Chapter 78: Ngh…what’s that noise…

“A minotaur…”

“““Beef!!!”””

While I said that monster’s name, the others yelled out something completely different.

“I’ve heard minotaur meat’s crazy delicious!”

“To be frank, I’ve been getting a little sick of eating nothing but pORC lately!”

“Let’s have some barbeque tonight!”

Apparently, they just saw the minotaur as food…

“Bu…moo?”

As though the monster itself sensed that, it took a step back.

“Bu, bumooooooooo!!”

However, it pulled itself back quickly and then charged at us with great speed.

Its charge was as terrifying as the stories said it would be.

“Golem!”

“Bumooo!!”

“Wah, it destroyed it like nothing!?”

I made the invincible golem go forward, but the moment it clashed with the minotaur, its body easily got smashed to bits.

The golem I made from the earth apparently wasn’t any match against the minotaur’s charge.

“Chief, leave it to me!”

The one to say that while standing in front of me was Noel-kun.

“Wai-not by yourse–”

*Claaaaang*!!

Noel-kun’s giant shield made such a sound.

As for Noel-kun himself, he was pushed back by a few meters, but he somehow was still on his feet. He has successfully stopped the charge all by himself.

“Bumoo!?”

“Amazing, Noel. A raw power brute like me’s no match for you now, huh.”

While Goate-san was praising Noel-kun like that, Philia-san and Selen attacked the minotaur. The minotaur has stopped moving and was therefore defenseless against Philia-san’s arrows and Selen’s ice blades.

Against such concentrated attacks, even the minotaur didn’t last long.

“I wonder just how delicious minotaur meat is.”

“I’m drooling already.”

“Hey, keep it together.”

While bantering like that, the people who have grown used to hunting quickly drained the monster’s blood. Supposedly, doing this would lessen bad odor and even improve the meat’s taste.

After enough blood was drained, the minotaur was put inside the bag. Because it was heavier than an orc, simply transporting it was an issue. Thankfully, Goate-san was with us to carry it.

After that, we decided to continue our exploration. Along the way, we encountered more minotaur. We now had more beef and that delighted everyone, but that also meant more things for us to carry.

“What do you do when this happens while hunting in the forest?”

“We have more hunters now, so we divide ourselves: some continue to hunt, while the rest dismantle what we’ve already taken down.”

“I see.”

Right now though, we only had a few people, making that method not viable.

To continue exploring the dungeon, we had little choice but to carry our prey as they were. Sooner or later though, even if Goate-san could carry the weight, the luggage would be too big to fit the relatively narrow corridors of the dungeon.

“Ah, stairs…”

We discovered a flight of stairs.

Oftentimes, dungeons had multiple floors. And connecting the floors together were typically staircases.

“Luke, what do you think? Should we head back for now? We have a lot to carry, so going to the next floor might be tough.”

“Hmm, let me see…oh, why not simply leave our extra things here?”

“Because monsters might come by and eat it?”

“Not if we put it here.”

I said so and then built a storehouse.

◇　◇　◇

<<Emergency, emergency, emergency—intruders have entered and are absorbing the dungeon. It’s

recommended to respond right away.>>

“Ngh…what’s that noise…”

The palm-sized girl was finally awoken by the blaring alarms. Her sleep disturbed so rudely, she initially had a grimace on her face, but soon enough…

“…huh, an emergency…? Oh no!? Wait, is that for real!? My dungeon’s really being conquereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!?”