon, I was thinking, wouldn’t it be better to use the invitation tickets one at a time?
“One at a time?”
【Pururu】─ Yeah, since the delivery method is randomly decided, if we use them all at once and get stuck with a weird delivery method, we’re screwed. If we spread them out, we’re more likely to hit a good one, right?
【Mysticism】─ 😮
【Rizenova】─ Not a bad idea.
【Yumi】─ Wow, now that I think about it, that’s actually smart! You’re not entirely dumb, Pururu!
【Pururu】─ ?
【Pururu】─ Isn’t the normal thing to say, ‘You’re pretty clever’? You jerk?
【Yumi】─ I didn’t want to compliment you.
【Yumi】─ Geon, is there a limit on how often you can use the invitation tickets? Like, can you only use one per day or something?
“I don’t think there’s any limit. If we get more invitation tickets later, I’ll try Pururu’s method.”
【Pururu】─ Lol, I’m a genius, right?
“Yeah, that’s smart. Thanks, Pururu.”
【Pururu】─ Hehe, I’m pretty clever.
【Mysticism】─ Pururu, you’re amazing!
It wasn’t exactly a groundbreaking idea.
But I still had to show my gratitude and offer praise.
After all, it was a method I hadn’t considered.
I stood up and carefully placed the monster records I’d finished into a box.
Checking the time again, I muttered,
“Anyway, there’s less than five minutes left before the invitation ticket disappears…”
Just as I was saying that.
『RED-tier assistant “Unknown – 005” has appeared like a comet to watch over you.』
“…Huh?”
【Pururu】─ Oh.
【Yumi】─ Gasp.
【Mysticism】─ 😀
【Rizenova】─ The youngest has arrived!
A miracle had occurred.
【005】─ Gauntlet?