Ch.4848. Howling Darkness

The next day.

Amon’s party, having returned to the surface, gathered at the training ground to discuss the dungeon.

After pushing the training equipment to the corner, the party members looked around Amon’s training ground with curiosity while he brought in a chalkboard.

“Wow. Our party leader must really be rich. Even at my university, only the wealthy kids rented places like this.”

Vox, the ogre heavy gunner, muttered.

Though it was just a personal training ground about the size of a tennis court with no special facilities, renting such a space cost a considerable amount.

A training ground wasn’t just an empty space—it was a place where no one could observe your training process.

Of course, a mercenary’s income could afford such facilities to some extent.

But since mercenary income was so irregular, only those with stable earnings could afford to rent such facilities.

“Renting a place like this must cost quite a bit in monthly fees. You must have some additional income?”

The minotaur tank rubbed his chin in admiration.

Amon, who had just brought in the chalkboard, overheard the muttering and answered.

“No comment.”

Between the income from mercenary work he did during breaks from dungeon diving and the royalties that came in just for breathing, maintaining this facility wasn’t particularly burdensome.

Amon’s companions looked at him with envious eyes.

[I think I know the secret to our leader’s skills. As expected, those with solid initial capital grow faster.]

The mute sniper nodded as she spoke.

Not all mercenaries were like this, but mercenaries—whose bodies were their resources—were improvement-obsessed monsters.

They couldn’t help but want training grounds or research facilities like this.

But without the money, they could only practice shooting at relatively cheap firing ranges.

Of course, such places couldn’t offer practical training, so they weren’t comparable to a proper training ground.

“I wish I had a place like this too, like Amon.”

The mercenary mage expressed her envy.

Amid his teammates’ envy, Amon casually said:

“You can come here to train on your days off. Kathy and I only use about half of it anyway.”

“”…Huh?””

“Didn’t you know? Kathy’s been renting this place with me and training here too.”

Kathy nodded beside Amon.

The other teammates looked surprised, glancing back and forth between her and Amon.

The minotaur tank, representing the others, asked:

“Is that really okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Let’s stop talking about the training ground and discuss the dungeon.”

“Huh? Oh… right.”

The party members, who had unexpectedly received permission to use the training ground, looked slightly awkward but their lips twitched upward.

Though the strategy meeting began in a somewhat excited atmosphere, everyone focused on the chalkboard once the dungeon discussion started.

Amon drew a circle on the chalkboard marked B1.

“Let’s call the floor where we first detected the anomaly B1.”

The anomaly Amon’s party detected was that the dungeon had begun placing monsters with specific counters to certain weapons or classes.

Since the previous floors weren’t much different from other dungeons, they were named A1-13, and the floors after that were designated with B.

“The ghouls we met in B1 seemed specialized in neutralizing snipers.”

They had leather that bullets couldn’t easily penetrate, could climb walls, and moved silently.

Moreover, they blended into the dungeon’s darkness as camouflage, and being undead, they couldn’t be detected by thermal imaging.

If Amon’s party’s sniper hadn’t been equipped with magical detection eyes, she might have been hit from behind and wiped out instantly.

[Looking back, it was strange. Usually, undead rush at the vanguard as soon as they see them. But those ghouls seemed to be waiting until our party passed by.]

The mute sniper rubbed her arms as if getting goosebumps remembering the incident.

The minotaur tank patted her back reassuringly.

Amon continued to introduce the next floor.

“We didn’t fight properly, but B2 had slimes.”

“Yes. Black slimes that consumed electricity. They seemed designed for tanks who have to fight in direct contact with slimes.”

“Judging by how they exploded when they died, even the vanguard could get covered if they made a mistake.”

“Then the exploration would fail.”

The dual mage sighed deeply.

Neutralizing snipers on the upper floor, disabling cyberware on the next floor—if each class was systematically neutralized one by one, dungeon conquest would become impossible.

This filter-like dungeon structure, like a water purifier with ten layers of filters, was exhausting in many ways.

And that wasn’t the only problem.

“There’s no guarantee that creatures from upper floors won’t appear on lower floors.”

“In fact, that possibility is quite high.”

Kathy agreed with Amon’s statement.

Assuming specialized mobs accumulated as they descended, they would need to change their formation for each battle.

The resulting fatigue was just a bonus.

“The placement is truly malicious.”

The ogre heavy gunner grumbled.

In Amon’s words, it was a dungeon that played really dirty.

“Perhaps this arrangement was also suggested by the corporation behind that boss?”

[I think so.]

The dual mage and mute sniper sighed heavily.

But sighing alone wouldn’t change anything.

They stopped complaining and began strategizing with the information they had.

“First, Kathy and I will handle the B1 ghouls.”

The minotaur tank couldn’t do it because he needed to protect the rear.

The mage couldn’t handle the ghouls’ ambushes due to insufficient firepower and casting time.

Naturally, Amon and Kathy, who used sword and spear, would take on the ghouls.

“Fortunately, they seem to only account for guns, so they cut well with blades.”

Being specialized against a specific class meant being vulnerable to others.

By focusing on sniper resistance and stealth, these ghouls were extremely weak against vanguard fighters.

Amon and Kathy could handle them without much difficulty.

“Next are the electricity-consuming slimes in B2. I’ll handle those too.”

Amon had no machinery in his body, so he would be safe even if showered with slimes.

Kathy’s spear was mechanical, making it awkward for her to attack slimes.

The party prepared various scenarios afterward.

It might seem excessive, but there was no harm in being prepared.

Undead specialized against genetic modifications, undead specialized against magic inscriptions, undead specialized against vanguards, and so on.

They discussed how to deal with such creatures if they appeared.

And as the discussion continued, they realized something strange.

“Doesn’t the party leader seem able to handle a lot of these threats?”

Only after the minotaur tank pointed this out did the party members notice.

Except for suicide bombers, Amon could deal with most specialized undead.

Everyone’s gaze fixed on Amon.

“Do you not have any mechanical modifications at all?”

Amon nodded in response to the minotaur tank’s question.

[What about magic inscriptions?]

He shook his head at the mute sniper’s question, saying he hadn’t received any.

“Have you not undergone genetic modification either?”

He nodded again at the ogre heavy gunner’s question.

“So you’re this capable with just one essence?”

He nodded once more at the dual mage’s question.

The party members’ jaws dropped.

Watching their reactions, Kathy chimed in:

“See? I bet Amon has dragon blood.”

Kathy playfully poked Amon’s side.

Amon grimaced at her and replied:

“I don’t. I’m human.”

“Then explain. How can someone with just one essence—Sky Step at that—perform like this?”

“That’s because I possess Divine Power.”

“…What?”

Kathy froze at Amon’s bombshell statement.

Not just Kathy, but the other party members stopped as well.

While everyone doubted their ears, Amon confirmed what he had just said.

“I can use Divine Power. My enhanced physical abilities are part of that.”

“”WHAAAAT!?””

The party’s shock echoed throughout the training ground.

***

After Amon’s Divine Power coming out and some commotion, the party calmed down.

Amon’s reason for coming out was simple.

They were trustworthy enough now.

It wasn’t right to keep secrets from people he was entrusting his life to, so he revealed it straightforwardly.

He looked satisfied with his disclosure.

But those on the receiving end were dumbfounded.

Kathy, who accepted the situation quickest, asked:

“Why are you telling us this now?”

“Is there a better time than now?”

“Well… no?”

Strictly speaking, this party had never had such a private conversation before.

There hadn’t been an appropriate place or timing.

Eventually, the party members began to accept that Amon was a Divine Power holder.

[It means the party leader trusts us that much.]

Everyone agreed with the mute sniper’s telepathy.

The members accepted it surprisingly easily.

That was because each party member had circumstances no less significant than Amon’s.

A minotaur tank who was a European war veteran,

A mute sniper from a foreign intelligence agency,

An ogre heavy gunner who was a former military contractor researcher,

A dual mage who was a former associate professor at a corporate academy

Each had their own compelling story, so it didn’t take long to accept Amon’s revelation.

They had already shared their past stories in the dungeon or at restaurants, and now it was simply Amon’s turn, so they coolly moved on.

“Then let’s organize our formation around Amon. No matter how meticulous the lich is, a Mystic Power holder…”

“Divine Power.”

“Pardon?”

“I’d prefer if you called it Divine Power, not Mystic Power, in front of me.”

Amon said, fingering the cross hanging around his neck.

Now that they were comrades, he asked for their “respect.”

The dual mage who was conducting the meeting reluctantly corrected herself.

“No matter how meticulous the lich is, he couldn’t have created undead to counter a Mystic… no, Divine Power holder. Undead are especially weak against Divine Power anyway.”

“So we’ll organize around me, but what about supplies?”

“Thinking about minimizing volume… I think we can substitute with energy bars I made myself…”

The party members’ faces turned pale at the dual mage’s words.

The dual mage’s energy bars.

The party members knew those energy bars all too well.

“We’re supposed to eat those? Those feed blocks?”

Amon called them feed blocks, and,

“I may be a beastkin, but I’m not an animal. Even compressed fodder would be better than that.”

The minotaur tank also grimaced.

The other members also showed extreme aversion to the dual mage’s energy bars.

The dual mage’s energy bars.

A cursed food that teammates had tried once and never dared to try again.

Despite their objections, they all had to shut their mouths after a single sentence from the dual mage.

“Do you have any other alternatives?”

“…”

No one could answer.

Eventually, the mage’s suggestion was adopted.

Whether called energy bars, feed blocks, or solidified fodder, the party’s expressions soured as the food was selected.

Regardless, the mage took out those energy bars from her bag.

“Let’s try eating them before we go down. We need to get used to eating them here if we’re going to eat them down there.”

The party recalled the recipe as they looked at the plastic-wrapped energy blocks in front of them.

Genetically modified grain cereal, insect-based artificial meat ham, fake eggs mixed as a base, with added fruit for vitamins and minerals, and some vegetables for dietary fiber.

Add a pinch of salt and a touch of caffeine for energy enhancement, and the twisted infernal energy bar is complete.

For reference, the finished energy bars are vacuum freeze-dried for sterilization.

Amon picked up the infernal energy bar with his fingers and grumbled.

“Damn. Who the hell thought of making this?”

“I don’t know. Someone made it when I was a graduate student at the academy.”

“Then why are you still making them?”

“It’s a habit, I guess. It definitely helps reduce baggage.”

“Sigh…”

Amon took a deep breath, closed his eyes tightly.

And put the energy bar in his mouth.

A few seconds later.

“Pfft!”

He spat the bar back into the bag.

The other members who had been watching Amon anxiously also tried one by one.

And the result was:

“Ugh!”

Not much different.

Even for cyberpunk residents accustomed to sawdust-like chicken skewers or fake boiled eggs that taste like plastic, the dual mage’s energy bars were beyond that.

This was cursed food.

“You get used to it after a while.”

The dual mage took a bite as if nothing was wrong.

Afterward, the mage shared various tips, but advice from someone whose sense of taste was already ruined wasn’t very helpful.

Only after Amon discovered that soaking the bar in water and boiling it with seasonings made it somewhat edible did the bars get officially adopted as the party’s rations.