ME c0009

Chapter 0009 Lizard General

Translator: Tseirp

 

In a wide open space on the 24th floor of the Miasma Labyrinth, I was attacked by a large number of Soldier Lizards.

 

The Soldier Lizard was a large bipedal lizard.

 

They all wore iron armor and carried weapons.

 

“Ora!”

 

A lizardman was blown away, but two lizards with round shields and swords came forward to fill the gap.

 

The other club-wielding lizardmen slowly crept up to surround me.

 

It was an organized movement, unlike typical monster behavior. It was tough.

 

“Is it because you’re Soldier Lizards that you can cooperate this well!?”

 

Soldier Lizards were certainly monsters that excelled in group actions, but was it possible for them to cooperate in such a coordinated way?

 

When I focused my sight while dodging the opponent’s attacks, I found an individual wearing an exaggerated helm behind the Soldier Lizards crying out what seemed to be instructions.

 

Lizard General

LV 32

Stamina: 116

Strength: 88

Tenacity: 68

Magic: 54

Spirit: 77

Agility: 66

Skills: [Command] [One-handed Swordsmanship] [Shield  Technique] [Miasma resistance (Medium)]

 

When I attempted [Appraisal], only that individual had a different name and possessed multiple skills, including [Command].

 

“So it’s your doing!”

 

That Lizard General was giving instructions to the lizards while securing a wide field of vision.

 

That was why the lizardmen’s cooperation was awfully good.

 

Once I knew that, the first thing to do was to crush the leader.

 

After I activated [Strength Enhancement (Small)], I forcefully blew away the three lizards that were holding shields.

 

The lizards that were blown away collided with the lizards that were waiting behind them, and the vanguard immediately collapsed.

 

Taking advantage of that moment, I leaped and landed in front of the General.

 

Under the orders of the General, the two lizards that were standing by its side held up shields to protect it.

 

Without worrying about the shields at all, I relied on my skill and status to mow them down with my greatsword.

 

With just that, the two lizards were blown away, and I managed to cut the torso of the General who had no one to protect it.

 

However, the next moment, a sword was thrust at my torso.

 

The swing of my greatsword caused an opening in my defense, so I tried to twist my body to avoid it, but I couldn’t dodge it.

 

“[Hard body]”

 

As soon as I activated the skill I had, the General’s sword was repelled by my hardened skin.

 

“Gee!?”

 

He probably didn’t think normal human skin could have such toughness. The General cried out bewilderedly.

 

Taking advantage of that gap, the lizards began to gather around the General again.

 

“That was dangerous, if I didn’t have that skill, I would have taken a blow.”

 

The skill I used earlier was obtained by eating a monster called an Armor Bear in the abyss that was clad in hard armor. It was my first time using it, so I tried it on the spur of the moment, but I was glad it seemed to have worked well.

 

“But why is it completely fine?”

 

The greatsword I swung certainly caught the General’s torso.

 

Despite that, the General’s body was not injured at all.

 

My status was higher and it was not like I was stubbornly specialized in a certain status.

 

Something was obviously strange if it could take a blow from me and be unharmed.

 

Thinking that something was wrong, I looked around and there was a dying lizard behind me.

 

If it was just dying, there would be nothing wrong with it, but the lizard’s torso had a sharp laceration that looked like it had been slashed, and it was bleeding a lot.

 

It was as if it received the blow that the General received.

 

Soldier Lizard

LV 25

Stamina: 88

Strength: 54

Tenacity: 55

Magic: 32

Spirit: 21

Agility: 37

Skills: [One-handed Swordsmanship] [Shield Technique] [Miasma Resistance (Medium)] [Shoulder]

 

When I appraised the dying lizard, there was a skill called [Shoulder].

 

“So you shouldered the General’s wound!”

 

I didn’t think there was such a skill. Even if there was, it would not normally be possible to force it to receive damage instead of the General.

 

It was a skill that could be commanded and executed precisely because of the meritocratic monster society.

 

Just in case, I [Appraise] the other lizards.

 

It seemed that that lizard was the only one with skills that could take on damage.

 

In that case, I decided to defeat that lizard who was on the brink of death before defeating the General. If I didn’t do that, I would get an unexpected counterattack just like before.

 

I pointed my weapon at the General and pretended to attack, then attack the lizard with [Shoulder] behind me.

 

I guess it didn’t expect me to change target toward it all of a sudden. The lizard that was on the verge of death after shouldering the damage, couldn’t react to my movements and got decapitated.

 

“Gyaeeeeeeeeeee!”

 

The General let out a furious cry because of the loss of its insurance in case of emergency.

 

Hearing the General’s roar, the lizards rushed in at once.

 

“Thanks for huddling close together. [Paralyzing breath]”

 

I used the skill obtained from the Black Snake to spray a yellow fog.

 

“Gi-gieeee!?”

 

The released paralyzing poison enveloped the mass of lizards and stopped their movements.

 

I had already confirmed that these guys didn’t have paralysis resistance with [Appraisal] just now.

 

The lizards were collectively incapacitated.

 

With nothing standing in my way, I quickly killed the rest of the lizards protecting the General.

 

“You’re the only one left.”

 

Once I took away the group attack and coordination that was its source of strength, I didn’t have a hard fight against the General.

 

The sword I swung easily sliced through the General’s neck.

 

 

“… Now, how do I eat this?”

 

In the now peaceful empty space of the 24th floor, I settled down and was troubled.

 

There were many corpses of lizards around. I had to eat to become stronger, but how do I eat them?

 

I’ve eaten normal lizards before, but most of them were skewered and grilled whole, or fried without their scales and internal organs.

But when they reached that size, doing so was impossible.

 

I had all the tools and seasonings for cooking monsters in my magic bag, but I didn’t have the tools to cook monsters of that size.

 

Then, do I cut off just the arms and legs and eat them?

 

Even though they were monsters, the lizards were similar to humans walking on two legs.

 

When I thought about it that way, it was strangely graphic and I couldn’t convince myself to eat.

 

The minotaur had a similar human form, so you might wonder why I was complaining now, but at that time I was at my limit, so I didn’t even have time to think about it.

 

However, now that I had time to spare, my mind went to different places.

 

“… I shouldn’t think too much. This is also necessary to become stronger.”

 

It was not the time to say that I don’t want to eat it because it looked similar to humans.

 

I didn’t have the skills such as [Command], [Shield Techinique], [Shoulder], [Miasma Resistance (Medium)] that these guys had.

 

I could get it just by eating. There was no other option but to eat to become stronger.

 

In the first place, I had already violated the taboo of consuming monsters.

 

Why would I hesitate in eating monsters that look like humans to become stronger?

 

As long as I aim to become an S-rank adventurer, I didn’t have time to be indecisive about such matters.

 

I made up my mind and tried dismantling their hands and legs, but there weren’t many edible parts, probably because the lizards’ bodies were quite slender.

 

The small edible parts seemed tough and didn’t look like they would taste very good even after cooking.

 

I was sure they were still edible, but humans typically want the food they eat to be delicious after all.

 

“Another part that seems easy to eat would be the tail…”

 

A tail that extended from around the coccyx.

 

When I touched the surface, it felt like rough skin.

 

There were few scales, and the flesh was squishy and soft. It appeared to have a few bones and many simple edible parts.

 

When I cut off the tail with a sword, I could see a beautiful fleshy cross-section with only a small bone in the center.

 

“The tail looks the most delicious.”

 

It was uncool since I had already prepared myself to eat an arm or a leg, but if there was a part that appeared more delicious, that was still the better choice.

 

I took out the cooking utensils from my magic bag and I use a kitchen knife to scrape off the small scales on the tail.

 

After the scales were gone, I cut the cross-section like I did the Black Snake, and peeled the rough skin off.

 

After finishing the preparation of the tail, I piled up stones in the open space, made a furnace, and started a fire with magic.

 

Placing a frying pan with oil on top, I cut the lizard’s tail into bite-size pieces and sprinkled salt and pepper on it.

 

“Whoa, whoa! The amount of fat isn’t normal!”

 

From the start, there were flashy sizzling sounds of oil popping.

 

Lizard’s tail meat had more fat than normal meat, and the fat oozed out when heated.

 

At the same time, it emitted a fragrant odor. Judging from the appearance, I thought it would have a light taste, but now it seemed promising.

 

When the meat was cooked to perfection, I served it on a plate.

 

It was my first time properly cooking monster meat, so I was looking forward to it. Up until now, I had only been eating in a primitive way.

 

“Here goes nothing.”

 

When I cut it with a knife, the juice from the meat flowed out.

 

When I put it into my mouth before it cooled down, the taste and fat of the tail meat exploded in my mouth.

 

“Delicious!”

 

The tightly packed fat was the highlight after all.

 

The more I chewed, the more fat and flavor seeped out from the meat.

 

The flesh was very soft and very easy to eat.

 

The rich fat went well with the simple taste of salt and pepper.

 

“It’s great to have seasonings…”

 

In the abyss, I didn’t have the luxury of cooking utensils or seasonings.

 

Regardless if it looked bad or delicious, I had no choice but to roast and eat it.

 

It was a bland experience.

 

But now I had a magic bag.

 

Being able to easily carry around a large number of items had made it possible to cook like that even in a labyrinth, and now I could eat monsters deliciously.

 

That alone was worth the 200,000 Regins.

 

After eating the lizard’s tail meat, I tried eating the General’s tail in the same way.

 

Compared to the lizard, that one had less fat, but its meat had a stronger suppleness.

 

The impact on the taste may be inferior, but I could argue that it had a better bite and the amount of fat was just right. It was not bad.

 

 

Name: Lude

Race: Human

State: Normal

LV46 (↑4)

Stamina: 235 (↑47)

Strength: 195 (↑39)

Tenacity: 157 (↑21)

Magic: 146 (↑10)

Spirit: 120 (↑8)

Agility: 140 (↑15)

Unique Skill: [Nullify status ailments]

Skills: [Swordsmanship] [Martial Arts] [Roar] [Battleaxe Technique] [Muscle Strengthening (Medium)] [Blood Sucking] [Sound Wave Perception] [Heat Source Perception] [Paralyzing Breath] [Thread Manipulation] [Spearmanship] [Hard Body] [Thorn Skin] [Strong Stomach] [Healthy Body] [Intimidation] [Night Vision] [Agility Enhancement (Small)] [Strength Enhancement (Small)] [Blunt Force Resistance (Small)] [Perception Block] [Flame] [Fire Resistance (Large)] [Advanced Swordsmanship] [Club Technique] [Lightning Clad] [Far Sight] [Appraisal] [One-handed Swordsmanship] [Command] [Shield Technique] [Shoulder] [Miasma Resistance (Medium)] [Instant Step]

Attribute magic: [Fire attribute]

 

 

When I checked my status, I acquired the Lizard General and Soldier Lizard skills.

 

Not only that, my level rose by about four. Although their level was lower than mine, there were quite a few of them, so I guess I was able to acquire a lot of experience points.

 

I was toyed with by the lizard’s cooperation and unexpected skills under the command of the General, but I still felt like I could explore that floor.

 

After finishing my meal, I delved deeper into the Miasma Labyrinth.

 

Previous | Main | Next

If you like my translations, please support me on Ko-fi or Patreon and unlock the next chapter early releases!