DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON
Dammit!
What the hell?
This wall wasn't here on our way down!
Another earthquake?
Not an earthquake.
The dungeon is shifting and changing its layout.
It's probably that magician's doing.
Maybe he's on the lookout for us.
You mean he's been making us wander around in circles this whole time?
Maybe it's worth taking a little risk.
Give me a minute.
It's gone now.
Climbing over walls might not be a smart move.
Guess we'll have to pick our way out.
Anyway, is it just me…
or is the city starting to bustle?
With the Red Dragon dead,
the lurking monsters are starting to show themselves.
This level was originally crawling with monsters.
We're lucky we didn't bump into any until now.
Hey, are you okay?
This isn't good.
We've been trekking without a break,
and we haven't had a decent meal since that Dragon.
How old is Laios?
I'm not sure if he's getting up there or still in his youth,
but Chilchuck and Marcille are likely still growing.
Come on.
It's downright shameful not being able to provide them with proper meals.
I must feed them.
The youngsters must be fed.
I must feed them!
What's that sweet smell?
Is it food?
No, it smells like flowers.
Where there are flowers, there's usually water.
Track it down for us, Chil!
On it!
Is this place a graveyard or something?
Wait, someone's there.
Don't look!
W-We beg your pardon.
Hey, Senshi! Let go of me!
Get back, Senshi!
What's this?
Draw your weapon!
These creatures aren't human.
They're Dryad flowers!
Then what's this body fluid?
It was not a liquid.
Tiny particles entered the body through the respiratory system,
sticking to the mucous membrane.
The body recognized these particles as poison
and kicked the immune system into gear, immediately attempting to flush them out.
This is known as…
hay fever.
Ugh, gross!
It hurts!
It's the Dryads' pollen!
This is bad. Don't breathe it!
This isn't good.
I can't stop crying.
Get up!
Pull yourself together, Senshi!
Laios!
-Kensuke… -Dammit!
My eyes are acting up too…
Senshi, reach out your hand!
On three, use it to strike behind you!
One,
two…
Three!
Damn, my eyes are starting to itch too.
I can't see.
Run, Senshi!
No!
It is my duty to protect the youngsters!
Are you serious?
Chilchuck!
Be my eyes!
I can't. I can't see anything!
You have sharper senses!
Smell?
No, the smell of pollen is too overpowering.
Hearing?
Senshi's sneezing too loud.
I can't rely on my sight, smell, or hearing.
The wind!
It avoided your sneeze and retreated diagonally to the right.
Senshi, swing up now!
Kensuke…
My staff is completely broken in half.
I've got to mend it and infuse it with magic quickly before it withers away.
It took me years to nurture it to its current state…
I-It's safe in there.
Don't lie!
You fought against Dryad flowers?
That must've been tough.
I didn't think they were flower monsters.
I totally thought they were male and female humans.
Dryads are unisexual flowers,
so you're right about them being male and female.
Just maybe…
What will you do about him?
Shouldn't we stop him by force?
But we can't afford to be picky anymore.
At this point, does it really matter if the flower resembles a human?
Marci--
I found some!
Dryad fruits!
How to turn back time…
Stop hunting for shady magic like it's no big deal!
Your black magic jokes aren't funny!
The last Dryad I took out didn't release any pollen.
It must've been a female flower.
Flowers before pollination care for and protect their fruits.
I found some more fruit-like things over here.
Those are buds.
They'll eventually grow into Dryad flowers.
These seem easier to eat than those fruits.
They might be pretty tasty.
Let's harvest them.
Don't pick too many.
Okay.
There are Mandrakes here.
We don't have time to get a dog,
so I'll just chop its head off if you don't mind.
Shut up. When are you going to let me live that down?
It's a pretty decent harvest.
Good thing I borrowed an axe from the orcs!
Put the chopped ingredients into a pot with water and let it stew.
When the ingredients are soft, remove from heat
and mash them inside the pot.
Once they turn into a paste, add more water and seasoning.
Smells delightful.
I have an idea.
Sauté them lightly with butter and throw in some mushrooms.
Pour melted cheese on top,
and it's done!
JACK-O'-LANTERN POTAGE AND SAUTÉED DRYAD BUDS WITH CHEESE
Did you have to put the soup in that?
I thought it might aid in restoring your magic a little.
Don't think you can excuse it just because you meant well.
I'll try it, though.
It's sweet!
It has a light floral fragrance.
It's rich and creamy, but melts in your mouth.
I love this.
What an appalling sight.
The sourness of the cheese pairs nicely with this.
I like the bitter tang the buds have.
Anyway, how do we even get out of this dungeon?
What if we never find our way out?
If all the routes to the surface are blocked,
it would disrupt the flow of magic, so that's unlikely.
There has to be a way out somewhere.
Are there any patterns to the shifts in the dungeon?
There must be!
Let's note down the timings and locations of the rumblings.
I'm starting to feel hopeful.
A full stomach does wonders for optimism, doesn't it?
I'm starting to feel warmer.
I think some of my magic is returning.
Laios and Senshi, I need to heal your injuries.
You shouldn't overexert yourself.
I won't.
Laios, you'll be the one doing the work.
I'll teach you some magic.
I can't protect all of you from the lunatic magician by myself.
If you can use healing and defense magic, it would help a lot.
Falin has taught you the basics, right?
Sort of.
She specializes in the gnome magic system,
which is a bit different from the one I use.
But the fundamentals are similar, so you'll catch on.
I'll drum it into you in no time.
We need to become stronger.
Those two are too optimistic.
When you're young, that's just right.
Would you stop treating me like a child?
It's embarrassing!
Why did you cover my eyes in front of the monsters anyway?
It helped in hindsight, but still!
Well, Chilchuck…
You mentioned your father had passed away.
What about it?
I see.
This seems like a good opportunity, so I'll teach you something.
Take a seat.
You're probably getting to that age where you're starting to get curious,
but it's important to have the correct information.
What's this about?
You see, humans
also have stamens and pistils.
That's not it! Again!
Pay attention!
And so, they passed the night away.
Come on. Hurry.
Not like that!
I didn't want to touch you in a weird way.
Don't let stuff like that bother you!
Give me your left hand.
See? Just like this.
Feeling embarrassed won't help you improve your magic skills.
Now focus!
Be mindful of the magic coursing through your body,
like blood through your veins.
Let it flow through the palms of your hands,
from the top of your head to the tips of my toes.
Sync your breathing, temperature, and pulse with mine.
Once you're ready, repeat after me.
-Sperae… -Sperae…
-Yeptum… -Yeptum…
-Rufermus… -Rufermus…
-Vilal… -Vilal…
-Eurekant… -Eurekant…
-Oonzu… -Oonzu…
That's itchy!
It's itching like crazy!
A-Are you okay?
My scab came off.
It worked!
You did it, Laios!
Really?
You're bleeding, though.
This is normal for your first try.
But you're a fast learner.
Maybe you really do come from a talented line!
The way you explained things made it easy to understand.
Thanks.
Well then, before you forget this feeling,
let's try healing Senshi.
I'll be watching, so repeat what you did just now.
Now, it's a temporary fix,
but I'll use Dryad twigs to repair my staff.
I hope it attaches.
-That felt weird. -S-Sorry!
Like I said, don't let stuff like that bother you!
Don't be embarrassed.
Feeling shy is the biggest obstacle to progress!
Actually, you shouldn't underestimate things like that.
Healers interact a lot with people, which can cause difficulties.
The main reason parties break up is often due to relationship issues.
Falling in and out of love, envy, jealousy,
grudges and hatred.
They can be a real hassle.
Are you talking about Falin and Shuro?
I'm just speaking from my own experiences.
A leader needs the ability to unite people more than combat skills.
To be honest, I want Laios to focus on developing his social skills
and his ability to read people more than magic.
If he had done so, he wouldn't have unknowingly ended up
being an accomplice in black magic.
Well, Chilchuck, why don't you learn a bit about magic yourself?
Maybe your ignorance is making you afraid.
Well, sorry about that!
Many of my kin got kidnapped by elves and never came back,
just because they were involved with some black magic artifact.
That's why I never got the chance to learn more about magic.
So forgive me if I'm ignorant.
To sum up the ancient magic I'm studying,
it draws energy from another dimension where infinity exists.
How do you turn a cup of water into vapor?
By bringing it to a boil.
Well then, how do you vaporize an entire lake?
The theory is the same,
but actually doing it is a bit tricky.
This magic would require an enormous amount of power and time.
So, you reinforce it with coordinate magic.
This dungeon is connected to the other dimension at multiple points.
It's through this power that monsters are summoned and this dungeon is formed.
Earlier, Falin no longer had the strength to revive herself.
So I rewrote a section of the dungeon
to make her body a part of the dungeon.
Only for a brief moment, of course.
Another rumbling.
It's close.
Look over there!
The wall is crumbling.
Where are the bricks going?
How about we take a closer look?
Huh?
What's wrong?
I-I suddenly feel dizzy.
You might be experiencing mana sickness because you used magic for the first time.
It should pass soon.
We're leaving you behind.
Stay put, okay?
Whether my eyes are shut or open, all I see are lurid colors.
Help.
Let me die.
The magician…
Am I hallucinating? Am I hearing things?
Please, let me die.
Mana sickness sucks.
The path is shifting.
It feels like we're starting to grasp a pattern, but then again, not quite.
We'll need to observe for a little longer.
It's frustrating that we can't make much progress, but…
The platform is rising!
Get off!
Ow!
That was close.
We almost lost our way back.
Carrier of a cruel, petrifying venom,
the Cockatrice.
It's like a Basilisk!
But a Cockatrice is much worse!
Never let it bite you!
You'll be turned to stone!
There's a door on the left!
Let's get in there!
What's our plan now?
This door won't hold for very long.
Can we sneak out through the back?
If this thing is anything like a Basilisk,
it should sense us by our body heat.
It will be tricky to give it the slip.
But that's the ability of the serpent.
The rooster head should rely on its vision.
Marcille, do you remember how Laios took down the Basilisk last time?
Don't let it frighten you!
Intimidate the Cockatrice with all your heart and soul!
Easier said than done.
Make yourself look big and shout at the top of your lungs!
Sure, I might be the tallest of the three,
but that Cockatrice is twice as big as the Basilisk.
And I'm not confident about shouting either.
Wait, how did Laios shout again?
Was it like a yell?
Or more like a roar?
Never mind. If I can frighten it, that's all that matters!
The end.
This won't work.
I just know I'll fail!
There's no way I can do what Laios did.
So what do I do?
I'll have to do it
my own way!
The most brilliant female student in the school's history,
Marcille!
What was that explosion just now?
It's Marcille! Let's go!
Too shallow.
Oh no. I drew too much attention to myself.
Now both heads are focused on me.
I don't have time to finish an incantation.
Marcille! Did it bite you?
I'm okay.
It bit you, you idiot!
For crying out loud!
What? You got bitten by a Cockatrice?
This is bad.
Do you know what to do when you're bitten by a Cockatrice?
There's a procedure for that?
First, take off your pants.
Sit with your legs tightly closed.
Keep your arms to your sides and cover your ears with your hands.
Close your mouth too.
Perfect.
Now you're all set to turn into stone at any moment.
I thought the procedure was supposed to prevent that!
She got petrified in an awfully precarious position.
Something might break.
Her center of gravity is off, so she might topple any second.
This is bad.
Being turned to stone is the last thing a human could want.
What are we going to do?
Is there a way to reverse it?
There are a couple of ways.
First, we could wait for her to heal naturally.
Apparently, petrification is more of a curse than the effects of a poison.
Elves have strong resistance to spells,
so she should recover faster compared to other races.
Next, we can try finding other adventurers who might have herbs
or know-how to reverse petrification.
Lastly, I could give it a shot with a healing spell.
You?
Marcille taught me how to read the book of magic.
There should be a spell in there to reverse petrification.
Let's keep an eye out for herbs and other adventurers,
while also giving the other two options a try.
How long will it take for her to heal?
It takes anywhere from six months to ten years for a tall-man.
I'll go fetch the Cockatrice.
They got pretty discolored in one night.
I need to process them quickly.
She looks like she's about to fall over.
Shouldn't we put something under her?
You're right.
I've got a good idea.
Mix the julienned buds with seasoning and place them in a pot.
Then, put Marcille on top.
Oops, her eyelashes broke off.
Soak the Cockatrice meat in salt water,
place it on Marcille's lap, and let it rest.
I suppose her position is more stable now.
She shouldn't topple over anymore.
She looks like some idol from a pagan religion.
After that, Laios and his team worked hard.
DAY 2
They continued with trial and error.
DAY 3
And on the fourth day…
Found one!
How do you use it?
Why don't we try
placing it on her?
The stone is starting to warm with my body heat.
Let's try the spell.
Sperae Yeptum
Rufermus Vilal…
Am I pronouncing it correctly?
Watch out!
Marcille!
You're soft again.
It worked!
Huh?
What's going on?
Why do I have vegetable slices on me?
And what's with this pot?
Let's see.
This worked too.
-Hurray! -Will someone explain?
Boil the brined meat
and cut it into thin slices.
Dress it with fermented buds,
and it's done.
EISBEIN-STYLE COCKATRICE AND SAUERKRAUT-STYLE DRYAD BUDS
It's been that long?
In the end, what did the trick?
We tried so many things, who can say for sure?
I hope it was my spell.
Nah, I say it was the fresh herbs that did it.
Maybe the cooked Cockatrice meat neutralized the curse.
We need to get back to the surface as soon as possible,
and yet I delayed us all.
You guys, I'm sor--
No, that's not it.
There's something else I should say in this situation.
Yes, first, I should say…
You shouldn't use someone as a fermentation weight.
Be that as it may, dungeon food.
Oh, dungeon food.
Subtitle translation by: Ai Matsuoka