Consulting Our Neighbor

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

Niku was exhausted and had fallen asleep on my lap. Like a puppy.

"… There's 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 glanced at the Dummy Core sitting on the pedestal in the center of the room,

then ignored it and flopped down on the floor.

"… Hm?"

"Maybe… it's not going to do anything?"

We watched for a while, but the black wolf seemed to be sleeping, letting out soft breaths.

… Maybe we could take it now? 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 measure of enemy strength, but it served as a rough guideline. I'd completely forgotten to check since I didn't know if it worked on non-humans. Let me see…

…950 DP… per day…?

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.

There's a limit to relying solely on golems. It's troublesome, but I need to add other monsters and increase our tactical diversity.

Adding random weak monsters wouldn't help. Something with a unique specialty, or perhaps overwhelming all-around strength…

"… But more importantly, we need to figure out what to do about this monster first."

"Right."

It's not like there were no hints.

This thing didn't enter the Magma Area. So it might be weak to heat.

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

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

I contacted Ontentoo saying "I have something urgent to discuss" and waited at the conference room table. He came rushing over. Having a salamander who's so quick to respond is really helpful.

"Sheesh, what is it Kehma? It's the middle of the night."

"I wanted to sleep too, but sorry. You're the only one I could ask…"

"Haha! Can't be helped then, so what's up?"

Ontentoo laughed in good spirits, his lizard face sitting across from me… It's a pure reptile form, but it really can sit. Well, that's beside the point right now.

"Just now, a strange intruder came… and broke through our Boss Room."

"Huh!? You—wha—HUH!? Are you okay!? It got into your Core Room!?"

"It's taken up residence there, and it's really bad. Our strongest couldn't do a thing…"

"That's bad alright. What kind of enemy is it?"

While showing him the actual black wolf sleeping in the Core Room on the monitor, I 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 trying to push something this dangerous onto us?"

"I believed Ontentoo could handle it somehow."

"Hah, obviously! The 100-series lot ain't just for show."

His lizard face twisted into what looked like delight at being relied upon.

Wait, what's a lot? Don't drop weird terms on me at a time like this. Are Dungeon Cores made in lot production?

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

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

"So like a vampire's transformation?"

"Transformation, huh. That too… ah, maybe… no, that wouldn't explain why it's here…"

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

Then he told me his conclusion.

"There's a seventy percent chance it's a slime variant. A dark-type and ghost-type hybrid."

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

"Yeah. Moving in slime form is slow, so slimes trained by humans sometimes take animal forms. But this one's way too strong. Normally, even if they mimic an animal's limbs and swing their forelegs around, their attack power is limited… So it might be something completely different. That's why I'm only saying seventy percent."

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

"Its weaknesses are…"

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

"… I have a strong liquor called vodka. How about one bottle as the fee?"

I placed a bottle of vodka I'd bought with DP on the table. One bottle is 100 DP. It might be too small since it's human-sized.

However, alcohol as a gift seemed to be well-received in this world, and Ontentoo happily accepted.

"Ooh! Alcohol, nice! Does Kehma drink?"

"No, I can't really handle alcohol."

"Is that so? Then I'll drink it with Redra. It's a bit small though."

"… Want two more?"

"Ooh! Sorry for pressuring you!"

Ontentoo opened the vodka cap, sniffed it, and laughed happily. Kakakaka.

"You're squeezing me here. Well, this much is fine."

"Don't say that. You and I live in connected caves, we're like brothers, right? Ah, I'm the older one though."

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

"A-A-Aniki? Stop, you're embarrassing me… 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 are various things. And for slimes, magic in general… well, if it's a dark-type hybrid, it'd be resistant to darkness. Physical attacks probably won't work. Light-attribute attacks would be good, but there aren't many offensive light-attribute attacks. Redra's breath would win easily. Depending on the payment though…"

"… How much would that be, incidentally?"

"I'd want another thousand bottles of this alcohol."

100,000 DP huh… That's rough.

"Fortunately, things have calmed down for now, so I'll try to handle it myself as much as possible. But I'll be counting on you if it comes to that."

"Kukaka, you can rely on your aniki anytime. Might melt your Core Room with the breath though."

… That's all too possible, which is the problem.

Anyway, it's reassuring to know I have someone to rely on in an emergency.

I thanked Ontentoo and handed him another five bottles of vodka.

"Hey Kehma? I'm happy, but is this okay? This is more than the consultation fee."

"Hm? I woke you up in the middle of the night for a consultation, so of course I should compensate for that too."

"… Well, alright then. I'll take it. Feel free to call me anytime."

"Yeah, I will."

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

I can't sleep peacefully otherwise… Haah, I don't want to work.