Ch.213[Chapter 213] Dungeon 5th Floor

At the moment when Sir Dominic unwittingly found himself in a cooking showdown with the boss.

“…Seems like no one’s here?”

The magician of Mountain Bridge Marsh peered through a crack in the wall and slowly crawled out.

She was in a mummy-like withered state with pale, trembling skin drained of all blood—so severely dehydrated that her thick makeup was cracking to reveal her bare face.

The terrifying makeup, likely 2cm thick, crumbled away with a cracking sound, scattering into powder.

“Oh no! Not my bare face!”

The magician frantically covered her face with both hands, struggling to restore her makeup.

But once cracked, such fissures cannot be mended.

Finally, as her thick makeup peeled away, her bare face was revealed.

A hooked nose covered in warts.

Mismatched eyes of completely different sizes.

Her chin showed dark stubble marks and jutted so far forward that her profile resembled a crescent moon.

Truly the appearance befitting a witch who had lived for thousands of years.

The magician hurriedly pulled down her witch’s hat to try to cover her face.

Then she urgently sat down and began applying new makeup.

Though some proportions were off due to her haste, the magician returned to her beautiful pre-makeup-removal appearance.

After sighing with relief, the magician tried to stand but collapsed again.

Physical strength depleted from drawing magic circles and mental energy consumed from being conscious of the giant spider.

Already quite exhausted, her frantic attempt to fix her makeup had left her in a state where she couldn’t move a finger.

The magician shuddered at the damp moss sensation through her clothes and cursed Sir Dominic.

“Sir Dominic… Sir Dominic!”

The magician believed Sir Dominic was the reason for her current miserable state.

If Sir Dominic had just shown proper interest, she wouldn’t have gone through such trouble to deal with him!

Though it was ironic coming from someone trying to harm Sir Dominic, the people of Mountain Bridge Marsh were generally selfish.

They were the type to delight in others’ misfortunes while believing their own pain was the most severe.

“So annoying, so annoying, so annoying!”

The magician’s irritated words echoed emptily through the dungeon.

In such a narrow, dark space, her words should have carried far, but fortunately—if it could be called that—the moss growing on the dungeon walls absorbed her words before they could travel far.

“When I catch him, I’ll treat him like a dog. I’ll put a leash on him and treat him worse than livestock!”

The magician spoke as if capturing Sir Dominic was already a foregone conclusion.

Where did such confidence come from?

As the magician continued voicing her complaints, a squelching sound came from behind her, from the wall crack where she had been hiding to draw her magic circle.

And then… a massive red arm covered in stiff, boar-like hair burst out, widening the crack.

…

“What am I supposed to do with this…”

Sir Dominic watched the boss place a rusty cauldron on the hearth and light a fire under damp, worm-eaten firewood.

The ingredients the boss had chosen were horrifying just to look at—so terrible that even attempting to describe them in detail would drain one’s mental strength.

When these dreadful ingredients were thrown together into the rusty cauldron, a sickening squelching sound assaulted his ears—the kind that would instantly kill one’s appetite if heard during mealtime.

The smell was so awful that it made the stench at the 5th floor entrance seem pleasant by comparison—even with his nose covered, Sir Dominic felt like his skin was rotting.

The visual and aroma resembled a plague transformed into soup.

The taste likely wouldn’t be much different.

“Um, if you think it’s too horrifying, you might want to turn off the adult filter. That’s what I’m doing.”

Merry, seated at the judge’s table, spoke as if sensing Sir Dominic’s shock at the terrible cooking.

“Adult filter?”

Sir Dominic asked as if hearing this for the first time.

“You know, on your card, there’s an [19 ON/OFF] option in the upper left corner.”

Sir Dominic hurriedly took out his card and looked at the upper left corner.

There, in very small letters, was written [19 ON/OFF].

“Why doesn’t Gacha Land explain these features in larger text?”

Sir Dominic complained.

“Why on earth?”

“Well, how should I put it… Censorship?”

Merry answered Sir Dominic’s question.

“Think of it as something like that. Censorship followed by unofficial user patches that bypass the censorship… something like that… yeah.”

Sir Dominic didn’t understand Merry’s explanation, but he grasped that he wouldn’t have to witness this horrifying scene anymore.

Sir Dominic pressed the OFF part of the [19 ON/OFF] button.

“…Is this a bug?”

Sir Dominic looked around after pressing OFF.

The sexual jokes between Nanny Catherine with her deeply exposed cleavage and Clown John Doe had disappeared.

Also, Merry’s previously revealing upper body was now covered with a loose-fitting hoodie.

However, the terrible plague soup remained unchanged.

“That disgusting soup is still the same.”

“Oh, right. This wasn’t adult content. It was disturbing content.”

Merry said, slapping her palm with her fist as if just remembering.

“To turn off disturbing content, you need to specify tags to block. For blocking functions, press the gear icon on the card and—”

As Sir Dominic followed Merry’s instructions, finally a [Disturbing OFF] system window appeared, and the horrifying world was sanitized.

However, Sir Dominic felt his head throbbing for a different reason than before.

It had been sanitized too much.

“Let’s cook!”

“Wow! That looks delicious!”

Antre and Antri, who until moments ago had displayed their boss-like dignity with threatening and horrifying appearances, had transformed after the disturbing content filter into round teddy bears with mustaches and two heads—like characters from a children’s program.

The terrible soup they were making had become just a fluorescent green slime-like substance with a visual appeal that children would go crazy for.

“Look at this! What else should we add?”

“Hmm, I think something sweet would be nice. Adding sugar makes food shiny and sparkly!”

Even their dialogue had been adjusted to children’s eye level, which created an enormous sense of dissonance for Sir Dominic, who knew what they had looked like just moments ago.

“Shouldn’t you start cooking soon?”

Catherine, sitting at the judge’s table glaring at Sir Dominic, abruptly remarked.

“There’s not much time left.”

Sir Dominic came to his senses at Catherine’s words.

He opened his inventory to search for anything that could be used as ingredients.

Even though the ingredients now looked somewhat decent thanks to the anti-disturbing content filter, Sir Dominic knew well that those dishes were completely inedible.

After rummaging through jelly and sugar, rice cake powder and candy, checking every corner, Sir Dominic finally found a cup of instant noodles that was about to expire.

…He must have bought it during a previous convenience store visit and forgotten about it.

Sir Dominic’s daily life was a continuous series of events without rest, so it was understandable that he might forget.

Sir Dominic finally realized there was nothing more to eat in his inventory.

Jelly, candy, rice cake powder, sugar, and one cup of instant noodles about to expire.

That was all.

Truly meager ingredients.

Most were snacks more suitable for dessert.

In fact, this could actually be considered fortunate for Sir Dominic.

While his cooking skills were quite good, they were good in terms of home cooking, not restaurant-quality meals.

Above all, Sir Dominic was a man with abundant curiosity.

If he had more ingredients at his disposal, he might have ruined the dish by experimenting with this and that.

Of course, he wouldn’t do that at such an important time.

…Probably.

For now, Sir Dominic urgently took a plate and piled it high with jelly and candy.

Then he poured rice cake powder and sugar into the gaps between them.

Just as he opened the lid of the awkwardly remaining cup noodles, a dull bell sound rang out.

“The soup is ready!”

“Mmm-. It really makes my mouth water!”

Antri and Antre… or rather, the two-headed teddy bear, lifted the entire cauldron and placed it down with a thud in front of the judges.

“Soup tastes best when it’s warm!”

“It’s hottest when eaten right away!”

The teddy bear heads laughed heartily.

It was truly like a scene from a children’s program.

Of course, had this not been a boss battle, Sir Dominic might have lost himself in childhood nostalgia—such was the effectiveness of the filter.

“Come on, try it!”

“It’s absolutely delicious!”

Antre and Antri swung a large ladle to serve globs of fluorescent slime into bowls.

The dish prepared by Boss Antri and Antre was placed on the judging table.