Chapter 11
「Nyahaha! There's something weird in there-nya! But it's kinda cute-nya!」
After leaving the campsite of Kruse and his groups, they walk for a while and come to a large passageway.
It is more than 20 meters wide and high, shaped like a tsuchinoko with a bulging belly.
Beyond it, the original relatively narrow and low path continued.
Nemu runs in the direction of a kitten-like voice saying, "Mii-mii!"
It was a hollow-like hole, slightly off the large passage.
Something small, even from Nemu's small stature, seemed to be hovering around her feet.
Nemu crouched down and touched it without alarm.
「It's smooth and fluffy-nya. You're round, aren't you-nyaa?」
「Did something attached to you again? I know in the city of Oasis, you were surrounded by cats and dogs.」
「Nemu doesn't like them, but the animals seem to like Nemu-nya.」
「You don't like animals!? Even though you're surrounded by them all the time!?」
「They smell a little-nya」
As is characteristic of beastmen, Nemu is unusually easily favored by animals.
Monsters are different in nature, but small animal-like monsters have often approached Nemu defenselessly.
He assumed that this would be the case this time, so he only gave her a light warning.
The reason for this is that Nemu is a strong fighter herself, so there is little need to worry about her.
However, the fact that Nemu is not an animal lover came as a shock to Mars.
「It was an unexpected coming out. ......Nemu-chan, be careful. Even if it is cute, you never know what it might do to you.」
「I-I'm a little curious too! Is it a cat? Mii-mii, it sound so cute!」
「How could they be in a dungeon? It's a juvenile monster of some kind, I'm sure.」
「But sometimes there are very cute monsters, too. Cute ones that look like they're being kept as pets.」
「Indeed. A rabbit-like thing with horns ...... Al-Mi'raj? I've always wanted to have one of those. My neighbor's house has one, ...... it's cute, that thing.」
「......Would rabbit ears look good on me? If Master likes it, I'm willing to wear it all the time!」
「If Lilia put on rabbit ears, her ears would be cramped!」
The category of monsters has its fair share of less dangerous ones.
Such monsters were kept as pets or domesticated and blended into human society.
Nemu did not strongly discourage the monsters she found, thinking that they might be similar to the ones she had found.
Every dungeon has its out-of-place weaklings. He feels that they exist as food for other monsters.
「We'd better get going, Nemu-chan.」
「Even if they are small, they are still monsters, so don't let Nemu or the pervert woman get too close to them. Ignore them and move on.」
They do not deal with less dangerous monsters.
The group's opinion is that they don't want to kill too many of them.
Naturally, they will kill dangerous monsters, but not unnecessarily.
They do this even in ordinary dungeons, but in the 『Great Norn Tomb』, where even if they defeat them, they will come back to life, they have no reason to deal with them.
Besides, since ordinary monsters have a hostile relationship with the undead, it is more advantageous to keep them alive.
「Nyahaha! You have so many heads-nyaa!? Who's the greatest-nya!?」
「So many heads......? I-I have a bad feeling about this, though!?」
Everyone quietly peeked from behind Nemu at what Nemu was stroking.
It was the size of a basketball.
What was there was――
「It was Hydra!」
「They're in this dungeon too! I thought they were extinct!?」
Hydra, an extinct species of monster they encountered in the dungeon 『Sekhmet』, was there.
It was a squat, ball-like sphere with arms and legs and nine small snakes attached to it like a head.
Lilia said it was a subspecies of dragons.
It is a monster that breathes poison and will continue to regenerate unless the core in its center is crushed.
The size of the adult would be as huge as two 16-ton trucks stacked on top of each other.
But no matter how many times you see it, Mars thinks it is an unbalanced creature. It looks like a bun with a snake growing out of it walking around.
――It might be a little cute when you look at it like this. But are the snakes were creatures that make a squeaking sound?
The kitten-like Mii-mii and roundish form of the figure do not look any cuter than one would expect.
It was lunging more and more toward Nemu's shins as if it was nipping at them, but they were softer than they looked, or perhaps they were repulsed by the munching.
「I forgot! That thing is poisonous! Get away from that, Nemu-chan!」
「Nyaa? Are you poisonous-nya? Nemu doesn't smell anything like that-nyaa」
「It is not poisonous when it is a child. ......? W-with that said, get away from that!」
「Oh, um, ...... there are a lot of those babies over here. ......!? And lots of eggshells too......!」
Young hydras come crawling in from all over the place.
They had no hostile intent and seemed to be approaching purely out of curiosity.
Their kitten-like Mii-mii increased and began to spread over a fairly wide area.
They repeatedly rush to rub their bodies against the feet of Mars and the others, as if they are curious about humans or want to be cared for.
「The den ......! Um, if there are children, then, of course, their parents are there too ......!?」
「I-I was trying not to tell you!」(?)
Lilia's white skin pales even more, and as she says this, the ground shakes with a wobble.
The ground shook as if something heavy was approaching.
「Something big is coming-nya!」
「I-I know!」
Nemu seemed to have detected it with sonar, but the vibration told everyone that it was close enough to know without using it.
And since the children were squealing, the parents would be angry because they thought they had done something to their children.
「Let's run! If it breathes poison in a place like this, we could die!」
Even in a wide passageway, if a huge monster breathes out with its nine necks, it will not be far away from filling the air.
The only way to defeat it is to smash it to pieces, but he doesn't want to get into a battle if he can help it because its blood also contains poison.
The four of them, not expecting to run into such a big monster in the passageway, ran as fast as they could, with Mars in last place.
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