*
It happened in an instant.
Countless electromagnetic cannons fired in straight lines all at once.
Pshuuuuk—
Steam rose from all over.
Standing among the fallen monsters, the child was clutching a fork tightly in her hand.
Around her, chick drones flew as though guarding her.
‘What on earth is this…….’
Theodora swallowed a groan.
How could a kindergartener subdue that many monsters all at once?
Could it be…….
“So you’re the Hunter called Jjap-sso.”
So there was a reason Jjap-sso never revealed their identity.
Theodora bit her lip and was just about to attack.
Suddenly, the dungeon’s subspace distorted, and just as a hole seemed to open in midair, two figures abruptly stepped into the dungeon.
They headed straight for Geuru.
“Geuru!”
First, the child with white hair leaped into Geuru’s arms.
“Master.”
The black-haired child looked Geuru over, swaggering with his hands in his pockets.
It was Mephisto and Beilak.
“I told you to watch the store.”
“Sorry. I was worried…….”
Mephisto answered gloomily, his face buried against Geuru’s shoulder.
Perhaps thanks to the SSS-grade filial nourishing meal she had made for him before, Mephisto could now freely return to his original form.
Apparently displeased with Mephisto acting spoiled, Beilak used both hands to pry the two of them apart.
“Separate, separate.”
At that, Mephisto glared coldly at him while still hugging Geuru, and Beilak narrowed his eyes and met his gaze.
Before the two could start fighting again, Geuru pushed Mephisto away.
Meanwhile, Theodora began to boil with anger at the children’s utterly unguarded behavior.
‘How dare they, when I’ve become SSS-grade?’
In an instant, Theodora’s attack came rushing in.
Her fist thrust straight in like a sharp spear, carrying a blatant intent to crush the children to pieces.
However.
Mephisto reached out a small hand and easily blocked Theodora’s fist.
“……How?”
The child narrowed his eyes and said,
“You are not a vassal.”
At those words, Geuru tightened her grip on the fork.
If she was not a vassal, it meant that even if Geuru opened the Snowfield, she would not be able to exert the Lord’s power.
Theodora Weiss would not submit like the other vassals.
“Geuru will do it. Mephi, stay back.”
As Geuru tried to take a step forward, Mephi smiled brightly.
“Nooo, it’s all right.”
Then he clenched his fist.
At the same time.
Craaaack—
*
A Great Dungeon had suddenly appeared at Justitia International School.
Because of that, the Hunters all gathered in one place as if their feet were on fire.
At the makeshift tent urgently set up in front of the Great Dungeon.
The top-ranked Raid Team Ones from the major guilds had all assembled.
Once the brief briefing on the Great Dungeon was over, the Association President cleared her throat.
It was a Great Dungeon that had appeared without warning, unprecedentedly.
Since they knew nothing about what monsters might be inside or what kind of territory it was, they first had to form and send in an advance team to assess the situation.
After obtaining information, the proper raid team would then be selected and dispatched. That was the procedure.
But in a situation like this, the advance team was far more at risk than the raid team.
This was not just any place, but a Great Dungeon.
It was only natural to fear jumping into an unknown space without any information at all.
“What’s with a Great Dungeon all of a sudden?”
“Don’t tell me this is a mutated dungeon too?”
The Hunters murmured among themselves.
Although the people gathered there were all renowned even among Hunters, their voices clearly revealed their bewilderment and reluctance.
In that atmosphere, when the Hunter Association President opened her mouth, everyone focused on her voice.
“Then, for this advance team……”
Gazes filled with desperate hope that it would not be them poured toward her.
“First……”
It was then.
Before she could even finish speaking, Jurim, who had been checking his watch, opened his mouth.
“I’ll go in alone and assess the situation.”
Having said that, Jurim did not even wait for an answer and immediately left the tent.
“……?”
At the sudden action, the Association President opened her mouth with a bewildered expression.
But sighs of relief burst out from the other Hunters.
There were even some who, now that it was over, bluffed that it would have been fine if they had gone.
And Gidan and Serhi, who had been standing behind Jurim, looked at each other and muttered quietly.
“Hey, should we follow him?”
“Don’t go and get in his way for nothing. Just stay put like a nobody.”
“A nobody?”
Meanwhile, Jurim was standing in front of the gate to the Great Dungeon.
Of all places, the gate had opened at Justitia International School.
That was why he had stepped forward for something he normally would not have.
If it was a mutated dungeon, there was no telling when it might turn into a Red Gate.
He wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
For the children who would be at Justitia.
No, in truth, for Geuru.
Right now, the children were probably being urgently evacuated into the buildings.
Thinking that he should go see Geuru as soon as this was over, Jurim stepped into the gate.
And once he actually entered the dungeon, he realized just how gravely mistaken he had been.
Inside the dungeon, which resembled a laboratory with the sharp smell of chemicals stinging his nose.
At the center of it, three children were squatting.
In the middle, they had placed what looked like an ostrich egg.
Jurim checked the information on the ostrich egg and frowned.
[Modified Theodora Weiss (SSS)]
SSS.
It was clearly the boss of this dungeon.
And yet the platinum-blonde girl, who seemed to be the leader, poked the SSS-grade egg with her fork and said calmly,
“What should we do?”
“I want to eat it!”
Mephisto shouted.
“This time it’s me! Only taking care of Mephisto every time is discrimination!”
Beilak huffed beside him.
“Hmm.”
Geuru rested her chin on her hand, then soon nodded.
“Okay. Then I’ll make fried eggs and split it between you two.”
Geuru took a pink frying pan out of her inventory.
“Great! I want to eat it!”
Mephisto was delighted.
“This time I’m eating a whole one by myself!”
But Beilak expressed his dissatisfaction, clearly not satisfied at all.
And as Jurim watched the three squatting children, he felt extremely dizzy.
Was this really his child, talking about turning the dungeon boss that even veteran Hunters feared into an egg and frying it to eat?
He had known that the child could transform monsters’ forms, but hearing about it and seeing it in person had completely different destructive power.
On top of that, seeing them fight over who would eat it made him feel overwhelmed beyond endurance.
“…….”
In the end, he strode over to the savage little beasts and snatched up the egg.
“Huh!”
“On Jurim?”
“Dad!”
Mephisto, Beilak, and Geuru spotted him at the same time and shouted.
The children immediately checked the egg in Jurim’s hand and clung to him.
“I want to eat it!”
“Hand it over, On Jurim! That is my nourishing meal!”
“Dad! You can’t hold it like that!”
On Jurim held the egg above his head with three children hanging from him, his face pale and drained of blood.
He said to the little beasts,
“Listen. You don’t eat just anything.”
“I want to eat it!”
“Why am I always the only one you won’t let eat!”
“No, Dad! I’m gonna fry it and eat it!”
In truth, wasn’t the SSS-grade disaster not the monster in his hand, but these three hanging below him?
He had to hurry and wrap things up before the other Hunters came in and saw this.
He immediately turned the egg in his hand to dust.
At that, the children’s faces fell into despair in an instant.
“On Geuru.”
“……Yees.”
“You don’t feed animals just anything.”
“Hiyung…….”
Was this really the right way to educate her?
Jurim once again thought that raising a child outside the standards was far too difficult.
“Who are you calling an animal!”
“I’m a bird, so I can eat it!”
Beilak, who had shouted that he was not an animal, looked contemptuously at Mephisto, who was proudly calling himself a bird.
Mephisto brazenly met his gaze with an expression that said, “Why, what, why?”
In the meantime, Jurim quickly crushed the core left in his hand, then used an item to hide the children from sight.
Because if anyone saw this mess, even he would have no idea where to begin explaining.