Chapter 241

How Could Anyone Resist? (2)

I decided to call it quits on today’s exploration.

Running into a dinosaur out of nowhere had taken a lot out of me, too.

But while I was done exploring, there was still work left to do. I had to set up the area where the squirrel lived, so I couldn’t afford to waste any time.

Of course, I still had to let the kids have their nap. I waited for about an hour until they woke up.

"All right. Shall we get going now?"

"Kyuu!"

"Piiik!"

I took the well-rested kids and headed back to the squirrel’s place.

Once we arrived, we resumed our work.

This time, I didn’t wander around the area either.

If I carelessly roamed around, I might run into a beast drawn by the scent of blood.

’There’s nothing I can do about the smell of blood.’

It would be safer if there were some way to erase it, but unfortunately, there wasn’t.

Then again, considering that, it was strange that our shelter had remained safe all this time.

We had Tyrano, but there were still animals that weren’t afraid of a hatchling.

Thinking that, I slowly began furnishing the squirrel’s shelter.

There was no need to go overboard. As long as it could serve as a place to rest in an emergency, that was enough.

’Is there no way to protect it from nearby threats?’

Its defenses still worried me. Running into that dinosaur earlier had made me even more uneasy.

The squirrel could probably defend the place to some extent, but it never hurt to be prepared.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Squeak, squeak! Squeak!"

Just as I was about to build a wall with bricks, the squirrel smacked my leg in protest.

I couldn’t understand what it was saying, so I asked Kkobong to translate.

"Don’t build wall. Looks bad."

"That may be true, but another beast might come here."

"Squeeeak! Squeak!"

"Still no. Gets in way."

"Hmm..."

In that case, there was nothing I could do. Once all the work was finished, we would be able to teleport back to the shelter anyway.

At the squirrel’s request, I limited myself to only the most basic work.

"Buddy, can I build something here, then?"

"Squeak!"

"Says yes."

Fortunately, I was at least allowed to build a brick sleeping area.

I built it in the form of a small cave so that its back would be protected, at the very least.

It might not be particularly cozy, but it should be much safer.

I also laid a soft mat on the ground and left a space where a campfire could be lit.

Cleaning up the surroundings had taken a while, but erecting the walls themselves hadn’t taken long.

’Good. Now all that’s left is...’

For the squirrel to grow the World Tree sapling.

I estimated that it would take three days at the shortest and about a week at the longest.

Until then, we could continue exploring the surroundings and identify any dangerous areas.

"We’ve more or less finished cleaning up, so let’s take a look around the area first. I’ll only take Mr. Ludwig with me, so Kkobong, you stay here and guard this place."

"Understood."

The work had finished earlier than expected, and there was still some time before evening, so we decided to explore the immediate surroundings.

It was too dangerous to explore alone, but moving around in a large group would be inefficient.

More importantly, we were only going to patrol the area as though we were clearing it out, so there was no need for many hands.

"Do you think more dinosaurs will appear?"

[If they do, then we shall simply have to fight them, no?]

"It would be better to avoid them than fight them."

[One can only improve one’s skills through battle.]

"Avoiding fights is also important in this place. Besides, you don’t even fight in the first place, Mr. Cain."

[I believe I am fulfilling my role as a totem quite admirably.]

All talk, as usual. When was he finally going to be useful for something other than interpreting?

Even as I bickered with Cain, I didn’t let down my guard.

Ludwig was slow anyway, so we were taking our time and thoroughly examining the surroundings.

At some point, as we silently walked along—

Grrrrrrr...!

I heard the growl of a beast.

The moment I heard it, I stopped and looked at Ludwig.

Ludwig stared back at me with a puzzled expression. Apparently, he hadn’t heard it.

’What’s going on?’

Shouldn’t he normally have heard it before me?

After a brief moment of confusion, I gestured to tell him that there was a beast nearby.

Ludwig slowly drew his sword and lowered his stance.

We then quietly pushed through the undergrowth and headed toward the source of the sound.

Since our primary objective was to eliminate nearby threats, we intended to ambush it if necessary.

"Grrrr...!"

"..."

It wasn’t long before we reached the place where the sound had come from.

Surprisingly, the creature growling was the same kind of dinosaur we had seen earlier.

It appeared that the area nearby was dinosaur territory—raptor territory, to be precise.

’Is that... an armadillo?’

The animal the raptor was staring at was an armadillo.

Yes, one of those armadillos that curled itself into a ball.

Considering the difference in their sizes, the raptor could probably swallow it whole in a single bite.

Chomp!

My prediction proved correct. The raptor swallowed the armadillo in one bite.

The armadillo had curled itself into a ball to protect itself, but I wasn’t sure whether that would actually work.

The raptor’s bite was powerful enough to crush a thick tree trunk.

At the same time, this was our chance. Every animal lowered its guard while eating.

I signaled Ludwig and prepared to launch an ambush.

Then, just as the raptor repeatedly opened and closed its jaws to chew the armadillo—

Crack!

Enormous spikes erupted from the armadillo’s body.

They were so sharp and pointed that they pierced straight through the roof of the raptor’s mouth.

"SKREEEEEECH!!!"

It looked excruciating even to an observer, so I could only imagine how much pain the raptor itself was in.

The raptor thrashed around, trying to spit the armadillo out.

However, the spikes weren’t straight. They were shaped like hooks.

The more the raptor struggled, the more damage it inflicted upon itself.

’Wow. Even a porcupine wouldn’t be able to do something like—’

Whirrr...

Just as I was thinking that even a porcupine couldn’t do anything like that, a strange noise came from the armadillo.

Then something astonishing happened.

WHIRRRRRR!!!

It emitted an eerie noise and began showing signs of slowly rotating.

At first, it couldn’t move because its spikes had pierced both the raptor’s upper and lower jaws.

But perhaps its internal power was simply that strong—or perhaps its spikes were just that sharp.

GRRRRRRIND!!!

The armadillo’s body, which had initially been rotating slowly, began spinning violently.

What happened as a result?

Exactly what you’d expect.

It had turned into a living chainsaw and literally ground the raptor’s face apart.

Not only its face—it split the raptor’s entire body cleanly in half.

Cr-r-rack—

The two halves of the raptor’s body began toppling to either side.

For a moment, I could only marvel at the sheer variety of insane animals in this forest.

Boing!

Unable to withstand its own rotational force, the armadillo bounced off the ground.

WHIRRRRRR!!!

Then it flew straight toward us—directly at my head.

"Uh."

I barely managed to utter a sound before hurriedly raising my shield.

If that living chainsaw struck me head-on, my face would be left completely unrecognizable.

SKR-R-R-R-REEECH!!!

A moment later, the armadillo collided with my shield.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem capable of cutting through it. It merely produced a vicious grinding noise without advancing any farther.

I groaned and put my strength into forcefully shoving the shield forward.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Having lost its momentum while grinding against the shield, the armadillo dropped helplessly to the ground.

When nothing else disturbed it, it cautiously uncurled itself.

It alternated its gaze between the raptor it had bisected and me, then scampered away.

Its pitiful retreat was completely at odds with the vicious weapon it had just become.

I stared blankly at the armadillo as it disappeared into the undergrowth, then looked down at my shield.

The marks where it had spectacularly ground away the surface remained clearly visible.

What would have happened if I hadn’t had this shield?

The mere thought was horrifying.

[It seems there was something even worse than the dinosaur.]

"...It certainly does."

I wholeheartedly agreed with Cain’s assessment.

Apparently, the smaller creatures were still more dangerous than the big ones.

Unless something possessed an overwhelmingly superior physique, it would be difficult to eat a creature like that.

’But why did this dinosaur try to eat it? Had it never seen an armadillo before?’

I looked at the now-useless raptor carcass before moving elsewhere.

Whatever the case, merely confirming that such a creature existed was a valuable discovery.

We had witnessed with our own eyes exactly what would happen if we messed with it.

’The more I think about it, the more remarkable it seems that our shelter is safe.’

If something like that lived near our shelter, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep properly.

Then again, perhaps wiping out the pack of Mad Dogs and the owlbear had amounted to the same thing.

Afterward, we continued searching the area for other dangers.

Fortunately, we found nothing particularly noteworthy besides the chainsaw armadillo.

"Let’s head back now. Squirrel, keep up the hard work. Here’s a Fasting Pill."

"Squeak!"

After some time, we returned to the shelter. The moment we arrived, exhaustion washed over me.

But I couldn’t rest. The raptor meat soaking in red wine was waiting for me.

While Ludwig handled the cleanup, I checked on the meat marinating in the wine.

’Good. No one ate it.’

I had hidden it inside the oven just in case, and fortunately, it was still there.

I decided to leave it there until right before dinner and began preparing the remaining ingredients.

They were vegetables I had personally grown from the various seeds I’d received from Grow Up Nice and Tall.

The vegetable I had grown the most was garlic. I hadn’t realized garlic was available until recently.

’A Korean can’t live without garlic.’

So I kept growing it until one side of the freezer was filled with garlic.

I had accumulated enough that I wouldn’t need to grow any more for an entire month.

The others asked what in the world I was doing when they saw it, but I completely ignored them.

[At this rate, your breath will reek of garlic.]

"You know that’s a discriminatory remark, right? People from the Central Plains eat a lot of garlic too."

[My apologies. I am from an older era, so I inadvertently...]

Even Cain became self-conscious when I called him out. Still, he apologized, so it was fine.

Besides, it didn’t matter if I had too much garlic. Few seasonings were as excellent as garlic.

It was also highly nutritious, so it could only be good for the body.

"Wonmo, do you want to try this?"

"Kyuu?"

"We don’t have any mugwort, but if you eat this for a hundred days, you can become human."

"..."

At my words, Wonmo cautiously approached and sniffed the garlic.

"Kyuek!"

But the moment its pungent aroma assaulted his nose, he hurriedly fled.

He then alternated a deeply suspicious gaze between me and the garlic.

Judging by how he had puffed up his body, he seemed thoroughly upset.

Not that it made him any less adorable.

"I was joking. Raw garlic is extremely spicy."

"Kyuuuu...!"

"I’ll give you something tasty later."

Only then did Wonmo calm down.

He was as adorable as ever.

Later, while I was placing the garlic on the cutting board and preparing each clove, I noticed something.

"...Why are you here?"

"Piiiiiing..."

Tyrano had been watching beside me with tears welling in his eyes.

It seemed his characteristic curiosity had drawn him closer, but he couldn’t withstand the pungent smell of garlic and fled.

’Come to think of it, didn’t I hear that garlic is harmful to animals?’

Chocolate, onions, green onions, and so on. I had heard that feeding such things to animals was harmful.

Wonmo and Tyrano were an owlbear and a Tyrannosaurus respectively, but it was probably still better not to give them any.

’This portion will be for Ludwig and me, while this one will be for the others.’

I carefully separated the food for the humans from the food for the animals.

Once everything had been divided, all that remained was cooking it. Putting it in the oven felt a little awkward, so I grilled it in a pan instead.

"#$%^%?"

[He is asking whether you could leave out the garlic.]

"No. I can’t."

I answered firmly.

Ludwig grumbled, but I effortlessly ignored him.

People needed to eat garlic. If you didn’t eat a balanced diet, you would get sick.

After all that preparation and cooking, we were able to enjoy meat that was every bit as delicious as beef.

It had originally been tough and gamey, but now it had been completely transformed.

’The dwarf must have given me something really good.’

We still had plenty of dinosaur meat left.

The same was true of the other ingredients, not just the dinosaur meat.

I had somehow ended up eating something that was almost bizarre cuisine, but as long as it tasted good, that was all that mattered.

After finishing the lavish meal, I browsed the gallery until bedtime.

’Let’s see. The auction price is... Eek! Fifty thousand gold?’

Astonishingly, the price of the dinosaur carcass had soared to a staggering fifty thousand gold.

Even after the commission was deducted, I should still earn well over twenty thousand gold.

Since the Head Moderator hadn’t intervened, he must have concluded that there was nothing wrong with the auction.

’There’s still no word from the dwarf, so I guess he hasn’t finished processing the hide.’

That marked the end of my day.

Tomorrow, I planned to visit the squirrel’s shelter and do some training.

Exploration was important, but it was also best to train every now and then.

That would make future exploration easier.

I had to think about the long term.

I closed the gallery and prepared for bed.

’It was a pretty productive day.’

If I kept this up, my chances of escaping would gradually improve.

Moreover, people outside this place—especially the Head Moderator—had promised to do everything they could to help me.

’Don’t lose hope.’

With that resolution in mind, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

And then—

"Oww..."

"Are you all right?"

"No... It feels like my arms and legs are being torn off..."

I came down with a mysterious illness and suffered terribly.