Consulting Our Neighbor

Passing through the Boss Room, the black wolf entered the dungeon's innermost area, the Core Room.

Niku seemed worn out and had fallen asleep on my lap. Like a puppy.

"… There's just nothing we can do."

"Ugugu…"

After bringing out even the Iron Haniwa and still losing, all we could do was watch.

That said, what was in the Core Room now was the Dummy Core. A basketball-sized jewel emitting a soft white light, just like the real thing. Even the warmth when touched, perfect for a hot water bottle, was reproduced.

Since it's a Dummy Core, there's no problem even if it gets destroyed.

… The black wolf looked at the Dummy Core sitting on the pedestal in the center of the room,

ignored it, and flopped down on the floor.

"… Hm?"

"It's not going to do anything?"

We watched for a while after that, but the black wolf appeared to be fast asleep, its breathing steady.

… Maybe we could get it now? I thought, but we had no combat strength left.

And without knowing the upper limit of the enemy's strength, it was better not to provoke it.

"For now, it seems we have no choice but to leave it alone."

"Yeah…"

Rokuko had a complicated expression, but this reminded me of when I was first summoned.

Come to think of it, I hadn't checked the enemy's strength… or rather, how much DP we were getting from it.

It wasn't a direct translation of enemy strength into numbers, but it served as a rough guideline. I wasn't sure if it worked on non-humans, but I'd completely forgotten about it. Let me see…

… 950 DP per day… are you serious?

Oi, this thing is hero-class! No wonder we couldn't win.

… No, it's not that we couldn't win because it was strong. The problem was relying too much on golems.

When a physically-immune enemy appears, golems alone can't do anything. I already knew that, but I hadn't prepared any countermeasures at all.

Golems alone are reaching their limit. It's a pain, but I need to bring in other monsters and diversify our combat options.

Just throwing in random weak monsters wouldn't help. I'd need something with a sharp, specialized trait, or else overwhelming all-around power…

"… That's important too, but first we need to figure out what to do about this monster."

"Right."

It wasn't like I had zero hints to work with.

The thing didn't enter the Magma Area. So there's a chance it's weak to heat.

… Maybe I should ask [Flame Cavern] for help. Ittetsu might know what this black wolf really is.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

I contacted Ittetsu saying "I have something urgent to discuss" and waited at the conference room table. He came flying right over. A salamander who's quick enough on the uptake is really appreciated.

"Sheesh, what is it, Kehma? In the middle of the night and all."

"I'd rather be sleeping too, but sorry. You're the only one I could ask…"

"Haha! Can't be helped then. So, what's going on?"

Ittetsu laughed in good spirits with his lizard face as he sat across from me… He's fully reptilian, but he can actually sit down, huh. I was oddly impressed by something completely irrelevant.

"Just a moment ago, a strange intruder showed up at our place… and broke through the Boss Room."

"Huh?! You, that's, HUH?! Are you okay?! That means it got into your Core Room!"

"It's camped out in there, and it's pretty bad. Frankly, our top fighting strength couldn't even scratch it…"

"That is bad. What kind of opponent is it?"

I displayed the actual black wolf sleeping in the Core Room on the monitor and explained its combat characteristics.

"… So we tried guiding it to [Flame Cavern], but it wouldn't enter the Magma Area."

"I see… wait, you were going to push something that dangerous onto us?"

"I believed you'd be able to handle it, Ittetsu."

"Hah, obviously! I ain't a 100-series lot for nothin'."

He twisted his lizard face into a pleased grin, seeming happy to be relied upon.

Wait, lot? Don't drop weird terms like that at a time like this. Are Dungeon Cores produced in lots or something?

"Um, so, do you know what this black wolf really is?"

"Hmm? Let's see, this thing… based on appearance, it's wolf-type, dark-type, ghost-type…"

"So like a vampire's transformation?"

"Transformation, huh. That's possible… ah, maybe… no, that wouldn't explain why it's like this…"

Something seemed to catch in Ittetsu's memory. He mumbled to himself for a while, organizing his thoughts.

Then he told me his conclusion.

"Seventy percent chance it's a slime variant. A dark-type, ghost-type hybrid."

"… A slime? So the wolf form is mimicry?"

"Yeah. Moving in slime form is slower, so slimes trained by humans sometimes take animal forms. But even so, this one's way too strong for that. Normally, even if a slime mimics an animal and swings its forelegs around, there's a limit to the attack power it can put out… So it might be a completely different monster. That's why I'm only saying seventy percent."

So slimes can be trained. Is that a tamer thing?

"And its weaknesses…"

"Hey, Kehma? I'm gonna need a consultation fee pretty soon here."

"… I have a strong liquor called vodka. I'll give you a bottle as the consultation fee."

I placed a bottle of vodka I'd gotten with DP on the table. One bottle costs 100 DP. Since it's human-sized, it might not be enough for him.

But alcohol as a gift seemed to be universally well-received in this world, and Ittetsu was clearly pleased.

"Ooh! Booze, huh? That's great! Do you drink too, Kehma?"

"Nah, I can't really handle alcohol."

"That so? Then I'll share it with Redra. It's a bit on the small side, though."

"… Need two more?"

"Ooh! Sorry for making it seem like I was asking!"

Ittetsu popped open the cap on the first bottle, sniffed at it, and laughed happily. Kakkakka.

"Driving a hard bargain, aren't ya. Well, this much is fine."

"Don't say that. You and I live in connected caves, we're practically brothers, right? Oh, and I'm the older one, of course."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm so lucky to have such a reliable aniki. So, any guesses on the weaknesses?"

"A-A-Aniki?! Stop it, you're making me blush… Say it again."

That's all fine, so please just tell me its weakness, aniki.

"Mm, weaknesses. Strong light for dark-types, pure things for ghost-types. If it's a vampire… there's all sorts of stuff. And for slimes, magic in general… though if it's a dark-type hybrid, it'd resist darkness. At the very least, physical attacks won't work. Light-attribute would be the way to go, but there aren't many light-attribute attacks with real firepower. Redra's breath would beat it easy, though. Depending on the reward…"

"… And how much would that cost, incidentally?"

"I'd want at least another thousand bottles of this booze."

100,000 DP, huh… That's a tough call.

"Luckily things are calm for the moment, so I'll try to handle it on my own as much as I can. But if push comes to shove, I'll be counting on you."

"Kukaka, you can count on your aniki whenever you want. Though Redra's breath might melt your Core Room too."

… That's way too plausible, and that's the problem.

In any case, it's reassuring to know I have someone to fall back on in an emergency.

I thanked Ittetsu and handed him five more bottles of vodka on top of the rest.

"Hey, Kehma? I appreciate it, but is this really okay? This is way more than the consultation fee."

"Hm? I dragged you out of bed in the middle of the night for a consultation, so naturally I should pay for that too."

"… Well, if you insist. I'll take it. Feel free to call on me whenever."

"Yeah, I will."

Now then, we need to do something about that black wolf.

Otherwise I can't sleep in peace… Haah, I don't want to work.