## Chapter 898 – Otherworld Dungeon

“It doesn’t seem to have any toxins.”

Anyway, now that the battle is over, we need to gather information using their corpses. I organized the relatively intact corpses, and Ari used various plants to check for toxins.

“If there were toxins… the Royal Army commander would have told us. Unless he wants to be on bad terms with Father, there’s no reason to hide it.”
“That’s true.”

Winea nodded at Ari’s words.

Unless it was intentionally hidden, they would have told us if there were toxins. Or maybe this is the first time this monster has been discovered.

It was said that there wasn’t just one type of monster. Surely there were some damn strong bastards wearing masks, weren’t there? And there were a few more sketches too.

But I don’t know if that’s racial diversity or genetic diversity.

—Squish.

First, I cut open their bellies.

I need to know what’s inside to kill them more easily. Even though I can split them open with my bare hands like I just did, knowing the enemy’s weaknesses is the true shortcut to becoming a warrior.

Like the legendary Philistine general, Goliath.

He was a legendary general with a huge body and divine strength that could destroy even the highest mountains. There was no enemy in the world who could kill him, so Goliath lived his whole life as a winner, achieving continuous victories in all kinds of battles.

Then one day.

Goliath fought David.

Of course, Goliath wasn’t afraid of David.

Because David was so damn small. Compared to Goliath, David was just a pathetic, useless fool with such a small stature that even three-year-olds could piss in his face and insult him without it seeming strange. Ah, that’s from Goliath’s point of view, not my opinion.

Anyway, so Goliath ignored David.

—And that’s why he died.

The legendary Philistine general Goliath despised David as a damn small kid and died.

It was a fight he could have easily won if he hadn’t been careless. But he was careless and ignored the enemy he had to fight to the death. Goliath was so arrogant, intoxicated by his own strength.

That was the cause of his defeat and death.

If Goliath had fought with skill and given his best, David, whether he was a king or a prophet or whatever, would have become a damn torn-up instant beef tartare bibimbap and a precious and delicious meal for the Philistines.

Or he might have been ground up whole into a David juice similar to green juice, or pounded into David powder like flour.

However, it was Goliath, not David, who ended up like that.

—I will not follow in those footsteps.

King David is protecting me. No matter how strong I am, the enemies must have some unknown means to inflict effective damage on me. I must always keep that in mind while fighting.

That’s what makes a true warrior.

“Ugh…!”

I recalled that story and carefully took out the monster’s insides and arranged them on the floor.

—Thud.

They were incredibly unpleasant-feeling organs. I had never seen anything like them before, and they were black, but somehow, I felt something like regularity.

“Hoo… it has proper organs inside. Compared to the Death Knight we found last time, this one seems more normal.”

Risha seemed to feel the same way and said that.

—Poke, poke.

Soon, she summoned a small hand and ordered it to search through the organs directly. I, along with Karin, looked around the other corpses, stabbing and cutting them.

Cloudy, Liz, and Hilde watched the work from behind.

“It looks kinda gross, but there’s nothing particularly special.”
“Yeah. I guess not all beings from another world are strong.”

It was surprisingly anticlimactic, considering such a large palace was summoned.

I thought some bastard who seemed like the owner of this palace would suddenly appear. The lord of another world… is that what you’d call it? Anyway, I thought some damn strong bastard would come out, but only grunts appeared.

Lord of another world?

“Ah, wait, Liz. But aren’t these guys just grunts?”
“…If they’re grunts, there must be a commander.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Maybe there are some damn strong bastards.”

As soon as I said that, Cloudy replied.

“That could be true. Usually, those kinds of beings come out when you go deeper. In this case, maybe they’ll come out if we go higher?”
“That’s a possibility. We’ll know once we explore more.”

That’s why we came here.

For now, let’s kill these monster bastards here and gather information.

* * *

Even Risha couldn’t identify the monsters’ identities just by touching their corpses and organs a few times. How could she know about beings from another world that she’s only just seen? Anyway, we made a map while traversing the first floor of the palace, and we fought several battles along the way.

We couldn’t find any new entities. Just the same guys launching wave after wave of attacks and then retreating. So the battles weren’t a problem.

However, as we advanced, we could only find strange things when we searched the rooms that appeared.

“Katt, Mr. Katt!! This is a cup!! It’s definitely a cup!!!”

Inside the first room we encountered, we could find various items.

They were cups that seemed to be for decoration, or just miscellaneous things like that. Were they cups used by the original owners of the palace? They had strange patterns on them, and those items were just rolling around on the floor without any furniture or anything.

“Hilde, do you have cups in Pandemonium too?”
“Of course we do! It’s not like it’s a primitive society there!!”

Like this, cups were used regardless of dimension. So it’s not strange that beings from another world use these tools.

“Hey, hey. Wait a minute. That cup.”

But then, Karin strode over and stood in front of Hilde.

“Yes?”

As Hilde expressed her doubt, Karin said with a serious face.

“What’s it made of…?”
“What…? Ah! Lady Risha!!”

What’s it made of?
At those words, everyone’s attention was focused on Risha.

“Where is it? Let me see.”

Hilde handed the cup to Risha, and silence fell. What’s it made of…? Karin, a professional assassin and master of the sword, is an expert in metals. Karin suddenly pointed out the material of the cup with a bewildered look.

Everyone noticed what that meant.

“This is…”

Soon, Risha opened her mouth.

“I don’t know what metal it is.”

She doesn’t know what metal it is.

—Unknown mineral.
Rare metal…!!!

“Rare metal? Is that for real?”
“Oh my, rare metal… that’s a good gain, isn’t it?”

Cloudy said, touching her lips.
Is it really rare metal?

“Ri, Risha, sis? Really? Is it really rare metal?”
“I don’t know for sure, but at least it’s a mineral that I don’t know, so I guess it’s a metal from another world.”

I couldn’t help but be shocked at those words.

“Metal from another world!!!!”
“Wow… something like this comes out.”
“If it’s metal from another world, it’s rare metal!!”

Karin and Liz also seemed excited.

We immediately looked at the other items as well. I don’t know the details, but Risha, Karin, Cloudy, and I all didn’t know what mineral it was made of, and they all seemed to be made of the same material.

“Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!”

With our motivation fully charged, we ransacked the inside of the palace, breaking down all the doors of the rooms and taking all the junk inside. After taking as much as we could, we returned to the entrance of the palace.

Rare metal!!!

Rare metal was found in the palace of another world!!! It wasn’t a lie that a huge treasure was found inside the architecture of another world!!! These metals are bound to be worth a lot of money!!

Regardless of their actual use, just the fact that they are minerals from another world gives them immense value!

—Rumble!!

However, we weren’t the only ones who acquired the junk made of this unknown mineral. The closer we got to the entrance of the palace, the more soldiers, knights, and mages we encountered who were trying to return with similar junk in their hands.

“We’re going to be rich!!”
“I knew it!! I’m glad I came!!”
“Turbine died, but it’s okay!!! It’s rare metal!!!”

They were all excited.

“This… it wasn’t for nothing that another world is profitable.”

* * *

Like that, we camped in the Great Plains and explored the palace. Merchants came to sell food and other things, and there was a lake nearby, so there was no problem with washing.

The merchants even built temporary wash facilities for men and women, charged a fee, and opened the doors. Everyone, regardless of gender, was looking for an opportunity. Above all, hygiene was an important value even in this other world.

Anyway, we slept in the wagon.

“Alright, let’s go make a fortune today!”
“Are all the potions sold?”
“Line up!!!”
“Hey, we’ve got enough, shouldn’t we just go back?”
“What the hell are you talking about!! We need to get more!!”

—Vigor.

It was literally the vigorous exploration of heroes. The fact that junk made of unknown minerals, that is, rare metals, was coming out was truly groundbreaking.

The few Royal Army soldiers also carried out the exploration with almost no control, and private experts were also obsessed with entering the dungeon.

A strange heat was rising, and armed personnel were laughing and heading inside the palace. This kind of opportunity is rare.

Of course, the Royal Knights and the combat mage unit that Lord Malja brought were the most profitable. Since thoroughly trained people were attacking the palace with group actions based on orders from above, they naturally had to take a lot.

Of course, we also took a lot, but because we lacked numbers, we couldn’t take as much as them. Nevertheless, rare metal junk kept piling up in our wagon.

However, this trend led to other problems.

It was good that the exploration was accelerated, but that meant that there were more victims. There were missing people, of course, but also the dead. And there were also many people who were `kidnapped` by those guys.

—Casualties.

It seems that there were criticisms and concerns that this was giving `fresh food` to those unknown beings from another world, but that kind of thing couldn’t extinguish the greed of the people of this world, and in reality, it didn’t work at all.

Whatever the case, everyone headed to the palace.

We were the same.

—Kkyaaaaaaaa!
—Kkyaaa! Kkyaaaaaaa!!
—Kkyaaaaaaa!!

“These bastards!!!”

We haven’t even explored the entire first floor yet, but somehow, I started to feel that the monsters were becoming more ferocious as the days went by. Of course, no matter how ferocious they became, they couldn’t beat us.

“Father. The monsters seem to be getting more aggressive.”
“I’m feeling it too.”

Ari was also noticing.

“Hmm… as I heard, they may have tasted human blood and completely recognized them as food. Maybe this palace was drifting in the space of another world and was suddenly summoned to this land? If so, the monsters must have been starving.”
“That’s a scary story.”

Risha said something that seemed quite plausible, and Karin and others agreed. Anyway, we continued to fight today in search of a room with junk.

“Retreat, retreat!!!”
“Uwaaaaaa!!”
“We can’t handle it!!!”
“Run away!!”

In the meantime, we encountered some soldiers who were retreating. It was a squad of soldiers, but they weren’t Royal Army soldiers. Judging by their haphazard equipment, they might be a mercenary group.

“What’s going on!!”
“Run away quickly! A strong one has appeared!! One we’ve never seen before!!”

They answered my question roughly and ran past us. They looked as desperate as elementary school students who rang the doorbell of a gangster’s house who was released from prison on charges of assault resulting in death.

“A strong one? It’s not something we need to worry about, is it?”
“That’s right. Karin is right. Whatever, let’s go.”
“Mr. Katt! We have to go punish them!!”

We should.

We headed straight to where those soldiers had run away from.

—…

As we went, we found puddles of blood.
Is it the trace of the battle that just happened?

“Katt. Look at the traces.”
“Hmm?”
“It looks like the corpse was dragged somewhere.”
“Wow.”

As Cloudy said, the bloodstains led to the room in front of us. Did they drag the corpse there? There’s no other way. After making eye contact with her and the others, we headed to the room where the traces continued. It seems that a strong one is inside.

—And when we checked the inside of the room.

I was inhumanly shocked.

—Twitch, twitch!

A person was caught in some tentacle. The tentacle came out of a part that looked like the spine of a monster that looked like a strange brain, and the large one wrapped around the person with its tentacle and was piston-stroking with `something that looked more special` stuck in his mouth.

—Twitch, twitch!

The person who was caught convulsed according to the movement.

Next to him were other people who were bleeding and collapsed, and monsters from another world who were sitting quietly.

—Thud.

The `brain monster` who found us released the tentacle and dropped the person.

—Sway, sway.

The fallen person began to convulse, and soon his skin twisted and began to perform the most unclean transformation in the world.

—Squeeeeeeeeeeeak!!

It was literally an instant.
A person, that is, a human.

Transformed into a figure similar to the monster from another world next to him.

“Kkyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

The reborn monster screamed.

“No, way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”