Chapter 111

(I guess this is fillers. I sorta dig my grave on this. Wanna skip it and move to next layer and meet the next Demon Prince and shiz but I feel its a waste to just do big time skip. However this end up with me over stretching the 4 Key dungeons into few chapters then adding random bs along the way coz I wanna procrastinate on starting the juicy part of this Arc? Plot? Whatever it call.)

"I swear if the Boss is just a bigger version of the Tree Roper, I'm gonna destroy this dungeon along with the hell spawns inside it." Ray shuddered as he unconsciously imagined if the Tree Roper that caught him off guard was five or ten times bigger than the normal.

He probably can't get back to being normal after that. That's why he shuddered and feel chill down his spine while trying to eliminate the imagination from his head.

"Seriously, what's wrong with me lately." Ray mumbled while a certain Demon with a veil would be laughing her ass off for the little harmless revenge he set up to Ray.

"Hmn?" Lancelot turns his head from the giant gate decorated with a runic array like a magically sealed door holding a great secret.

"Do you require rest, Ray? Or a meal perhaps? You had been eating nothing but rations and canned food that isn't healthy." Lancelot asked, ready to whip up a quick meal before the Boss battle.

"Something light perhaps." Ray agreed as his constant non stop moving and battle since the first dungeon had made him very hungry.

Normally a ration and a can of coffee can last him at least 6 hours or 4 hours if doing intense activities. But recently his metabolism became weird and a ration that lasted him a few hours couldn't even last him an hour. His appetite also grew that he soon developed a distaste for rations but still fed on it regardless.

Ray is craving meat and foods made of flesh of preys he slain. The common food he ate now tasted no different to eating sawdust. Bland and tasteless.

"I changed my mind. Could you roast me the Leviathan's meat and make me a cup of warm coffee?" Ray asked while he also took out a slice of cheese to be melted and to dip the meat.

"At once!" Lancelot happily accepted the order like an excited chef ready to serve the first customer of the day as he donned his apron with a pink checker pattern while taking out necessary cooking utensils.

The two had a rest at the front of the Boss room where no monster could reach them while the Boss was still sealed behind the large ancient stone door filled with runes that decorated its surface.

Ray started small with a plate of the roasted meat dip in melted cheese and some freshly grind extra black peppers. But, as he continues to eat. Ray realized he was still not yet full after eating more than a portion he usually eats. His stomach even growled for more of the roasted Leviathan meat.

Thinking it's probably because he was stressed or worked extra hard lately. Ray continue to feed the monster inside his stomach more food without realizing the quantity he devoured until Lancelot told Ray they ran out of the Leviathan meat.

*GROWLLL*

The growling noise becomes even stronger like it is shouting its complaint at the lack of food despite devouring an entire adult Leviathan worth of meat.

"Should I cook more food, Ray?" Lancelot asked as he was taking out the leftover bear meat from last time.

"Sure." Ray nodded but the moment the meat was presented, his stomach whined as if a puppy that was fed an A5 wagyu beef suddenly had its meal swapped to cheap dehydrated garbage sold on store shelves.

[Congratulations user managed to awaken the Gourmet Cells.]

[Gourmet Cells]

-By consuming food made from higher tier and mana energy rich ingredients, users can raise physical stats and unlock certain hidden abilities.

"Huh?" Ray looked confused at the notification screen that popped up in front of his face.

"Apparently I unlocked an ability that makes my body stronger just by eating higher grade or mana rich ingredients." Ray informs the concerned looking Lancelot.

"So, this bear is weak?" Lancelot points at the bear carcass on his chopping board.

Ray nodded while holding his stomach that no longer growling for more food like a predator that went into sleep after having a full stomach.

"Anyway, we wasted more time than we planned for this short break. Let's defeat this Boss and get going." Ray picks himself up while dusting his butt.

"We still have two more dungeons to go after this." Ray added while waiting for Lancelot to return the utensils back into his Pocket Space.

"Let's go." Lancelot returned to his battle ready state, with his silver armor and Arondight in the sheath by the side of his hip.

The two walk forward to the massive stone gate and Ray touches it with his left palm before the rune all glows up that triggers the mechanism to open the stone gate which holds back even the strongest Boss behind it.

———

"Fire! Keep every wound light up to stop its regeneration!" Ray shouted his order while holding back his disgust at the Boss that turned out to be what he repeatedly wished not to.

[Ancient Tree Roper]

The disgusting abomination flailing its tendrils, trying to swat away the annoying things that keep spraying fuel mixture that will keep burning regardless of what it did to put it off.

Standing on a higher ground than others, Ray aimed Proposition down at the abomination and emptied more than tens of dozen magazines of his handmade incendiary rounds. Still the tree freak didn't seem to take much damage despite Ray using its opposing element against the Boss.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Asked himself while trying to identify the mistake he was making.

"Hold fire!" Ray ordered in the communication network that connected to all his operators' electronics.

"What happened, Ray?" Lancelot retreated from the frontliner position with the Heavy class operators all and went next to Ray who is focused on observing the boss.

"Something isn't right. Despite using fire attribute against wood attribute, we aren't killing this freak as fast compared to when we are battling Leviathan. We aren't even using the opposing attribute when challenging the Leviathan, yet we take less time to kill it compared to now."

Lancelot didn't comment but also observed the Boss that are flailing in pain, trying to put out the fire while occasionally slamming its tendrils on some Heavy class operators.

When the fire finally lessened on the Ancient Tree Roper, Ray found the reason for the anomalie. The Boss' HP steadily rises by a percentage every second. Ray's gamer instinct screamed a hidden mechanic he missed. There is something that provides the Boss such rapid regeneration and he fails to notice it until now. But where?

Ray's eyes darted left and right, up and down, seeking for something that could be the mechanism he is seeking for.

However, there isn't anything abnormal around the area that looks remotely suspicious. There is just an empty plain with burnt grass caused by rampant and uncontrolled usage of flamethrowers. The middle of the stage is the boss itself and surrounding the edges are trees that are untouched by the fires due to its distance from the center.

Just, what could be the thing he seeks…

Wait, trees! The Tree Roper is a tree and the vitality of a plant came from the ground!

Ray gained a sudden epiphany after remembering the anatomy of a tree. He never put it into thought about the action of Tree Roper always trying to stop the fire on its root before its upper part. Though, now he understands why.

"Aim for its root! Uproot that freak and victory will be ours!" Ray gave his order with unwavering certainty of victory to resume the attack but focused on the roots.

Once again the assault resumed with greater ferocity. Stream of ignited fuel drenched the base of the monster tree and a barrage of rockets, grenades and incendiary bullets further turned the tree monster ablaze.

Blinding flashes of explosion and the sheer heat wave radiating from it didn't deter Ray, Lancelot or the operators. In fact it encourages them even more as rhapsody of destruction was just barely touching its climaxes. Wide area of the ceiling glitched into chaotic holographic cubes before 37 warheads simultaneously appeared and rained down more carnage at the cramped battlefield. Each wave of warheads explode violently and produce at least a 4.0 magnitude earthquake.

Amidst of all this violent explosion, Ray could only feel joy. A joy he never thought he would have. Watching the disgusting freak being burnt to crisp, its body shredded by explosions is enjoyable. Euphoric even, as his blood boils and blood rushing into his head while he continues to blow apart the Boss until not a single microscopic trace of it is left.

"Marvelous! Such an addictive feeling to see that abomination being exterminated by overwhelming firepower." Ray cheered under Ouroboros' headpiece while keeping holding down the trigger to light up the abomination.

This continues for another two minutes before Ray realized that the Boss had died quite a while ago but he didn't notice it due to having blood rushing into his head that caused tunnel vision.

When the battle concluded, Ray dismissed his operators and had to wait because the fire was still raging because of the flamethrower fuel that basically soaked up the entire area. Though Ray's patient runs thin after 5 minutes and there is still no sign of the fire's intensity dying down. He just chucks Cryo Grenades like dumping a bunch of pebbles without value to counteract the fire. He used almost a hundred of the grenades before the fire finally died off.

"Good, now it's time to check on the loot!" Ray excitedly walks to the spot where the Boss was when it's still alive.

"Wait, are my eyes pulling a prank on me right now?" Ray exclaimed while rubbing his eyes.

There is nothing but cryo freeze ash and charred soil. There is nothing within his view that can be categorized as loot.

Usually there would be piles of magical gold coins that can be exchanged for points and materials from the Boss but nothing resembling those can be found at all. When he kneels down and starts sweeping away layers of charred dirt to hopefully find those rewards, he finds molten metal slags mixed with dirt and other stuff.

Turns out those physical rewards were melted by the heat and other dropped materials also ruined by the inferno that no recognizable part can be discovered anymore.

"Well, who cares. Not like I would use any remains of that abomination at all. The juiciest part is the Contribution Ranking reward!" Ray consoles himself and opens the notification screen.

[Congratulations for slaying Ancient Tree Roper .]

[User ranked No.1 in Contribution Ranking with 100% damage done by user.]

[No. 1 Contribution Ranking reward is Progenitor Roper Queen (Battle Pet).]

[Congratulation user obtained the Green Key.]

[User received the reward for clearing the Abandoned Ancient Lab dungeon. Please check the reward in the user's inventory.]

Looking at the reward he obtained. Shadow cast its veil on Ray's face to hide his expression. He took out the egg containing the 'pet' from his screen and held it in his hand for 5 seconds. This is the first time he ever hatched any of the eggs he obtained simply because they aren't useful immediately and need time to become useful.

[Progenitor Roper Queen]

LV: 1

HP: 3000

MP: 600

Status: Curious, Excited, Happy

———

Skill:

Constrict - Lv 1

Paralyzing Tentacles - Lv 1

Aphrodisiac Fluid - Lv 1

Incubate - Lv 1

Camouflage - Lv 1

The blob of slimy repulsive thing on Ray's hand slowly spreads her tentacles out from her body and feels the hand of her new master. Excitedly the blob squirmed and slowly rubbed its tentacle around the hand to greet her owner. Though, the said 'owner' didn't share its excitement at all. In fact it was rbe opposite.

"Many times I heard the term that a child didn't carry the sins of its predecessor. However, I don't think it applies to your kind. Ray said after reading the Progenitor Roper Queen's biography and confirmed this thing instinctively seeks to procreate. Not to mention parasitically.

"Blame yourself for being born as Roper Queen and I will make it painless." Ray said before making a pistol appear in his right hand.

The innocent monster reaches its tentacles and feels the cold object pushed on her body with curiosity.

*?*

The Roper Queen felt the cold metal. It felt uninteresting and uncomfortable unlike the metallic glove of its owner. Despite being metallic, it feels warm and cozy like she is going to melt on it.

*Bang* *Zap*

The Trailblazer pistol shotted the slimy blob of flesh with tentacles. Giving it a swift release before its body turned into dust that vanished into nothingness.

"Ray? Are you okay?" Lancelot asked after hearing the shot and felt concerned.

Ray was silent and stood still on the spot of the slain Boss, staring at something with his back turned to him. As if Ray is hiding something from Lancelot's eye. This further proven when Ray just shrugged and said nothing happened while ushering him to get going to the next dungeon. A set of actions he would do when lying or trying to cover up something.

Though, being an exemplary knight and attendant he is. Lancelot didn't question Ray's secrecy and action unless necessary. Lancelot nodded and unsummon himself while Ray moved on to the next dungeon.

—————

(Sorry for the edgy portrayal. I blame the edginess from reading Eminence of Shadow and watching Fate Apocrypha.)