Chapter 53: Daisytown Dungeon (2)

Joseph Bright.

His name and priestly garb made him seem devout, but the robe was just a defensive item, and his name was merely given by his parents. He was atheist.

Ion, eyeing the upright man, licked his lips.

If I had Wendy Lowell’s shield and Joseph Bright’s healing, I’d be invincible defensively.

Per the novel, Joseph wouldn’t meet Jin Seongha for a while. Ion pondered ways to connect them sooner.

“Command team, to the center!”

Elliet’s loud order rang out.

Elliet, Joseph, Trish, and Onil, representing the federal government, gathered on the central reef to plan.

Exploration skill users reported 3% dungeon progress.

The raid aimed to collect byproducts up to 30% before returning, hence the “first raid” label.

Sorry to the Hunters waiting outside, but there won’t be a second or third.

Ion entered intending to clear it. The others likely would too, especially Onil, who wouldn’t let Agee sabotage the raid and cause an overflow.

“One o’clock, a day’s travel, there’s an island suitable for a base camp. Team A leads, Team B rearguards, Team C centers. All shield holders board with Team C. Get the boats out now,” Elliet instructed, turning off her Moshi after the brief meeting.

Byproduct team members pulled boats from their inventories—single-seaters to ten-seaters.

Ion was on Onil’s team. Onil, treating a scratch on her arm with a potion, headed to a boat. Watching her, Ion approached Elliet.

“I’ll guard the rear. For sonic monster detection, it’s better if no one’s behind me.”

“Fine, take the rear.”

Elliet agreed without suspicion.

The central and right reefs were 7–8 meters apart, separated by rough seas. Ion, clutching his Sansevieria backpack, leaped across easily.

“Hey, Argen! Over here!”

Uiji was on this reef, of course. Better than sharing Onil’s boat. Only the seat next to Uiji was free, so Ion sat there. Skully reached for him, clattering its jaw.

“This guy’s excited again. Kept begging to stick by you during battle. Argen, you don’t still have leaves, do you?”

“Nope.”

“He says no, calm down, buddy. No one’s starving you.”

Uiji pulled a cylinder from his inventory, shaking out oak, zelkova, vine, and maple leaves.

Clack-clack!

Skully dove into the leaf pile joyfully.

Ion envied it. If he could shrink and dive into leaves, eating them until he died, that’d be nice.

A small voice whispered in his ear.

“I’m hungry too.”

Ion wasn’t the only one who heard.

“Huh? Hungry? Was that you?”

“…I didn’t say anything.”

“True, sounded different. What was that?”

Ion quickly wrapped vines around the bat’s mouth.

“No idea what you mean. I’m on monster detection during transit. Don’t talk to me—I need to focus.”

“You didn’t hear it? …Not a siren’s hallucination, right?”

“…”

Ion closed Peter Argen’s eyes.

In reality, he was glaring at the bat, which rolled its eyes to avoid his gaze.

“Hey, we haven’t even started. Chat a bit. We’re the only mercenaries on this boat.”

“…”

“Peter Argen. Hey, Argen. C’mon, buddy.”

“Mercenaries, quiet down. We’re moving out,” the boat leader said.

Uiji saluted with a hand to his forehead. “Yessir.”

The boat crept forward, minimizing noise to avoid attracting monsters.

If monsters attacked, they’d fight on the boat.

It was 20 hours to the base camp island. With mermaid battles at reefs en route, it’d take two days.

After setting up camp, they’d prepare to raid the mermaid nest underwater, but sea battles were risky now.

Hunters were on edge. Uiji strained to hear past the crashing waves for hallucinations or monster cries.

Amid the silence, Ion thickened Peter Argen’s vine-made body, mimicking the soundproof wall used when killing Park Yujik, ensuring no inner sounds leaked. Then he released the vines from the bat’s mouth.

“I told you to stay quiet.”

“Did.”

“Then keep your mouth shut. Did you speak during someone else’s conversation to mess with me? I’ll toss you into the sea.”

“Damion won’t toss me. If you do, no talking to Sanse.”

“I’ve lived fine without talking to Sanse. In a few years, Sanse will talk on its own, so I don’t need you.”

Ion doubled down, knowing Sanse couldn’t hear. The bat, dangling from his hand, wasn’t scared—it widened its eyes.

“I’ll tell Sanse. Okay with that? Sanse will be so disappointed. So sad.”

“…”

“Don’t want that? Give banana.”

“…”

His weakness was fully exposed.

“…Hold on. I’ll give you one during personal maintenance time.”

“When’s that?”

“Twenty hours.”

“Starving. Suffering.”

“You ate a whole bunch before we entered. Deal with it. I can’t help it. I haven’t eaten in a day.”

“Sanse said that. Damion skips meals a lot. Sanse worries.”

Ion decided to eat more in front of Sanse to avoid stressing it.

The bat, speaking from his robe, fluttered to his shoulder. Its light weight prompted Ion to let it stay.

“What? Gonna bite my neck and suck blood?”

“No. I endure hunger. This position better.”

Oddly, this bat preferred sitting over hanging.

Ion opened Peter Argen’s body slightly to peer ahead.

A vast, stormy sea stretched out—dark red sky, deep blue water. Strong winds pushed the boat without the engine, needing only occasional rowing.

Uiji and the others on the boat were visibly tense, flinching at distant hyaaak or kyaa mermaid cries amid the whoosh of wind.

Clack-clack.

Skully kept chattering its jaw.

A Hunter spoke up. “Uiji Krillin, quiet your summon. Every clack makes me think a mermaid’s hitting the boat.”

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Didn’t know some idiot can’t tell bone clacks from boat bumps.”

“What, you bastard?”

“Whoops, hit a nerve. Forgot some can’t distinguish sounds. My bad, my bad.”

“You son of a—!”

Another Hunter restrained him. “Let it go, Simon. Uiji Krillin’s known for his attitude. Fighting here only hurts you.”

“…Tch, damn it.”

Hunters muttered F-bombs but didn’t push Uiji further—his rank was clearly higher.

Uiji didn’t completely ignore them either. He quieted Skully. “Skull, you ate. Get in. Don’t wanna meet those scary guys again? Be quiet.”

Clack.

Skully glanced at Ion, then obeyed, slipping into Uiji’s backpack.

“Damion,” the bat said, watching with Ion.

“I need a name.”

“…”

Ugh, here we go.

“Skull has name. Sanse has name. Damion has name. I don’t.”

“So? Just be Bat.”

“Bat’s species. Want different name. My name.”

Ion said offhandedly, “Banana Bat. Baba for short.”

“Not pretty.”

“You know what’s pretty? You have no memory.”

“I feel it. I choose name. Damion’s taste is bad.”

Where’d it learn aesthetics?

Since confirming Sanse’s sentience, Ion played dramas or movies on his tablet for it when busy. The bat probably picked it up there.

“I’ll be Baba. I’m Baba. You’re Damion. Sanse is Sanse. I’m Baba.”

“Fine, Baba. Be quiet now. Everyone’s on edge.”

“My voice doesn’t reach outside.”

“My nerves are on edge too, so shut it.”

“Okay. I won’t bother Damion.”

Baba plopped onto Ion’s shoulder, its fluffy fur brushing through his clothes. Ion’s neck itched for no reason.

To distract himself, he focused his senses on approaching monsters. Some followed the boat from afar—mermaids or not, he wasn’t sure. He kept tracking them.

Later…

“Damion. I’m bored.”

“…”

Should’ve just dumped this thing on Jin Seongha.

Ion regretted it too late.

After 26 hours of intermittent battles, they reached the island. The raid set up a base camp, ate, and rested in shifts.

Still, the Hunters couldn’t recover fully. No wonder…

“This damn storm never stops? Feels like the wind’s cutting through my bones.”

The stormy rain and crashing waves were relentless.

“It’s not just the storm—it’s the combat style that’s infuriating. If we could just kill without worrying about scales, it’d be easier, but nooo.”

Constant monster attacks made even shift naps difficult.

“A-rank monsters are all pains like Kentis, Changer, Helus. At least only S-rank mermaids have shown up.”

“Hey, that’s just so far. Once we hit the ‘nest,’ who knows what’ll appear.”

Normally, dungeons were cleared by heading straight for the gate stone, but when valuable byproducts were involved, teams detoured through monster habitats. Daisytown’s raid, aiming for mermaid scales, was the latter.

Exploration skill users had pinpointed the mermaid nest 700 meters underwater. They could only hope no other S-rank monsters appeared en route.

“If another S-rank shows up, Onil will warn us. She’s got foresight.”

“Don’t rely on it too much—foresight misses things. By the way, looks like Onil’s fully teamed up with the Hunter Agency. Are both siblings naturalizing to the U.S.? Heard Korea’s tough on mixed-race folks.”

“Dunno, but if they’re coming to the U.S., they should join our guild. We pay better—why go with the feds?”

“Koreans must be freaking out. Should’ve treated them better.”

“Not just Koreans’ fault. Those siblings were pretty arrogant and unreliable.”

“S-rank with foresight? You let some arrogance slide and butter them up. Better than losing them to another country.”

The raid assumed Onil’s move to the U.S. was set.

They don’t realize she’s here just for Solminium. They don’t know its importance yet.

Ion knew Solminium’s value.

The novel only clearly describes mermaids in this dungeon. Onil’s probably planning to take all the Solminium.

Ion didn’t mind if Onil took it all.

Once back on Earth, he’d just take it from her.

He almost wanted to cheer her on.