Chapter 59 : Damn ■■ Bone Soup 1

The Saintess of the Dead, Shia, disliked being alone.

She might be the strongest being in the world as an individual, but the thing she feared most was silence, loneliness, and solitude.

Having lived 21 years as a human and 64 years as the Saintess of the Dead, Shia often mocked herself, saying she was still just a child who hated being alone.

She had originally planned to come to the mutated raid dungeon with Yeonhwa, one of the Icicle Nine.

Instead of food, Shia's personal transport drone was filled with various seasonings, rice, spices, salt, and sugar, packed without any gaps.

'What kind of dish would make Yeonhwa say it was delicious?'

Although she hadn't said it directly, Shia was grateful to Yeonhwa for many things.

A young man who had accomplished nothing in 2024, thrown alone in 2088 without family, would surely have found the future bleak.

Yeonhwa was like family, helping her in every possible way during such a time.

Repaying that kindness with money wasn't possible since Yeonhwa's family was one of the most prestigious in South Korea.

Becoming a bodyguard for Yeonhwa also wasn't necessary since she herself was an A-rank Hunter, known for her genius.

If there were frequent catastrophic events like the Great Rift, it might have been different, but the world had stabilized under the order of the Hunter Era, making Shia's power overly abundant.

Thus, all Shia could do was serve Yeonhwa dishes made from ingredients no one else could taste.

Of course, Yeonhwa would strongly refuse, saying there was no need, but Shia had lived as a saintess for over 60 years.

Even if she wasn't someone who always put herself last, her basic goodness and sense of ethics were deeply ingrained.

'This time, I need to make a proper meal.'

Unlike last time, when she grilled orc pork belly with butter only for it to turn out nauseatingly fishy, she had thoroughly prepared this time.

Whether frying or stir-frying, she had memorized recipes and prepared a universal sauce.

She was even excited at the thought of making soup or stew, staying up all night learning new recipes.

The delicious dungeon cabbage she got from Yeonseo wasn't used carelessly in cooking but was perfectly prepared as a fresh kimchi side dish, seasoned with a light sauce and sesame oil.

All the preparations for side dishes were complete.

Now, all that was left was for Yeonhwa to arrive.

No matter what kind of monster appeared, she wasn't afraid.

She would cook it all deliciously.

Even if a god appeared, she would turn them into a divine stew.

Then, the day before the raid, Shia received unfortunate news—Yeonhwa couldn't join her due to the remaining issues with the Goblin Guerrilla Unit.

On the surface, she showed no signs of disappointment.

She was 85 years old; how could she show sadness over such a trivial matter?

Yet, deep inside, the 85-year-old Saintess of the Dead felt no small amount of disappointment.

'Is the Goblin Guerrilla Unit more important than me…?'

Of course, she knew Yeonhwa wouldn't think that way.

Yeonhwa had only made the right choice as a Hunter, concerned about the harm innocent, powerless people could suffer from the Goblin Guerrilla's invasion.

Still, Shia couldn't help but feel uneasy.

She didn't know anyone there, and she was going with 19 other Hunters—would she find anyone to eat with?

'Hmm, this won't be easy…'

Naturally, Shia wasn't very good at making friends.

While her saintly aura might attract people, it was difficult to quickly form the kind of bonds where she could cook and share monster bone soup with someone in such a short time.

Even in her previous world, she rarely approached anyone first until Menelapie introduced her to people.

That hadn't changed even after she returned.

'But… if Yeonhwa can't come, maybe I could take someone else?'

Luckily, Shia had quite a few people she considered connections.

There was her unnie, Yeonseo.

There was Cheon Ah-young, an A-rank Hunter with whom she drank together after making wyvern egg jangjorim in the Kourtala Mountains.

There was also Chief Choi Bomi. If worse came to worst, she could ask the seolleongtang restaurant lady near her house.

Oh! She had even recognized the face of the BBQ restaurant owner at Hapjeong Station, though she didn't know his name.

Yes, Shia had many connections.

But among them, how many could actually accompany her on this raid dungeon?

Shia began racking her brain again.

She desperately wanted someone to go with her.

She hated being alone.

She hated eating alone even more.

However, it was a private raid dungeon, and with the drone cameras not working due to signal interference, she couldn't even broadcast and enjoy the meal with her viewers.

'Ah…!'

A brilliant idea flashed in Shia's mind, and she immediately stood up and headed to the 'Rotten Mountain' dungeon, where she had recently eaten Centipede Dragon Tempura.

○○○○○

The Lucky Blade Centipede.

Despite being completely unable to communicate, the centipede had immediately submitted and surrendered upon seeing Shia.

When they first met, the centipede was about 10 meters long, but after consuming the body of the Centipede Dragon that Shia had left behind, it evolved at its core.

Normally, eating the Centipede Dragon's body wouldn't mean much for the Blade Centipede.

It would just feel fuller.

It could go longer without eating.

It was more nutritious.

That would be the extent of it.

However, the Lucky Blade Centipede had eaten the Centipede Dragon's body, which had been touched by the Saintess of the Dead.

And not just briefly.

Shia's care, gaze, and touch had been infused into the Centipede Dragon's body while she prepared the perfect tempura.

The saintess's touch, by its very nature, bestowed blessings.

If Shia were just a regular saintess and not the Saintess of the Dead, monsters that consumed the meat blessed by a saintess might have suffered or even died.

Monsters were evil beings, after all.

Being malevolent and monstrous, it was natural for them to feel pain from a saint's power.

But Shia was the Saintess of the Dead.

Her blessings were indiscriminate, benefiting both the living and the dead, the good and the evil.

As a result, the Lucky Blade Centipede absorbed a "spiritual feast."

The word "spiritual" refers to a philosophical concept related to the metaphysical world and can also signify divinity.

By consuming the Centipede Dragon's flesh, which had been blessed by Shia, the Lucky Blade Centipede absorbed a higher existence and made it its own.

Even if other centipedes had eaten the dragon's body, they wouldn't have achieved the same result.

Shia hadn't permitted it.

The only creature allowed to consume the remains of the Centipede Dragon was the Lucky Blade Centipede.

Thus, the Lucky Blade Centipede evolved in a way Shia had not intended.

Outwardly, its body had only grown larger, and there weren't any significant changes.

A single spiritual feast wasn't enough to transform a crude B-rank monster into an intelligent being like a human or a humanoid species.

But that was enough.

The Lucky Blade Centipede…

"Here, eat the rest."

[…Squeak…]

The centipede, which had been swallowed whole by Shia's tentacles and then spit out, trembled as it collapsed on the ground, as if its strength had drained.

Shia wasn't a monster tamer.

Since she wasn't a tamer, it was illegal to bring monsters outside the dungeon.

But… well, if it's illegal, she could just pay the fine later.

Shia, feeling lonely and not wanting to eat alone, had kidnapped the Lucky Blade Centipede from Rotten Mountain and headed to the raid dungeon.

Were there any issues along the way?

There probably weren't.

When Shia's tentacles had tried to swallow it whole, the centipede resisted in terror, having a seizure out of fear, but to the Saintess of the Dead, this pitiful creation of malevolence was no more than a toy.

This monster is finally going to eat me.

I'm going to die now.

I don't want to die.

The Lucky Blade Centipede, having gained some intelligence from the spiritual feast, felt the fear and sorrow of death and tried to escape from Shia.

However, after being swallowed by her tentacles, it couldn't find any exit.

An endless prison of flesh.

Claustrophobia.

Sticky saliva and wetness.

No matter how much it scratched with its poison claws or fangs, it couldn't leave a single mark.

The centipede began to wonder.

If this monster, if these tentacles, truly intended to chew it up and swallow it, they could have done so.

But the tentacles, after swallowing it whole, did nothing.

They didn't try to digest it, nor did they chew it.

Why?

After some time, one side of the tentacles opened up, and the centipede was once again exposed to the outside air.

The moment Shia's tentacles opened, the Lucky Blade Centipede bolted toward the outside, sinking its teeth into a grotesque, emaciated humanoid figure in front of it.

Whether that thing was

human or a monster didn't matter.

To the centipede, which had starved for days after being kidnapped by the tentacles, it was just meat.

"Well, you're eating well."

With that, Shia and her dining companion, the Lucky Blade Centipede, embarked on a gourmet adventure through the raid dungeon.

Though surrounded by pitch-black darkness and grotesque, misshapen humanoids, they were nothing more than malevolent monsters.

At first, she worried they might taste like human flesh, but in truth, their scent was vastly different.

If she had to compare the taste of the meat… it was like mixing alligator meat with beef.

After thoroughly enjoying her gourmet journey with the centipede, Shia suddenly stopped eating.

One should never overeat.

If you ask why she would say something so obvious, it's because, for the Saintess of the Dead, overeating wasn't even a concept.

"Ugh, I'm full. I feel bloated…"

Have you ever shoved fried chicken into your mouth late at night, only to feel sick?

Even if you usually have the appetite to finish a whole chicken, the queasy feeling in your stomach, combined with the sensation of gaining weight in real-time, would rapidly kill your appetite.

That was exactly how Shia felt now.

"Ugh, I ate too much…"

She had lived over 60 years as the Saintess of the Dead, but this was the first time she felt so bloated.

It wasn't a pleasant sensation.

It felt like the undigested contents of her stomach were swirling around, still in solid form, mixing together.

She had eaten too much in her excitement.

Since coming to the modern world, it wasn't as if she hadn't consumed malevolent energy.

In fact, from the first day she arrived, she had grilled and eaten Eopjinsal from a Black Minotaur until she was stuffed. She had also eaten the Centipede Dragon, bigger than most buildings, and got sick of wyvern egg jangjorim.

And this place was just a festival of malevolence.

Every breath she took felt like it was filling her lungs with malevolent energy. Even these humanoid monsters, which looked no stronger than C-rank monsters, were packed with enough malevolence to rival a dungeon boss.

She had eaten dozens, maybe even hundreds of them, so it was no wonder her stomach felt about to burst.

Even fried chicken would become overwhelming if you ate 100 of them at once.

With all that oil weighing her down, she needed something to cleanse her palate or a refreshing soup to aid digestion.

Soup… Soup…

Bone soup… Bone soup is delicious…

And then, Shia saw it.

The monsters here weren't full of plump flesh but instead filled with grotesquely elongated and horrifying bones.

…Slurp…

Alright.

The menu is decided…

I'll make it after I catch the dungeon boss.

◆◆◆◆◆◆

The Hunters gathered their equipment and weapons and started to leave the crumbling Moonlit Pavilion of Yeongwol.

After Shia—or more accurately, the Lucky Blade Centipede she had brought with her—devoured the dungeon boss's final stronghold, the raid dungeon filled with darkness began to collapse.

However, the dungeon's anomalous nature and vast size caused the collapse to happen at an incredibly slow pace.

"At this rate, it'll take all day for the dungeon to fully collapse…"

"Let's take turns standing watch. We'll have to sleep here tonight."

"What about the dungeon monsters?"

"They're still here."

Considering it would take at least a day for the dungeon to fully collapse, camping in the dungeon became unavoidable.

The Hunters set up tents and started preparing to sleep.

Even though the dungeon boss was dead, the humanoid monsters remained. However, since they were only C or B-rank at best, two Hunters standing guard at a time would be enough to handle them.

"Hey! Is the fire going?"

Suddenly, Shia appeared from somewhere, cracking her stiff shoulders as she walked through the group of Hunters.

Since she had fallen into the dam and her clothes were completely soaked, she was no longer wearing her white holy garments but casual street clothes.

"Hehe, it's warm…"

"......"

Gulp…

Of course, the atmosphere among the Hunters wasn't great.

It wasn't because they disliked Shia.

The Hunters were feeling down due to their own incompetence and self-blame.

Through this raid dungeon, they had come to realize they hadn't been any help at all.

Just yesterday, they had dismissed Shia, who held only a temporary Hunter's license, as useless baggage.

Yet, in the end, it was Shia who single-handedly killed the dungeon boss and saved them from the brink of annihilation.

So naturally, they were filled with self-reproach.

But if it were just that, the Hunters wouldn't be feeling this humiliated.

Shia was amazing.

They had underestimated her because of her temporary license, but she was secretly incredibly strong.

She was powerful.

Amazingly powerful.

It was a little awkward.

That would have been the extent of their thoughts.

'Ugh, I feel so embarrassed I could die…'

'Haa…'

'I want to disappear…'

'Ugh, I'm so sorry…'

But the Hunters remembered their actions.

Not only had they fallen for the dungeon boss's tricks and mistaken Shia for the boss, but they had cursed her and launched a full-scale attack, telling her to die.

Some of them had even tried to shift the blame by asking Shia why she hadn't revealed her identity earlier.

[What? I kept telling you, but you didn't hear me?]

It was only then that the Hunters realized that the dungeon boss's power was strong enough to cast hallucinations on all A-rank Hunters.

Though the boss had died at Shia's hands before they could figure out the full scope of its abilities, if the boss had concentrated its power on Shia, distorting her voice wouldn't have been difficult.

In the end, they had been playing into the boss's hands from the start, attacking Shia out of misunderstanding, and endangering the lives of the incoming backup Hunters.

If not for Shia, they wouldn't have just been wiped out.

The dungeon boss could have used them as a foothold to kill even more Hunters in the long run.

Because they were A-rank Hunters, they understood the depth of their shame.

They wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

Sure, they could make excuses about being mentally pushed to the brink by fear and darkness.

They could also claim they were under the influence of the dungeon boss's hallucinations.

But even taking that into account, the Hunters couldn't deny that their actions were so disgraceful and shameful they felt like dying.

Time passed.

The Hunter camp, despite successfully completing the raid dungeon, was eerily quiet. Not even a hint of celebration could be heard.

[Miracle – Great Healing]

"Alright, you're good now, right?"

"...…."

Jinseong bowed his head as he felt the hole in his stomach cleanly healed.

He couldn't even muster the strength to say thank you properly.

"Haa, it's cold. The dam water was colder than I expected, huh?"

"...."

"...Ugh…"

Though Shia hadn't intended it, her casual comment made while shivering near the bonfire caused all the Hunters to flinch.

Then, after a while, as she sat by the fire staring blankly, Shia suddenly looked around and realized something.

"Wait, weren't there supposed to be 20 of us, including me? We're one short."

At those words, the already grim atmosphere among the Hunters sank even lower.

"…One of us died."

After a long silence, one of the female Hunters finally spoke to Shia.

"…Oh, someone died? I thought I got here pretty quickly…"

"The dungeon boss, with its fox-like face, had killed one of us and blended in among us to disguise itself…"

"We found the body when we left Moonlit Pavilion of Yeongwol."

They had checked the breath and pulse.

It wasn't the first time the Hunters had seen a fellow comrade die, eyes wide open, but it was still terrifying to realize that someone from their own ranks had died so easily.

"Where's the body?"

"The body? It's in that transport drone over there…"

"What's the condition? Was it torn apart, or are there pieces missing?"

"Judging by the strangulation marks, the body wasn't dismembered or anything. But why…"

Upon hearing that, Shia stood up and headed straight for the transport drone where the body was stored.

The Hunters, surprised by her sudden movement, paused and watched her closely.

Naturally, they didn't expect much.

They thought she might just offer a prayer, saddened by the death of one of their own.

[Miracle – Great Healing]

But as Shia declared the miracle infused with holy power, all the Hunters present could hear her.

The sound felt incredibly sacred, like a song, or perhaps like an echo, reverberating through everyone.

'What's going on…?'

'Did she… bring them back to life?'

'No way, she's just cleaning up the body, right…'

'The person's been dead for hours. How could they come back…'

Thud! Thud! Thud!

[Hey! Is anybody there?!]

"!?"

"What… what's going on…!?"

"Uh… how do you open this transport drone? It's different from mine, so I don't know how to open it…"

"I-I'll do it! Excuse me, just a moment!"

Suddenly, a banging sound came from inside the transport drone, and the Hunters, rather than hesitating, quickly decided it was better to open the door.

"Phew! Ah, that was suffocating. What on earth happened that I ended up inside a drone? Where's the dungeon boss…?"

As their comrade wriggled out of the transport drone, the Hunters were dumbfounded.

"They… really came back to life…?"

"No way… how…"

Not only had she single-handedly obliterated the raid dungeon boss, but she also had the power to resurrect the dead…?

"When did I die that I suddenly came back to life, and you're all talking about it like it's nothing…"

"…You should be thanking this person."

"What?"

"Just be thankful, man…"

"I have no idea what's going on… Anyway, thank you, miss…"

"Is that so? That's fine then. Good, I'm glad. Hehe."

"..."

"......"

As Shia smiled and was about to rise from her seat, the Hunters, who had been sitting in silence, all suddenly stood up.

"Um, Shia."

"Miss Shia."

"Hunter Shia…"

"Huh?"

"…Thank you."

"We're sorry."

"We're really sorry."

"We are complete trash."

"I'm a worthless, pathetic idiot…"

"We won't blame you if you don't forgive us…"

"Huh? What are you doing all of a sudden…"

As the proud Hunters began to bow their heads one after another in apology, Shia looked at them with a bewildered expression.

No, rather than bewildered… Why are they doing this? If they were going to thank me, they could have done it earlier…

But the Hunters felt they couldn't hold off on apologizing any longer.

They were already ashamed and couldn't bear it any more.

Originally, they had planned to apologize properly after the mission was completely over, in a formal meeting.

But now, after watching her easily resurrect their dead comrade, they knew they couldn't delay their apology any longer.

"Stop it. Honestly, all of you doing this together is making me feel a bit burdened…"

Shia waved her hands, embarrassed, her face slightly flushed, but as soon as one Hunter bowed, the others followed, as if it was contagious.

Despite Shia's repeated attempts to stop them, the Hunters bowed their heads for a long time, showing their respect to her.

Eventually, seeing that her words weren't getting through to them, Shia's lips curled into a small smile as a good idea came to her.

"Hey, what exactly did you guys do wrong?"

"We fell for the boss's trick and attacked you all together…"

"Heeey… So then… I'm allowed to get mad, right?"

The Hunters felt their hair stand on end at her words.

"I don't really feel like getting mad… But instead of a punishment, how about having a meal with me?"

"....A meal?"

Shia's smile was bright and innocent.

Well, it was innocent.

After all, this time, there was no need to hide, and they could all eat together.

"Yeah, it'll be delicious. Very."

Of course, the Hunters didn't know.

They had no idea what Shia meant when she said, 'Let's eat together.'

And they certainly had no clue.

That the menu was bone soup.

Or what kind of bones she planned to use.

"Hehehehehe…"