Chapter 80
I could no longer hide behind the flimsy excuse of a "True Ending."
However, after spitting out my honest feelings, I felt a bit more composed.
Once I regained my senses, I realized just how reckless I had been.
*Captain Kwak, but..."
I confessed the truth: that it was still too early to take down the Fire Dragon.
After listening to my explanation about failing to meet the prerequisites for defeating Infernumn, the final boss of S2P, Kwak Han-mook raised an eyebrow and spoke.
"Well, it’d be a waste to miss the True Ending after coming all this way. I’ve slogged through this dungeon like a fucking dog; you’re telling me I get a Normal Ending? Fuck no, absolutely not."
That... was a fair point.
The True Ending was truly within reach.
"And I want to try fighting the Fire Dragon."
Kwak Han-mook, who had noted that there was no proper battle with the Fire Dragon in the Normal Ending, turned his head toward Mo Hae-in.
"Captain Mo, are you okay with this?"
I looked back at Mo Hae-in with intimidated eyes.
Mo Hae-in stared intently at me.
Without even blinking, she laid out a very clear and simple condition.
"Promise me you will never do something like that again."
"Yes. I’m sorry."
Filled with deep remorse, I answered without a word of complaint.
Then, I looked at Je Hyeon-oh...
He was walking toward me, replacing one of his metal hands with the Crow Glove.
Je Hyeon-oh lightly flexed the hand he had swapped
Then, he stopped right in front of me.
The moment I saw my own reflection in his black goggles, I was grabbed by the collar and hoisted up.
My feet left the ground, and my airway was compressed.
"Ack..!"
A groan escaped me as I gasped for air. Before I could even struggle...
My body flew through the air.
Crash!
My back slammed into a neatly trimmed landscaping tree, sending leaves fluttering down around me.
"Aaaah, Lieutenant Colonel Je!"
"Trainee!"
Kwak Han-mook and Mo Hae-in rushed forward in surprise, but Je Hyeon-oh raised a hand to stop them.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Je Hyeon-oh approached with slow steps.
"Roasted Chestnut."
Dominic called out to me. Having clung to me while I was flying through the air, he asked,
"Roasted Chestnut, are you alright? Should I help you?"
I shook my head, pretending to regain my composure.
"Hmm, Roasted Chestnut...you are far too lenient with your kin."
The Pudding Slime expressed its dissatisfaction, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to attend to it right now.
Meanwhile, Je Hyeon-oh, who had reached me, knelt down.
He gazed blankly at me as I sat there panting.
"Goyo."
A throbbing pain rose from my back where I had hit the tree.
I was definitely bruised.
Swallowing the pain, I barely managed to lift my gaze.
Looking at my face reflected in the black goggles, I answered.
"Yes..."
"You said you wanted to live."
He tilted his head slightly while staring steadily at me.
"Then why do you keep doing this?"
It was a murmur that sounded like genuine curiosity.
I tried to flatten myself and apologize immediately.
’I’m sorr- ugh!"
Crunch.
But before I could finish my sentence, a sharp blade grazed right past my face.
The tree where the metal hand had embedded itself split with a loud crack and collapsed backward.
The tree crashed right behind me, but I couldn’t even spare a glance.
I looked at Je Hyeon-oh, completely frozen.
The man who held my entire attention asked again.
"You really want to live, right, Goyo?"
"Yes... I really want to live."
The man, with the Crow Glove on one hand and the metal hand hanging from the other, moved his fingers habitually.
It was a movement that suggested my answer didn’t particularly matter.
After weighing me in his mind for a moment, Je Hyeon-oh finally spoke.
"Fine."
A low whisper followed.
"Because I haven’t decided yet either."
"What?"
l asked back, not understanding his meaning, but he never gave an answer.
Je Hyeon-oh slowly stood up.
Kwak Han-mook and Mo Hae-in hurried to my side.
"Geez, you’ve turned into a bruised chestnut."
"Are you okay?"
The captains helped me up while protesting to Je Hyeon-oh.
"Why would you throw the kid like that?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Je. There was no need to go this far."
Je Hyeon-oh replied simply.
"Goyo deserved it."
At that, no one could refute him.
Kwak Han-mook gave a meaningless cough and patted the dust off my clothes.
Je Hyeon-oh watched the scene for a moment before speaking.
"Captain Kwak, Captain Mo."
The pitch-black figure, with the afternoon sun at his back, looked down at me and said.
"Let’s go hunt the Fire Dragon."
The dungeon ends at the 99th floor.
However, the tower continues, and the incomplete number is completed as the 100th floor.
At the peak of the tower lay the nest of the Fire Dragon, Infernum.
The twins were likely held captive there.
I stood before the dungeon gate, taking a deep breath in and letting it out.
For the True Ending, the final battle with the Fire Dragon was essential.
The standard strategy originally presumed the completion of two conditions:
1. Achieve a restaurant reputation score of 1,000 to obtain the title "The Finest Restaurant.’
2. Conquer the dungeon up to the 99th floor to obtain the ’Flame Truffle.’
Equipping the "The Finest Restaurant" title obtained from condition I grants fire immunity to all party members.
This allows one to nullify the continuous damage caused by the endless heat in the Fire Dragon’s nest.
Additionally, it allows the party to ignore the fire-attribute bonus the Fire Dragon gains when attacking from its own nest.
And condition 2: conquering the dungeon up to the 99th floor.
In this case, the ’Dungeon Conqueror’ title is granted along with the Flame Truffle, the only ingredient of its kind in the world of S2P.
The Dungeon Conqueror title is mostly useless as it only increases the probability of receiving tips; the important part was the Flame Truffle.
Cooking with this ingredient produces a dish that drastically increases attack power specifically against the Fire Dragon.
However, currently, neither condition 1 nor 2 was possible.
The restaurant score had not yet reached 1,000, and there was no time to clear the 99th floor.
Because the twins were suddenly kidnapped, we were forced into a battle with Infernumn without being fully prepared.
Infernumn is a five-star trial boss. He is an opponent who is difficult to face even with full preparations.
Still, I didn’t think the strategy was impossible.
I had Je Hyeon-oh and the captains, and above all.
I knew Infernum well.
After entering the dungeon, I reached into my inventory in the lobby and pulled out the food I had packed.
"Everyone, please eat this first. I’ll brief you on the Fire Dragon strategy while you eat."
It was a Flame Course Meal.
While not a perfect combat-specific meal, it was a course consisting of six-star dishes, so the attached effects were decent.
The captains quickly devoured the food while listening to the strategy I had devised.
Having only eaten one or two types of dishes previously, the captains’ eyes widened as they experienced a full course meal for the first time.
"Holy shit. I feel fucking strong."
While Kwak Han-mook marveled, Mo Hae-in also couldn’t hide her surprise after checking her stats.
It significantly boosted attack power, defense, critical hit rate, and critical damage, but the most important part was the buff granted upon consuming the entire course.
"Trainee, does this include fire immunity?"
"Yes. It lasts for 20 minutes."
The continuous damage from the Fire Dragon’s nest is quite painful, so it was best to defeat him before the buff expired.
I added an explanation that if 20 minutes passed, they would have to endure by recovering health with potions or food.
Then, I used the chef’s job skill, ’À La Carte’.
Red sparkles, like embers, swirled around the captains’ bodies before disappearing.
À La Carte was a buff skill obtained when a chef reached level 80 and a proficiency of 85% or higher.
Party members who had eaten the food could choose one stat they needed most to increase.
The stat the captains chose was, naturally, attack power.
However, I chose a different stat.
"This also lasts for 20 minutes, so please keep the buff time in mind."
Since the cooldown for A La Carte was one hour, it could effectively be used only once during the battle.
It would be best to apply the buff after entering the nest, but since I didn’t know what might happen inside, I used the skill beforehand to be safe.
Then, I distributed small, cookie-like foods that could be eaten quickly for recovery.
"Food and recovery potions can be used simultaneously."
"Wow, the Chef class was actually insane."
Listening to Kwak Han-mook’s admiration, I made one final request to Je Hyeon-oh.
Perhaps because we already had a history, he granted the request more easily this time.
After finishing the preparations, we all stepped onto the teleportation magic circle.
Mo Hae-in drew her Black Moon Blade and lightly stroked it.
Thinking that it looked like a spear no matter how I viewed it, I turned my gaze to
Kwak Han-mook.
Come to think of it, Kwak Han-mook had been wearing prayer beads throughout S2P.
I hadn’t seen him actually use them, though.
It was a behavior that didn’t fit the current era’s trend of avoiding item usage, so I was curious.
Deciding to ask him later, I waited for Mo Hae-in’s signal to enter.
After confirming that everyone was positioned on the magic circle, she spoke briefly.
"Entering."
The 100th floor appeared on the list of accessible floors.
Normally, this is only possible after conquering the 99th floor and viewing an event scene, but since we had received the Fire Dragon’s invitation, we could enter immediately.
The moment we arrived at the Fire Dragon’s nest via the teleportation circle, a wave of intense heat rushed over us.
Unlike the dungeon, a wide-open space unfolded before us.
[Amazing! You’ve entered the Fire Dragon’s nest!!]
[What kind of adventure awaits you here?]
[Be careful not to offend the Fire Dragon!]
The vast space, large enough for a single Fire Dragon to lie down comfortably, was covered in smoothly polished white marble and obsidian.
Along one wall, display cases stretched in a long line.
When one thinks of a dragon’s nest, they usually imagine piles of glittering gold and mountains of jewels.
However, the Fire Dragon’s display cases were filled with exquisitely crafted wine glasses, silver cutlery, various liquors, spices, and rare ingredients.
All of them were ingredients preserved by magic to be at their freshest and most optimal moment for cooking.
And in the center sat a colossal dining table.
The table, carved from obsidian, had an intricate red magic circle engraved upon it a device that maintained the food on the table at the most appropriate temperature when mana was injected.
"Little one."
A booming voice resonated through the space.
I looked up.
Far, far up.
An overwhelming ball of fire emerged from the darkness.
It was the Fire Dragons eye.
Infernum took the form of a dragon, but his main body was not clearly visible, shrouded in darkness.
Only a vivid red eye was revealed, staring down at me.
"You have come to become my delicacy."
Then, after a short pause, he continued.
"Is the end of the journey together as well?"
The added remark was likely directed at Dominic.
However, Dominic, perched above my head, did not respond.
Even though it was essentially saying he would kill Dominic along with me, he didn’t seem to find it worth answering.
The being before us was called the Lord of Fire Dragons and possessed a status high enough to perceive Dominic’s existence, but that was all.
He had shown a brief interest in Dominic, but now he had devolved into a meaningless existence, just like any other NPC.
If I had to assign meaning to him, he was merely an ingredient that I would soon catch and cook
A question suddenly occurred to me.
Even the great Infernumn was trivial to Dominic.
I wondered why someone like him found meaning in me and even formed a contract.
It was certainly puzzling to simply dismiss it as him being lenient because I was a young god.
Pushing the thought aside, I looked up at Infernumn calmly and asked.
"Where are Lady Ella and Sir Elun?"
I had looked for them first since entering the 100th floor, but they were nowhere to be seen.
A loud burst of laughter echoed at my question.
"If you wish to hear the answer, come up to my table."
The red eye vanished, and Infernumn, now transformed into a human, walked out from the darkness.
The background music for the final boss battle began to play.
A sharp, mechanical digital drum beat thundered in a steady rhythm, raising the tension as if foretelling the disaster about to strike.
The low-lying bass and mysterious mechanical sounds sent an unpleasant shiver down my spine.
For a moment, the music stopped, and Infernumn pulled out a chair and sat at the table.
Seated elegantly, he made a leisurely declaration.
"Now, it is time for the banquet."
A rough, destructive lo-fi sound, like a modulated monster’s roar, struck my eardrums.
Following that, ear piercing electronic sounds layered upon a fast rhythm that oscillated between off-beats and on-beats, announcing the official opening of the gates of hell.
Amidst the chaotic music, a ping sound was heard.
[Oh my! You’re fighting the Fire Dragon!]
[But was this the right choice? It might be better to think again.]
[Hurry and run away while you still can!]
Ignoring and skipping the system window, Phase 1 began.
The Phase 1 attacks of the Fire Dragon Infernumn were very simple yet lethal.
Following his gesture, the air above our heads became densely packed with silver.
The silver objects that would rain down upon the entire space in a few seconds were all forks and knives.
However, the reason Phase I’s attack was lethal was not because of the sharp cutlery.
It was because one randomly selected party member would be sent onto Infernumn’s table.
The selected party member would be rendered unable to act during Phase 1.
Furthermore, if Infernumn were attacked, the health of the selected party member would be depleted instead.
But this time, it wasn’t a random selection.
"Little one. Come to me."
A hook attached to a chain shot out.
The hook snatched me by the waist and hung me from the ceiling like a slab of meat.
Infernumn laughed as he looked at me, folded in half and dangling over the table.
"It tastes bad if the meat is damaged."
Everything was flowing exactly as expected.
I twisted my lips into a matching smile.
"You speak as if you’ll actually have the chance to eat me."
The moment the Fire Dragon raised an eyebrow.
Je Hyeon-oh, spreading his wings, flew toward me, taking the full brunt of the raining forks and knives.
The silver cutlery clattered loudly against the metal wings.
Thump!
Landing on the table, he snatched me and threw me to the floor before Infernumn could even react.
And immediately, he swung his hook, not his metal hand toward Infernumn.