Chapter 33: The Treasure Room (II).
I crouched beside the Minotaur's thigh and pressed the Adamantium knife against the hide. I expected the skin to be tough. Maybe even impossible to cut without a proper butcher's tool.
Instead, the blade slipped through with frightening ease.
I froze.
"…This knife is way too good for me."
Carefully, I carved away several strips of meat from the thigh. The flesh was dark red and dense, with faint glowing lines of mana running through it. Some areas had blackened veins running under the surface like burnt roots.
I immediately cut those parts away.
"Nope. Not eating the cursed parts." After several clumsy minutes, I managed to collect enough clean meat to cook. I placed the strips on a flat stone and wiped them as best as I could with a clean part of my sleeve.
Then I took out a [Red Pear Fruit].
The fruit was soft and sweet-smelling when I cut it open. Red juice gathered on the blade and dripped down onto the stone.
I paused.
"Wait…"
I looked at the Minotaur meat.
Then at the pear juice. Then back at the meat.
"I don't have salt, but maybe this can work like a marinade?"
I had no idea if that was correct. But at this point, I was cooking monster beef in a dungeon with a magical phone, so proper culinary rules had already left the room.
I crushed the red pear with the flat side of the knife and rubbed the juice over the meat. Then I sliced some wild white mushrooms and placed them beside it.
"If this tastes bad, I'm blaming the dungeon." I gathered a few dry scraps of broken wood from the ruined chamber and used a small spark of fire magic to start a flame. It took more effort than I wanted to admit, mostly because my hands were still shaking, but after a few tries, a small fire finally caught.
The warmth touched my face.
I almost cried from relief.
"Fire. Beautiful. Reliable. Terrifying if uncontrolled, but still beautiful." I placed a clean, flat stone close to the fire and waited until it grew hot. Then I laid the pear-coated strips of Minotaur meat on top.
The meat hissed.
I flinched backward.
"Ah!"
A rich smell rose into the air.
It was heavy, almost like beef, but stronger. Wilder. The red pear juice began to darken and bubble against the meat, turning sticky at the edges. The mushrooms sizzled beside it, soaking up the juices that ran across the hot stone.
My stomach growled again.
"Don't get excited. We still don't know if this is food or a future medical emergency." I flipped the meat with the tip of the Adamantium knife. The outside was browning, but unevenly. Some parts cooked faster than others, and a few edges were starting to burn.
I quickly pulled those pieces away from the hottest part of the stone.
"No, no, no. I did not survive a Minotaur just to lose dinner to bad heat control."
When the meat looked cooked enough, I lifted my phone again.
"[Scan]."
{Properties}
-|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|-
Name: [Stone-Grilled Minotaur Meat with Red Pear and Mushrooms]
Item Class: Cooked Food
Item Rank: Uncommon
Cooking Quality: Uneven but Edible
Item Effects:
Stamina +25
Mana Recovery +5
Temporary Strength +1
Additional Effect:
Mild Mana Residue Reduced by [Red Pear Fruit]
Note:
A hastily prepared meal made from Dungeon Minotaur thigh meat, Wild White Mushrooms, and Red Pear Fruit. The meat was cooked on heated stone without proper seasoning or cooking tools. The red pear juice helped soften the meat slightly, while the mushrooms absorbed some of the heavy flavor.
Warning:
Texture may be tough. Flavor may be bland without salt or spices. Consume slowly.
I stared at the screen.
"Flavor may be bland?"
I placed a hand over my chest.
"That was unnecessary."
Still, edible was edible.
I cut off a small piece and held it near my mouth. My hand stopped halfway.
"This is fine. This is just beef. Magical beef. Dungeon beef. Possibly cursed beef, but the phone said edible, so…" Before I could change my mind, I shoved it into my mouth.
The first thing I noticed was the texture.
Tough. Extremely tough. I chewed.
And chewed.
And chewed.
My jaw started to hurt.
"Oh my gosh," I mumbled. "This cow fought back even after death. Ungh, this is so ass."
The taste was not awful, but it was missing something. Salt, mostly. Without seasoning, the meat tasted heavy and earthy, almost too rich. But the red pear helped. Its sweetness cut through the strong flavor, and the mushrooms were surprisingly good after soaking up the meat juices.
I took another bite with a mushroom.
Then another.
"…Okay."
I chewed slowly.
"This is not delicious. But it's not terrible either."
I looked at the food on the stone. "It tastes like someone tried to make steak without knowing what steak wanted from life."
But the warmth spreading through my stomach was real. After a few more bites, the trembling in my hands began to fade. My breathing steadied. The heavy ache in my legs became easier to bear.
A soft chime came from my phone.
[Stamina Restored.]
[Minor Mana Recovery Detected.]
[Temporary Strength Increase Applied.]
I blinked.
"Oh."
I flexed my fingers.
They no longer felt weak.
"So it worked." I looked at the remaining meat and mushrooms, then wrapped a few cooked pieces as best as I could before placing them into my [Inventory].
[Stone-Grilled Minotaur Meat with Red Pear and Mushrooms] x 5 acquired. I took one last bite of red pear to wash away the heavy taste of monster meat. The sweetness lingered on my tongue.
Ahead of me, the passage to the final room waited in silence.
I opened the [Map].
The room beyond was still marked:
[???]
Inside it, the large red dot had moved.
"What?"
Cerberus was waiting.
At the edge of the wall between us.
"No… did it actually move?" I looked at the dying fire. Then at the Adamantium knife. Then at the cooked Minotaur meat was stored safely in my inventory.
I was still scared. Of course I was scared. But at least now I was not hungry.
I stood up and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
"Okay," I whispered.
My voice echoed through the dungeon.
"Dinner is done I should-" The words had barely left my mouth when the ground suddenly shook beneath my feet. "W-What?!"
The flat stone I had used for cooking rattled against the floor. Bits of rubble fell from the ceiling, and the dying fire flickered wildly as the entire chamber trembled.
My heart stopped.
No.
No, no, no-
I turned toward the broken side of the room.
The walls had already been cracked and weakened during my battle with the Minotaur. Its axes, its charges, my spells- everything had left deep fractures and jagged holes along the stone. At the time, I had thought nothing of it.
But now?
Now the smell of grilled meat had drifted through those openings. And something on the other side had noticed. A deep, monstrous growl rumbled through the walls.
It was so loud I felt it in my chest before I fully heard it.
Then came the roar. A savage, thunderous roar that made every hair on my body stand on end.
"Cerberus…"
The giant red dot on my [Map] suddenly moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
It came barreling toward the chamber wall separating us, and for one frozen second all I could do was stare at my phone screen in horror.
"No way-!"
BOOOOM!
The wall exploded inward.
Stone and dust blasted through the room as a massive shape tore through the damaged barrier like it was made of paper. I threw my arms up and stumbled back, coughing as debris scattered across the floor.
"Cough-! What the heck?!"
A huge claw landed first, black and jagged, digging into the stone.
Then another.
Then a third.
And from the cloud of dust emerged three enormous heads.
Each one was the size of a horse's torso, with burning red eyes and rows of teeth too large and too sharp to belong to any normal beast. Black saliva dripped from their mouths as their nostrils flared, taking in the scent of the cooked Minotaur meat.
The creature's fur was dark as midnight, but along its back glowed faint crimson cracks, like heat trapped beneath volcanic stone. Its three heads moved independently- one snarling, one sniffing, and one staring directly at me.
Cerberus.
It was bigger than I had imagined.
Much bigger.
My body locked up. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I had prepared myself to go find it. I had not prepared myself for it to find me first.
The middle head let out another roar, so loud the entire chamber shook again. The head on the left lowered itself toward the cooked food on the stone, sniffing hungrily. The one on the right bared its teeth at me.
And the middle one- The middle one looked at me as if deciding whether I was the appetizer or dessert.
Francisca, move.
Move!
But my legs refused to listen. I could only stand there in shock, Adamantium knife in one hand, phone in the other, staring at the monster that had just smashed through the wall.
"Oh…" My voice came out small and weak. "…you smelled dinner."
The left head lunged toward the stone slab.
"Hey!" I shouted on instinct. "That's mine!"
The words escaped my mouth before my brain had any chance to stop them.
All three heads snapped toward me.
Silence.
A terrible, horrible silence.
Then six glowing red eyes narrowed at once.
I immediately regretted everything.
"…I'd like to formally apologize."
Cerberus growled.
A hot, foul breath rolled through the chamber, carrying the stench of blood, ash, and something sulfuric. Its claws scraped against the dungeon floor as it stepped fully into the room, its massive body forcing more of the cracked wall to crumble behind it.
My [Map] started flashing warnings.
[Danger Detected.]
[Danger Detected.]
[Danger Detected.]
No kidding!
The phone screen shifted on its own and displayed a new scan window.
{Properties}
-|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|-
Name: [Cerberus]
Monster Class: Guardian Beast
Monster Rank: Boss
Threat Level: Extreme
Traits:
Three Heads
High Strength
High Speed
Enhanced Smell
Fire Breath
Regeneration (Minor)
Magic Resistance (Medium)
Warning:
This monster is highly territorial and aggressive.
Attracted by blood, mana, and cooked meat.
Recommended action: Immediate combat readiness.
Weaknesses:
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
I stared at the screen.
"Unknown?! That's not helpful at all!"
Cerberus roared again.
The sound slammed into me like a physical force, finally breaking the paralysis in my limbs. I stumbled backward and quickly stuffed the remaining cooked meat into my [Inventory].
"Nope! Not giving you my emergency rations!"
The left head snarled. The middle head opened its jaws- And flames began to gather in its throat.
My eyes widened.
"Oh, come on!" I threw myself sideways just as a blast of fire shot across the chamber, turning the spot where I had stood into a blazing line of scorched stone. The heat washed over me so fiercely it felt like my skin might peel off.
I rolled across the floor and slammed into a chunk of broken rubble.
"Ghk-!"
Pain shot through my shoulder, but I forced myself up anyway. The Cerberus was already advancing. Its claws crushed rock beneath its weight. The three heads moved in perfect, terrifying coordination now- one watching my hands, one watching my feet, and one watching my face.
It was not a beast acting on instinct alone.
It was hunting.
And I was its prey.
My grip tightened around the Adamantium knife.
I was not ready.
Not fully. Not mentally. Not emotionally.
And definitely not physically. My body was still stuck to being a child! But the dungeon clearly didn't care.
I sucked in a breath, trying to force my panic down.
"Okay… okay…"
I glanced at the remains of the wall, at the rubble, at the fire, at the tightness of the room.
I couldn't outrun something this big in a straight line.
And if it could breathe fire, keeping my distance wasn't enough.
I had wanted time to prepare.
Time to think.
Time to rest.
Instead, I had a giant three-headed hell dog crashing into dinner.
Wonderful.
The middle head growled low, as if it could sense my fear.
I steadied my breathing and raised my phone.
Then I raised the knife.
My hands were trembling again, but this time I forced them still.
"…So much for resting after dinner."
Cerberus crouched. Its muscles tensed. I saw the exact moment it was about to pounce.
My heart hammered in my chest.
Then I bared my teeth, even though I was terrified.
"If you wanted a share," I muttered, taking a step back into a fighting stance, "you should've waited your turn."