Ch.236Side Story: Midterm Replacement Exam – 3

“There’s still some air inside. We won’t need to explore a submerged dungeon.”

“Yeah. That’s a relief……”

I’d heard that Leviathan’s Gate was completely filled with water inside, creating such a terrifying atmosphere that even several A-rank Hunters who entered first had panicked. This gate, however, had air.

The floor was slippery with moisture, seawater dripped from the ceiling, and the walls were so damp that water droplets were streaming down. I could taste salt with every breath, but at least breathing was possible.

It’s much better than exploring underwater. Plop—I put down what I’d been carrying on my shoulder. The octopus tentacles splayed across the floor with an unpleasant squelching sound.

“…Are you really going to take that with you?”

Karna, who had been nervously glancing my way, asked with a trembling voice. He looked so terrified it was hard to believe he was a Royal Guard knight. Apparently, he was extremely weak against seafood.

“After going through the trouble of packaging it? Of course.”

I tapped the bundle of octopus tentacles, which was as tall as me and much thicker than my upper body. All eight were neatly packaged, waiting for the moment they’d be shipped to land.

In the end, I couldn’t determine whether this creature was a monster that emerged from the gate or just an ordinary octopus that had grown abnormally large. It did try to escape after losing a few tentacles, but that wasn’t enough to make a judgment.

Even after catching it, I examined it from various angles but couldn’t tell. I’m not exactly knowledgeable about seafood anyway.

‘It’s not like I’m going to research it myself.’

That’s for the Tower Masters to figure out. I’ll just dump it at the Mage Association, and they’ll classify it. If they refuse, I can just force someone to do it.

“I see…?”

Karna, who had been nodding with effort, suddenly froze. Then he wrapped his arms around his chest and carefully turned away.

“D-don’t look this way…”

I wondered why he was acting like that, then realized the reason. Karna was wearing a white dress shirt that was now soaking wet after our underwater excursion, clinging to his body.

In other words, his plain beige underwear was completely visible through the fabric. Below that, his navel and tightly toned abs were also on display.

Karna’s body twisted uncomfortably as he noticed my gaze. I figured I should dry him quickly. With a snap of my fingers, Karna, who had looked like a drowned rat, instantly became dry and fluffy.

“What about you, Mira? Aren’t you going to dry yourself?”

“I’ll just get wet again when we leave. It’s easier to dry everything at once.”

The main reason not to leave clothes wet is to prevent hypothermia, but since that’s not a concern for me, I can endure the discomfort.

“I’ll probably get wet again anyway.”

I drew out Eternal. Karna, who had been tilting his head, also seemed to sense something and reflexively reached for his waist before stopping abruptly. He must have remembered his assigned role.

“Just watch. I’ll do the killing.”

“O-okay. Got it.”

Karna answered but couldn’t take his hand off his sword hilt. He probably felt awkward in his role as just an observer.

While we were talking, creatures emerged from the far side of the dungeon. They were fish-men that looked like human bodies with fish heads attached.

Their heads resembled fish, and their skin gleamed with scales like fish, but from the shoulders to the toes, they had the inverted triangle muscular build of men. They were even walking on two legs, truly deserving of the name fish-men.

“Ugh…”

A small exclamation came from beside me. Apparently, Karna shared my assessment.

I frowned slightly and charged forward first. I stabbed my sword into the neck of the foremost creature, then used a twisting technique to completely burst its upper body. Before the blood and flesh could hit me, I kicked the second one and moved on.

The one I kicked had its spine broken, its body folded in half as it collided with companions rushing from behind. I clenched my left fist, and the fish-men who were tangled and falling over each other froze solid.

I looked for the next target.

“I think we can go in now.”

It took just about 7 seconds to slice through all 29 fish-men. Karna grimaced at the fishy blood flowing from the corpses.

“What do you want to do, Karna? Want to come along this time too?”

“I’ll stay he—”

Karna seemed about to say he’d stay here, but then closed his mouth. His eyes darted between the neatly packaged octopus tentacles and the dead fish-men leaking their fishy smell.

“I-I’ll come with you!”

“Ugh. This really stinks.”

Back on land, I frowned at the fishy smell rising from my entire body as I dried my clothes. I hadn’t expected there would be creatures that burst their own mucus.

I managed to block the mucus itself, but I couldn’t block the smell with my barrier, so despite taking them down as quickly as possible, I ended up in this state. My shoes were a complete mess too.

“Hiiing…”

Karna was half-sobbing while fumigating his clothes with smoke. Since the clothes he wore down were in such a state, he was now dressed more casually than before.

Hot pants-like shorts and a white t-shirt that was slightly too short, revealing his abdomen with the slightest movement. It didn’t seem like his usual style, so when I asked, he said they had been switched out at some point.

“Good. That’s done.”

I sent the head of a mackerel-like fish-man, which I’d brought as proof of our subjugation, through a dimensional door. Karna refused to even look in this direction.

I took out a Post-it note from my bag, scribbled a few words, and fixed it in the most visible spot. Then I opened a gate and threw it inside.

Karna, who had been busy smoking his clothes, looked up.

“Where did you send it?”

“The Mage Association.”

“Really?!”

Whatever was so amusing about that, Karna burst into laughter, giggling uncontrollably. It seemed the Mage Association had quite the notorious reputation even among the Royal Guard.

“Pfft! Their faces must be worth seeing. Did you throw it to mess with them?”

“No. I threw it so they could check whether it’s a real octopus or a magical beast.”

Perhaps because they’ve suffered so many annoying things, there was something primitively entertaining about seeing those people panic. If they dislike seafood, they’ll probably be crying while working on it.

This time I didn’t promise to teach them magic afterward, so it’ll be even worse.

“…I’m done.”

After a while, Karna, who had practically burned his clothes, sat down beside me.

“Gave up on the clothes, huh?”

“Yeah. I thought they’d still feel gross even if dried with magic. What about you?”

“I’ll do that after we finish with all the gates. I can always buy a new uniform anyway.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

“I told you that you didn’t have to come along. If you’d stayed here enjoying the ocean view, you could have had a nice vacation feeling.”

“……”

Karna’s cheeks puffed up. He glanced at me like that, then burst into laughter again as if he found the situation ridiculous even to himself.

Come to think of it, Karna must be around the same age as Kang Yuna, but somehow he wouldn’t seem out of place as a student. I can’t even imagine Kang Yuna in a school uniform pretending to be a student without feeling sick.

“Let’s get going. We need to check out the other places too.”

We visited the dimensional doors marked on the map in order: near a wetland, in the middle of a forest, beside a valley, in the middle of a prairie, and halfway up a mountain.

The academy professors had selected the forest, valley, and prairie as candidate sites, but none of them compared to the southeastern beach we visited first.

The valley was decent enough, but even Karna, while saying the valley was nice, clearly couldn’t let go of his attachment to the beach, so it was obvious which location was superior.

“This is the last one.”

After sending the severed head of a werewolf-troll, I entered coordinates for the final dimensional door. It was supposed to be in the middle of a snow-covered mountain, and I could already feel the cold air even before entering.

“What about cold protection magic?”

“I’ve checked.”

Karna showed me the magical device on his wrist. Similar to underwater breathing magic, it displayed the duration of a spell that maintained body temperature and prevented frostbite and hypothermia.

I nodded and crossed through the gate. An immense snowstorm immediately greeted us, so fierce that an ordinary human might have been blown away.

Karna, who came through next, looked around and let out a small exclamation of wonder.

“What an incredible place. No wonder demons don’t live here.”

“Because there’s no reason to stay?”

“Exactly. If they need a place to live, they can stay in the demon realm, and if they want to torment humans, they can just go out and fight. Why bother with this?”

Of course, that applies only to demons, not magical beasts.

“Then those guys must have come out of the gate.”

At the limit of our visibility, severely reduced by the snowstorm, a yeti-like creature was watching us. It was even riding a horse that, like itself, was covered in thick fur.

“I haven’t seen creatures like these before… but that’s probably right. All the magical beasts reported so far were closer to wolves.”

Karna, frowning as he looked in that direction, nodded. Yet his body was reflexively fingering his sword.

“Wait. There are more behind.”

“More?”

New silhouettes appeared beyond the snowstorm. They were also yetis riding fur-covered horses, holding torches and weapons.

But somehow, their weapons looked unusual.

‘…Did I see wrong?’

What they held in their hands were not crude clubs or spears, but swords forged with the precision of human craftsmanship.

“Huh? Are they demons rather than magical beasts?”

Karna also seemed confused, unsure whether they were magical beasts or demons. If these were demons, it would be a significant matter that must be recorded.

—UOOOOOOH!

The creatures beat their chests and howled. Their horses stepped aside, clearing a path. Through the gap, a large silhouette approached.

It was a yeti fully armored with helmet and armor, and even its horse was armored. In its hand, like the other yetis, it held an axe of remarkably intricate design.

“…This gate has quite a unique concept.”

I muttered quietly and aimed Eternal. The creature excitedly pointed at me with its axe. The subordinate yetis systematically drove their horses into formation.

“What should we do? Want me to help?”

“No. It’s fine.”

Magical beasts that know how to use weapons.

The Mage Association would be delighted if I captured them alive.