Chapter 25

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The Hound Dog continued to thrash about. Gradually, its thrashing movements slowed, and its entire body began to convulse.

"..."

There were no words. The three of us could only stare in shock at the Hound Dog, which was gradually becoming less active.

The unexpected effect of that made me break out in a cold sweat.

"...Hey, Daisuke. What did you do? You said you wanted to try something, but this is..."

"...That's right, Kukuri-kun. What did you put in that water gun?"

Suzu-san pointed at the water gun, also known as a water shooter, in my hand with a sharp gaze and a stern voice.

Recalling a previous interrogation, I hesitated to speak.

"Um, well..."

"...Kukuri-kun?"

"It's a diluted hot sauce!"

Feeling fear from Suzu-san's narrowed eyes, I reflexively shouted out the contents of the water gun. It was really scary.

"Hot sauce?"

"An ultra-spicy sauce for extreme spice enthusiasts! I used one of the hottest in the Ruin Sauce series, which is said to be the 4th or 5th hottest!"

Since salt worked on slimes, I thought it might work on other monsters too. After researching online, I came across Ruin Sauce. The description said it was hundreds of times spicier than regular chili peppers, so I thought it might be useful and prepared it.

"Online reviews said it would cause bleeding if ingested, so I thought it might work on monsters..."

Unfortunately, the hottest one had already been discontinued and was unavailable. It was apparently so spicy it had become a dangerous item for display. Instead, I used one that, while milder, was still rated to cause bleeding if even a few drops were ingested.

I diluted and filtered the hot sauce and injected it into a pump-action water gun, which I used on the monster this time.

"So that's the result..."

After hearing my explanation, Yuzi looked at the convulsing Hound Dog with a sympathetic gaze, still on guard. No, Yuzi-kun? It's a monster, an enemy we need to defeat. I didn't do anything wrong, right?

However, I felt a bit uneasy and looked away from the two of them.

"Really... With the salt for slimes and this... Kukuri-kun, you always take actions that are completely unexpected."

Suzu-san sighed tiredly and put her hand on her forehead.

...I'm sorry.

"So, what do we do with it?"

"What do you mean..."

Prompted by Suzu-san, I looked at the Hound Dog, which was convulsing and barely alive. It seemed like it would die soon if left alone.

But we couldn't just leave it, so I turned my gaze to Yuzi...

"Rather than just stopping it, wouldn't it be better to put it out of its misery?"

"Are you talking to me?"

"..."

I nodded silently in response to Yuzi's question.

Well, originally, the plan was for Yuzi to finish it off.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Alright."

I won. After staring at him, Yuzi gave in and agreed to finish it off.

Yuzi let out a small sigh, then approached the convulsing Hound Dog, keeping a wary eye on it. Even when Yuzi got close, the Hound Dog only continued to convulse without any reaction.

Yuzi swallowed nervously, then raised the short sword in his right hand and swung it down at the Hound Dog's neck. The short sword hit its mark, and a small amount of red blood spurted out. Yuzi quickly twisted the sword to finish it off.

The Hound Dog convulsed once more, then went limp.

"..."

Yuzi silently pulled the short sword out of the motionless Hound Dog and stepped back, his steps unsteady.

I could see that Yuzi's face was a bit pale.

"...Are you okay?"

"...Yeah, I'm fine."

He said he was fine, but it didn't seem that way at all. Yuzi was staring at the bloodied short sword with a slightly unfocused gaze. Silence filled the air for a while.

Then, the Hound Dog that Yuzi had finished off turned into particles of light and disappeared, leaving behind a fist-sized reddish mineral where the body had been.

I used my identification analysis skill to determine the nature of the dropped item, and the result was...

"...It seems to be copper."

"...I see."

Yuzi showed no interest in the dropped item and continued to stare at the bloodied short sword, still in a daze. ...He's in bad shape.

I glanced at Suzu-san, took a deep breath, and called out to Yuzi.

"Yuzi!"

"! ...Daisuke?"

After being surprised, he looked at me with a puzzled expression, but he seemed to have come back to his senses.

Yuzi's eyes had a firm light in them that they didn't have before.

"Are you okay?"

"...Yeah. ...Hey, Daisuke."

"? What is it?"

"Killing a living thing... It feels so disgusting..."

Yuzi muttered to himself, almost as if in a daze.

"The moment I stabbed it, the muscles tightened around the short sword, resisting. But when I twisted the sword to finish it off, the muscles that had been tightly resisting suddenly went limp. ...I killed a monster with my own hands..."

"...Yuzi"

"Haha, it's nothing. I was prepared, but it still ended up like this. ...What am I doing?"

I didn't know what to say.

Without saying another word, Yuzi silently sheathed the bloodied short sword, took out a roll of kitchen paper and a container of anhydrous ethanol from his backpack, and began to clean the blood off the sword. I could only watch him silently.

"..."

"Hasegawa-kun, I understand that you're shocked by killing a living thing, but we're in a dungeon. I'm not saying to forget it, but put those feelings aside until we get outside."

"...Suzu-san?"

Suzu-san spoke to the dejected Yuzi in a firm tone. Yuzi looked up from the sword he was cleaning and met Suzu-san's gaze with a somewhat vacant look.

"I also suffered a mental shock the first time I killed a bird, as my father had instructed me to do."

"..."

"I had to hang the bird by a string and cut its throat with a knife. Blood gushed out, filling the container I had placed below. I can still vividly remember the scene. I understand that you're probably shocked and dejected, but now is not the time to be upset."

Suzu-san's story was quite shocking.

Indeed, her family runs a restaurant, so it's not surprising that she had such an experience. I remember she didn't hesitate when we first killed a slime.

After looking at Suzu-san for a while, Yuzi exhaled and had a somewhat relieved, clear expression.

"Sorry, I caused trouble. I'm fine now."

"...Are you really?"

"Yeah. I'm not completely over it, but I'll put it aside as you said."

Yuzi gave a wry smile, sheathed the cleaned short sword, and picked up the dropped copper ore. The copper ore weighed a few kilograms, but Yuzi, having leveled up, easily lifted it with one hand.

"Copper... At best, it's worth a thousand yen. Ha, the life of a monster is literally worth this much."

Holding the copper, Yuzi muttered with a sad expression.

"Yuzi..."

"I understand. It's just a complaint..."

Yuzi put the copper ore in his backpack and slapped his cheeks to regain his composure.

With Yuzi back on his feet, we resumed our dungeon exploration.

I suggested leaving the dungeon at this point, but Yuzi's breakdown clearly exposed our lack of practical experience. We concluded that it would be best for each of us to have at least one experience of finishing off a monster, so I and Suzu-san started looking for monsters to defeat.

"Well, monsters won't just conveniently appear..."

"True. How about you, Suzu-san?"

"No, there's nothing that triggers my skills."

We had been exploring for an hour, and it was time to change the batteries in our LED lights. How low must the encounter rate be if we haven't encountered a monster after walking this far? In a game, it would definitely be classified as a terrible one.

Just as I was thinking this, Suzu-san shouted.

"!? Be careful, both of you! This presence, it's probably a monster! It's coming from the rear passage!"

"! Got it."

"Understood!"

We reformed our formation, weapons at the ready, and prepared for the monster's attack.

A few seconds after Suzu-san's warning, the monster appeared. It was a medium-sized rabbit with white fur and a single horn on its forehead.

The identification analysis revealed it to be a Horn Rabbit.

"Yuzi, Suzu-san, I'll finish this one off!"

"!? Got it."

"Sure, go ahead!"

Unlike the Hound Dog, the Horn Rabbit didn't stop to measure the distance but charged at us with its momentum.

Thinking the water gun, which required a pressurization action, wouldn't be in time, I tightened my grip on the Shiranui and gave the others instructions.

"Both of you, get out of the way!"

Reacting to my voice, Yuzi moved to the left, and Suzu-san to the right. I held the Shiranui horizontally to my right side, dodged the Horn Rabbit's charge to the left, and placed the Shiranui in its jumping trajectory. The blade of the Shiranui, swung horizontally, hit the Horn Rabbit just below its horn, between the eyes, and split it in half with a sensation of the blade cutting in.

The severed halves of the Horn Rabbit's body flew through the air for a moment, then fell to the ground with a sound like a ripe tomato being smashed against a wall, creating a pool of blood.

"..."

I can understand why Yuzi was shocked. The feeling of cutting a living creature was indescribably unpleasant. The resistance was different from cutting a block of meat in cooking, and the sensation still lingered in my hand. The polished blade of the Shiranui had a small amount of blood and fat on it, undeniable proof that I had cut the Horn Rabbit.

The two halves of the Horn Rabbit's body, floating in the pool of blood, turned into particles of light and disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

"..."

"No drop, it seems."

"Looks that way. Are you okay, Daisuke?"

"Yeah, I'm fine for now."

I had mentally prepared myself for this after Yuzi's experience, so the shock was less than I expected, but I still felt a rising sense of unease.

However, I couldn't show it here. I forced a smile and spoke to Suzu-san in my usual tone.

"At least this takes care of one of Suzu-san's quota for today."

"That's right. But we'll end the dungeon exploration here. Let's change the LED light batteries and head back. We can hope to encounter the last one on the way back."

We took turns changing the LED light batteries and set off on our return journey. Since it took us about two hours to get here, it would take the same amount of time to get back, so there was a chance we would encounter something.

We returned along the mapped path at a faster pace than when we came. We encountered another exploration group, but there were no conflicts, and we exchanged brief greetings and parted ways.

Just as we were more than halfway back, a monster finally appeared. It was a Hound Dog, the same type that Yuzi had defeated.

"Suzu-san, I'll use the liquid to immobilize it, then you finish it off with your spear."

"...Okay. Please, Kukuri-kun."

Suzu-san hesitated for a moment at my use of the hot sauce-filled water gun but agreed for safety's sake. I immediately aimed the water gun and fired the moment the Hound Dog was in range. The liquid hit the Hound Dog's face, and it started thrashing in pain. After a while, the Hound Dog convulsed and stopped moving.

"Come on, Suzu-san."

"...Okay. Here goes!"

Suzu-san's spear pierced the Hound Dog's temple. The Hound Dog convulsed one last time, then stopped moving, and its body turned into particles of light and disappeared, leaving behind a marble-sized core crystal.

I checked Suzu-san's face after she finished off the Hound Dog, but she seemed fine, with no noticeable changes.

"Does this complete our quota for today?"

"Yeah, it does. We've each killed a monster once, which is enough for the first day."

"That's right. Pushing ourselves too hard won't end well."

Since we had achieved our goal for the first day, we decided to head back without pushing our luck. We were more affected by the act of killing living creatures than we thought. The best choice was to retreat early and not overexert ourselves.

Even with our high levels, we needed to get used to the feeling of killing monsters over the next two or three dungeon runs.

Thirty minutes later, we encountered no new monsters and safely exited the dungeon, completing our first day of dungeon exploration.

The identity of the liquid was quite obvious. I slightly altered the name.