⌜Chapter 8⌟

The Hidden Dungeon is a dungeon that is hidden beneath the Black Iron Palace.

The entrance to this dungeon is located outside the Black Iron Palace, and is accessed through an underground water supply. The dungeon has a notably high level difficulty, despite being on the 1st Floor. The dungeon's walls are made of black stones and lined with columns.

A safe area lies at the end of this dungeon, which is guarded by a monster called the Fatal Scythe.

This is also where Kirito met Yui, the kid who could f*cking control the system, but anyway, my purpose for going there is not to get Yui but to get the Fatal Scythe, it was a quest I got from an NPC that I met at a certain hidden place.

That's for another time, there are 3 types of monsters in the hidden dungeon, and all of them were much powerful than the normal monsters that I have fought before, first is the Scavenge Toad.

Although it is found beneath the Black Iron Palace on the 1st Floor, its power level can be compared to monsters that are around level 60. The creature uses its tongue as a weapon and drops «Scavenge Toad Meat».

The monster is a huge green slimy frog-like creature with two glowing red eyes on either side of its head. It has two short horns protruding from the top of its head and red markings on its back, head, and front legs.

I have already forgotten how much I died in front of this monster, and it was the weakest one in this hidden dungeon, I don't know how much time has passed because every time I die, I will go back 24 hours in the past.

Yes, it's shitty, at least it's not as shitty as the one Subaru have where he would return to the save points that he saved unknowingly, still, even though this ability is shitty, it was very helpful in this death game where you have to make a sacrifice to get stronger.

And mine has its advantages when I die, I won't lose anything, not one bit of my experience nor not one bit of the items I picked up, it meant that everything I had before I died, I won't lose any of it.

It was also the reason why I'm more powerful than everyone else right now in the game, yes, its a cheat but even with my advantages, I still lack something called fighting experience, that is why I died a lot of times despite having high level and good items.

Anyway, fighting these toads were very difficult at first, I died the moment I met one, they moved in packs and there are some that waits to ambush me, but after dying a lot of time and memorizing their movement pattern, I was able to slowly make my way deeper into the dungeon.

These toads also drop frog meat, yes, frog meat is an exotic food that was mostly eaten in Asia, I once tasted it in the Philippines in my past life, and it tastes the same as chicken, I especially like it deep-fried.

After killing tons of these toads and acquiring a lot of them, maybe I could sell these on the surface, none of the players are looking for good food right now since they were busy 'surviving' by hiding in the town not accepting what happened yet.

But I'm sure in a month's time, they will finally snap out of it and clear the floor, that is if they got before me, killing the last toad of the pack, I decided to rest, I have been grinding for a long time now, it won't be too long for me to meet the second monster.

Setting up a fireplace in a good position, I sat with my back against the wall and took out the frog meat, its size was bigger than normal frogs since the toads were bigger and they were at the height of my waste.

I took out a few pieces, from my inventory and started marinating it, I could have done it with the production system, but I feel like letting the system do it loses the core of the dish, it must be prepared meticulously, and be prepared with the chefs own hands.

Sprinkling some salt on the meat, I stabbed it on a stick and grilled it on the fire, I don't have that many ingredients yet so salt is the only seasoning I have, for the other seasonings, from what I know, you could get it from doing quests on the higher floors.

Speaking of ingredients, I also remembered the rare rabbit, was it called Ragout rabbit, it was an S-class monster and was known as the fastest monster in sword art online, I don't know which floor could it be found but my joy in this game, for now, was looking for good food so it was one of my musts to eat list.

While I was imagining eating a lot of delicious food in this game, a delicious smell tickled my nose making me snap out of my fantasies, I immediately turned my attention back to the frog meat and could not help but salivate.

I just seasoned it with salt and it already smells this delicious, I wonder how would it taste when I add more rare seasonings and ingredients, wiping the drool from the corner of my mouth, I waited for a while until its fully cooked then I picked the meat and started blowing on it.

"Now then, let us see how good this meat is, thank you for the food!"

*Bite!

"Mmhhhhhh~!"

I have an unbelievable foodgasm that I never had before, is this how the characters from Shokugeki no soma characters felt when they eat delicious food? damn, I always thought they were over exaggerating but having one was bliss.

In the end, I ate 10 more pieces experimenting with how much seasoning I should add, after that, I continued venturing into the dungeon.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Quotes:

"Im afraid to die because ill be considered selfish."

"Im afraid to live because ill be considered worthless"