I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 296: What's That?

We roamed around the dungeon, killing over dozens of sand worms.

During the break that followed, with nothing else to do, I amused myself by poking the fallen sand worms with my arrowhead.

Their skin was tough.

What on earth did these creatures eat to grow so large?

There didn't seem to be anything edible around.

Dungeons truly are marvelous.

The desert that could hold dozens of building-sized sand worms was impressive too.

Just how deep and wide was this desert we were in?

As I pondered these things, Yeoreum approached me.

Yeoreum held up five fingers to me.

I reflexively grabbed two of her outstretched fingers.

My hand was too small to grasp all of them.

"I only shot the final arrow, though."

I hadn't realized it when I killed the first sand worm due to shock, but after taking down two or three more, I understood.

The sand worms were already on the brink of death when I fired my arrows.

Without everyone else, I definitely couldn't have killed a sand worm on my own.

Even though I knew this, I still felt a sense of pride.

"But Gyeoul's arrows did do some damage. That's why the sand worms died."

"Hmm... okay."

I suppose they did some damage.

About 1 point of damage.

To think a monster from a level 6 dungeon, which could be considered a boss, died from just 1 point of damage.

I couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity of the situation.

"Oh right, we need to take a photo of Gyeoul."

"A photo?"

"Yeah. To commemorate killing the sand worms."

"Okay. That sounds good."

As Yeoreum took out her smartphone, I made a V-sign with both hands.

I heard the camera shutter sound several times.

"Gyeoul, should we take a picture near the teeth instead of the body?"

"T-the teeth?"

"Yeah. The body is too plain."

"W-well, the sand worm's teeth..."

"Ah... Is it too scary for Gyeoul?"

Yeoreum lowered her smartphone camera.

She waved her hand, saying we didn't have to if I was scared.

"N-no. I can do it."

"Really? You don't have to force yourself."

"It's not forcing. I really want to take a picture for the memory."

"Hmm... Alright then, shall we?"

I moved with Yeoreum to the sand worm's teeth area.

There were already a few people taking commemorative photos.

"Wow..."

Aren't those people scared of the sand worm?

I glanced nervously at the sand worm's mouth.

The sharp teeth were big enough to cut me in half, and the inside of its open mouth was as dark as an endless cave.

Just looking at it sent shivers down my spine.

"You seem really scared. Should we just not take the picture?"

"N-no. It's fine. We just need to take it quickly and leave."

"Hmm... Alright, let's do it quickly then."

As Yeoreum raised her smartphone, I quickly ran to the front of the sand worm's mouth.

My plan to look as natural as possible disappeared the moment I stood in front of its teeth.

I tried to make a V-sign with both hands, but my frightened fingers wouldn't straighten properly.

My perked-up ears trembled, and my eyes kept darting towards the sand worm instead of the camera.

"Hehe."

Realizing how scared I was, Yeoreum quickly took the photos.

Click click, as I heard the shutter sound multiple times, I couldn't help but run towards Yeoreum.

I was a bit flustered.

"You must have been scared, but you did really well."

"Y-yes..."

"Want to look at the photos we took?"

Yeoreum sat down on the sloped sand.

I naturally sat on her lap.

Swish-

As she swiped through the smartphone screen, various photos appeared.

Yeoreum uploaded a few of these photos to her personal SNS.

"Does the internet work in dungeons?"

"Yeah. If there's a skilled wizard, it's possible near the portal. Advanced technology helps too."

"W-wow..."

I thought I'd grown as an adventurer.

But there's still so much I don't know.

Curious, I examined the smartphone closely.

While doing so, I could see comments coming in real-time.

[Gyeoul looks scared lol]

[└I'd be scared of a sand worm too lol]

[Look at Gyeoul's tail sticking straight up lol]

[└If I had a tail, it'd be sticking up too lol]

[Other photos! Show us other photos too!]

There were many reactions to my scared-looking photo.

Fortunately, the general opinion was that anyone would be scared of a monster that size.

"Looks like it's about time to leave the dungeon."

"Aren't we going to kill the boss?"

"No. The boss is too dangerous to fight with everyone, so the Master will take care of it."

"I see."

Then I should get ready to leave.

I stood up and held Yeoreum's hand tightly.

That was all the preparation I needed.

**

After leaving the dungeon, we had a small after-party.

The after-party was held at an upscale-looking sushi restaurant.

"Gyeoul, thank you so much for today."

"We had a great experience thanks to you."

Yoon Hyunseo and Han Taehwi kept thanking me.

They told me to call them anytime if I needed help and even put candy in my pocket.

My pocket was already full of chocolates I'd received from our Master.

'There's no need for this.'

Maybe because I was surrounded by people I liked, the sashimi tasted even better.

I ate sashimi while playing games with Kwon Arin, and Chae Juyeon even played with my ears.

'That was fun.'

After the after-party, we all returned to our respective homes.

At the entrance to the guild's underground parking lot, Sophia was pacing around, leaning on her cane.

"Sophia!"

After asking permission from everyone in the car, I got out and ran towards Sophia.

Seeing me, Sophia let out an inexplicable sigh.

"...You're back."

"Yes. I killed sand worms this big!"

I spread my arms wide in front of Sophia.

My short arms couldn't fully express the length of the sand worms.

"Weren't you scared?"

"Hmm... I was really scared at first, but it was okay because everyone protected me."

"I see. Well done."

I walked through the park with Sophia, chatting about various things.

When I showed her the photo taken in front of the sand worm's teeth, Sophia chuckled.

We looked at the photos on Sophia's smartphone.

"You worked hard. I'll be going now, so get some rest."

"Okay."

After parting with Sophia at the park entrance, I looked around for the children.

Levinas was crouched in a corner of the park, playing alone in the dirt.

"Levinas."

"King!"

Seeing me, Levinas jumped up from her spot.

She always looked so energetic.

"Were you playing alone, Levinas?"

"No! I was playing together! They just went somewhere for a bit!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! What did you do, King?!"

I told Levinas about what happened in the dungeon in response to her question.

Levinas's horned rabbit eyes widened when I mentioned killing worms bigger than buildings.

"Wha! Levinas caught a worm too!"

"You caught a sand worm too, Levinas?"

"Yeah!"

Levinas ran to where she had been playing in the dirt.

She perked up her ears and dug into the nearby ground, finding an earthworm hidden in the soil.

"Look at this! It's a tiny sand worm!"

"It's small now, but it might grow as big as a building someday."

"Wha?! It'll grow that big?!"

"Well... Maybe there's an extremely low chance it could..."

In a world with mana where appearances can change, it's not completely impossible, right?

"Then Levinas has to give it a name!"

"A name? What will you name it?"

"Hmm..."

As Levinas was thinking with her lips pursed, Saebyeok trudged over to us.

Levinas held out the worm to Saebyeok, who had arrived just in time.

"Dark King, look at this!"

"What is it?"

"What is it...?! It's a distant worm[1]!"

"Huh?"

While we were confused, Levinas buried the worm back in the ground.

She patted the soil, saying "Grow big and strong" to it.

"...What was that just now?"

"Levinas was going to ask Dark King to name the worm, but Levinas suddenly thought of a name! It just popped into my head!"

"I see."

Saebyeok nodded and pointed somewhere.

I could tell from the pheromones that it was in Gaeul's direction.

"Gaeul and I found something over there and were looking at it."

"What did you find?"

"Well..."

"Huh?"

Was there something even Saebyeok didn't know about?

I moved with the children to where Gaeul was.

In the forest of the park, Gaeul was staring intently up at a tree.

We naturally looked up at the tree too, and discovered a golden polyhedron hanging from it.

It was a polyhedron made up of hexagons.

"What's that?"

"Isn't it a ball?!"

"Is it? It smells sweet like honey..."

Did someone lose their ball in the tree while playing?

But it's too angular for a ball, isn't it?

I thought about it, but it was hard to figure out what it was.

"Should we try to get it down?"

"How are we going to get it down?!"

"If we throw something..."

Maybe there's a branch or a stone around?

I looked down at the ground.

Just then, Gaeul picked up a stone that had fallen on the ground.

"Yap!"

Gaeul threw the stone with a shout.

Unfortunately, it didn't hit the polyhedron.

"I'll try throwing this time."

I picked up the fallen stone and threw it at the polyhedron.

Thwack-!

The stone that hit the polyhedron fell to the ground.

It must have hit pretty hard, as the surface of the polyhedron was crushed.

Drip-

A liquid oozed out from the crushed surface.

An intensely sweet scent wafted from the liquid.

It was enough to numb my senses for a moment.

"Honey...?"

Why is honey coming out of there?

Is it safe to eat?

As I was staring blankly at the dripping honey, something small crawled out of the crushed surface.

"It's a bee."

Just as I muttered this, buzz-!

The creature started flying towards us, flapping its wings.

Its sharp stinger was pointed straight at us.

"Wha!"

"R-run for it!"

The children, who had been distracted by the honey, were startled and ran away.

As we ran, I looked back to see hundreds of bees chasing us.

So that's what it was - a beehive.

Why was the beehive shaped like that?

"Nyaaah!"

I screamed as I ran with the children.

It seemed like we should head for the enclosed container house.

---

[1. raei: distant worm is how I decided it should be translated... This didn't make sense at first but after some looking around: The author's pen name is 먼데용 ("Meondeyong") which can be interpreted as 'distant dragon' (loosely) but whenever chapters are late, the korean readers call him 먼데뱀 ("Meonde Snake") or 먼데지렁이 ("Meonde Worm") so Meonde Worm -> distant worm.]

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