Chapter 132: Decapitation Operation

“Hill, are you feeling unwell?”

“Not at all! The air is a bit metallic, but everything else is fine!”

Hill enchanted her Bone-scraping Knife with a golden glow.

With the boost from her talent, [Superhard Matter], she swung.

With a loud crack, she sliced through the Wild Dragon’s long neck, cutting through bone, flesh, and ice alike.

“Brother! Hill is feeling so hyped right now! It’s total slaughter! Pure slaughter!”

Hill and Siloque took turns hacking down the brittle, frozen Wild Dragons, experiencing the pure joy of an executioner.

On average, killing about ten of them allowed their levels to jump by one.

Although they were leveling up quickly, it happened one level at a time.

The side effects of the Upgrade weren’t particularly intense; each time was just a brief mental blankness followed by a tingling, comfortable sensation throughout the entire body.

“Brother, this one’s head is too hard…”

Hill encountered one that wasn’t frozen quite brittle enough.

Even using all her strength to hack at it with the knife, she couldn’t cut through.

“I’ll hold the handle. Hill, you jump on the back of the blade and use gravity to help cut it down.”

“Oh! Brother, you’re so smart!”

No sooner said than done.

Fortunately, this Wild Dragon was half-lying on the ground, so Siloque easily placed the blade across its neck.

He gripped the handle while Hill climbed onto the Wild Dragon’s back.

“Whooa…”

Hill maintained her balance, kept her feet together, and crouched slightly.

After building up power, she jumped onto the back of the blade.

Squelch—

After Hill jumped with all her might, the cleaver smoothly severed the Wild Dragon’s neck.

“Yay! Success!”

Slap!

She shared a high-five with Siloque.

To an outsider, these two (outwardly) youthful girls were turning every dragon’s neck into a bloody fountain.

Their yellow raincoats were nearly dyed red with dragon blood, and they were even reaching into the Wild Dragons’ chests to pull out Crystal Cores.

“Are humans always this crazy?”

Edriel’s face was grim, turning almost purple with shock as she covered her mouth with a single wing.

“Kahahaha! It’s fine. The humans my Master and I used to meet would shave off the skulls of the losers to use as wine cups. At least Siloque and the girl are just cutting off heads and making it quick.”

“I suppose… you’re a battle maniac too…”

“I am not! I’m used to fighting, but I don’t like it! Edriel, if you… if you don’t like blood, I won’t fight anymore in the future!”

“I didn’t mean that. Taking a life is nothing. I just think their methods are a bit aggressive.”

“Oh! I see. I thought you were the type to faint at the sight of blood. Kahahaha!”

While Edriel and Tiana chatted, Siloque and Hill’s work proceeded in full swing.

“Phew, so tired…”

Leveling up again, the head rush made Hill lie flat on her back on the thick ice.

Nearby, Siloque leaned on his slightly chipped cleaver to catch his breath.

“Congratulations on the level up.”

Tiana smiled goofily and clapped for Siloque and Hill.

Whether she did it intentionally or not, the breeze from her flapping wings provided a refreshing chill to the sweaty pair, which was perfect for their overheated bodies.

“Monst… no.”

Hill felt that calling them monsters wasn’t quite right and corrected herself.

“Dragon sisters, can you also raise your Lv?”

“Of course. It’s not like only humans can level up. That whoosh feeling is very comfortable, right? I get it.”

Tiana’s long, reptilian face showed an ecstatic expression.

Incidentally, she was still flapping her wings at a steady pace, so it seemed she was doing it on purpose.

“I see. Then if I caught a slime and raised it, letting it constantly eat other monsters to level up, wouldn’t I be able to train a super-strong subordinate?”

“Well… I haven’t really tried that. By the way, you can just call us monsters. We occasionally call humans monsters too. It’s mutual.”

Tiana wore a smile that suggested they shouldn’t be so formal.

“Hill, your idea is interesting. The premise is that the monster has enough intelligence to understand humans and will actually listen to you. Most low-level monsters… have no intelligence or personality. Even if they develop a soul later on, it requires a lot of time to cultivate.”

Siloque stepped in to stop his sister’s wandering thoughts.

He had actually considered this idea before.

The problem was that the unpredictability was too high.

The conversational monsters one encountered were usually key characters or individuals with backstories.

You couldn’t just mess with them.

Hill looked disappointed.

“I thought it was a good idea. Having a cool Dungeon creature as my guard…”

She glanced at Siloque.

“???”

“Never mind. If there’s another person, Hill won’t be able to enjoy her world for two with Brother. Plus, I’d have to take care of their basic needs, and it’s not like a Game where I can just click a button to make them grow. Too much trouble.”

Having decisively abandoned the idea, the rested Hill stood up.

‘So she only thought of it because it sounded cool…’

Siloque looked at Tiana thoughtfully.

Tiana: “?”

If his sister really wanted a pet, it would be better to find one with higher loyalty.

It was just that someone as strong and goofy as Tiana was too unique; he couldn’t find a second one for now.

“For us,” Edriel added quietly, “an increase in level used to represent a rise in rank within the tribe… but that was a long time ago. Now, the higher the level, the more convenient life is. That’s all.”

Siloque and Hill started working again.

By the time the sunlight turned yellow and the clouds thickened, the siblings had finally finished their task.

Siloque put away the cleavers, raincoats, and other Equipment.

The two of them drank cola while enjoying the cool mountain breeze, standing at the edge of the cliff to overlook the scenery.

It was quite pleasant.

The area was covered in ice sculptures of headless red Wild Dragons.

Once the Crystal Cores were removed from their bodies, they turned to dust and vanished.

The red ice that had encased the Wild Dragons still maintained their original shapes without melting, meaning the inside of the sculptures was now hollow.

If the previous scene was spectacular, the sight of hundreds of headless dragon ice sculptures was now somewhat horrific—like some sort of macabre sculpture exhibition.

“Heh.”

Siloque didn’t mind it at all.

Compared to the meat processing plants he had visited in his previous life, this could be considered an art gallery.

Besides, being able to wipe out this group of wild “Bull-Dragon People” who brought about those heavy CGs made him feel as refreshed as a morning on New Year’s Day, wearing a pair of brand-new underwear.

Crystal Cores, Experience Points, and exterminating those “NTR” types—three birds with one stone!

The Crystal Cores in the Ring Chart were full, they had their fill of Experience Points, and the money to pay back Cass was secured.

“M-M-M-Marriage?”

Tiana let out an incoherent exclamation as she discussed things with Edriel.

“What’s wrong? You have an objection? Weren’t you the one who wanted to mate?”

“Of course I don’t have an objection! Kahahaha! But there’s one thing…”

Her gaze was flickering and hesitant, but Tiana still spoke seriously to Edriel.

“I have to go see if The Young Lady is awake yet.”

“Your Master, right? I understand.”

The terrifying thing was that Edriel was actually the one who brought up marriage first.

‘Isn’t the progress a bit too fast?’

Regardless, this prerequisite quest was considered complete.

In a few days, the Evil Demon Society wouldn’t be able to find Tiana.

‘…Just in case, next time I enter the Dungeon, I should find Tiana and the others before pushing the Storyline.’

He glanced at the time on the Ring Chart.

From skydiving to finishing the cleanup of these frozen Wild Dragons with his sister, only about 20 minutes had passed.

There were still a few scattered on the valley cliffs, but Siloque didn’t bother going after them.

It was dangerous to hunt there; a single slip would be a loss that outweighed the gain.

Their levels were also reaching saturation, so the Experience Points from those few wouldn’t amount to much anyway.

Although Siloque’s original plan involved going to another place to grind and level up quickly, they had now obtained the necessary levels ahead of schedule.

“Ah! Boy! Are you completely finished?”

Tiana saw that Siloque and Hill had put away their gear to rest and came over to chat.

After the “Decapitation Operation”—

The Crystal Cores were roughly estimated to be worth 800,000 R per person.

There were also various drops like dragon hides, horns, and teeth.

Siloque: Lv 18 to Lv 24

Hill: Lv 17 to Lv 24