Shia left the campsite, humming a tune as she promised to return with the finished dish.
She had told them not to approach until the dish was complete, so there wouldn’t be anything to interrupt her cooking.
“Alright, let’s get cooking!”
Shia didn’t even turn on the broadcast, but she clapped her hands instinctively to announce the start of her cooking.
“A Walker bone soup, huh….”
For reference, Shia called the bizarre humans in this dungeon “walkers.”
This was because she had already seen a being similar to them in her ‘previous world.’
Back then, the royal court also referred to them as ‘walkers’ instead of undead or corpses.
Of course, the walkers of this place didn’t look exactly like those from her past world.
No, walkers couldn’t possibly look the same.
They were beings that had lost their sanity due to taboos, or their souls had become unstable after being taken by the Mawang.
The body is a mirror of the soul, and conversely, the soul is also a reflection of the body.
Since the souls that shouldn’t be touched were forcibly stretched and destabilized, their bodies transformed grotesquely to fit that form.
That’s why walkers all appeared different.
Some walkers were grotesquely overweight, while the majority were skinny with deformed limbs. There were even those whose bodies deviated entirely from human shape, growing long legs like a giant insect to climb trees.
Anyway… do you know the greatness of bone soup?
Typically, bone soup is made using beef bones, inexpensive, and a common sight around our area.
It’s packed with rich umami flavor.
Full of quality collagen and excellent calcium, it’s even beneficial for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and the weak.
It’s a nourishing food that helps fight the heat in summer and warms the body in winter, making it nearly a complete food.
“Alright, Lucky Bladed Centipede, hurry up and spit it out.”
“Kiiiii…”
“Hey, I said to spit it out!”
The Lucky Bladed Centipede brought by Shia had quite an appetite.
Typically, bladed centipedes would go a week without eating once they finished a meal, but after being trapped by her tentacles for days, was its appetite exploding? Or had it caught Shia’s insatiable hunger? At least, this centipede devoured dozens of those bizarre humans, leaving no bones behind.
Shia saw the potential for bone soup thanks to the centipede.
For starters, the walkers had almost no flesh or blood.
Only a tiny amount of flesh clung to their bones. Even their blood seemed drained to the point of disappearing altogether, but as the centipede chewed through their bones, Shia noticed a red broth-like liquid flowing from the bones of the walkers.
While they might lack flesh and blood, the bones existed perfectly well.
If bones are present, it means there’s marrow inside, and that meant there was more than enough to brew bone soup.
“Kiiiii…”
The Lucky Bladed Centipede showed obvious reluctance to give up what it was eating, but who is Mangja Seongnyeo Shia?
In terms of greed and cooking, she was far more experienced than the centipede.
“If you don’t give it up, I’ll brew Centipede Bone Soup instead.”
“…..!!!”
Realizing that Shia’s words weren’t a bluff, the centipede jerked its body in surprise and started to spit out the bones it was chewing on.
She hadn’t planned to scare it, but…
Anyway, the centipede had eaten a lot. The quantity of bones alone suggested it must have devoured dozens of walkers.
In any case, it was just right.
The flesh that clung to the bones was very neatly stripped away by the Lucky Bladed Centipede. After confirming that only white bones remained, Shia nodded and opened her transport drone.
No surprise here, but Shia’s transport drone had a large pot.
It was an excellent choice to bring large containers according to the Hunter Association’s recommendation to prepare for a stay that might last over a month.
In terms of capacity, it would be comparable to the large cauldron at the Stew Restaurant near her house with at least 50 servings.
“Let’s see, how to make bone soup… the 333 rule? What is that…”
Since the network was out, her smartwatch was useless for internet surfing, so Shia opened the bone soup recipe she had previously saved on her smartwatch.
It was quite fortunate that she had downloaded common seasonings and recipes ahead of time.
“Let’s see… first, soak it in cold water for half a day to remove the blood?”
But these things don’t have blood, do they?
True, there is some, but only in minute quantities.
Fortunately, Shia had an ability that was akin to a cheat key.
“In the name of the Father, the Son, the Demon, the Starlight, and Gluttony, I pray…”
[Miracle – Purification]
“Purification Beam!”
Releasing an exceptionally high output of Seongnyeok, Shia sent the cleansing light toward the bones of the walkers.
There could be invisible bacteria or contagions, so she needed to be vigilant.
Although she typically wouldn’t die or get sick from eating anything, this meal was for her and 19 other hunters.
She had to be thorough in her purification.
After about three rounds of using the purification miracle, Shia transferred all the bones of the walkers into the pot.
Now, instead of bleeding them, she needed to remove impurities.
Even if she used the miracle of purification, impurities inside the marrow had to be filtered while cooking.
“Sniff, sniff…”
As Shia enhanced her sense of smell with Seongnyeok, she detected a faint off-putting odor coming from the bones.
That meant she needed to add materials to eliminate the stench.
It said that soju and whole peppercorns were needed for this. She had both, so she’d do that shortly…
Still, what does the 333 rule even mean?
While looking through the notes on her smartwatch, Shia seemed to find what she was looking for and let out a small sound.
“333… Ah, here it is. It says to boil three times with three times the amount of water for three hours?”
Ah, so that’s why it’s called the 333 rule.
I fully understood! (Not really.)
Depending on the situation, sometimes it requires double the water boiled two times for five hours, but I’m not a seasoned cook, just a beginner.
To be honest, most of the recipes she successively succeeded at were due to her purification miracles. What about that butter orc pork belly that went poorly?
I never want to experience ruining a dish because of unnecessary techniques again.
Let’s follow the recipe as it is.
Even with the basics alone, we can all end up happy.
“First, I’ll remove the blood and boil it for the first five minutes….”
Since she had already skipped the process of removing the blood with a miracle, she poured in the water and dove into boiling bone soup.
Looking at the amount of bones in two 50-portion pots, it was clear that at least 100 portions would come out.
There shouldn’t be any shortages.
“Boil for five minutes and remove the foam and impurities that rise….”
After discarding it…
Then pour in more water again.
After boiling for another three hours and skimming off the grease rising… all the rising oil and impurities should be strained out.
Alright, sounds simple enough.
For reference, even at this point, Shia hadn’t smelled anything resembling bone soup yet.
I mean, it had only been boiling for three hours.
It would take a total of nine hours of boiling to reach what we commonly refer to as bone soup.
“Why is there so much grease coming out…?”
Even after using the purification miracle three times, an enormous amount of impurities floated in the broth.
Could it be because they were monsters?
Or is it that the malignancies hidden deep within the bones were surfacing?
Not knowing which it might be, Shia wiped the sweat from her brow as she skimmed the fat off with a ladle.
With two pots, there was a lot to keep track of.
Even after an hour of skimming, two hours of skimming, the fat rising up wouldn’t stop.
“The bone soup sold at the stew restaurant for about 8,000 won took this much effort…”
As Shia hurriedly removed the fat and impurities from both pots, she sighed.
But she didn’t feel tired or exhausted.
This time it wasn’t food just for Shia.
It was a meal shared with 19 other hunters.
Though they weren’t super close, being able to eat with this many people felt like a blessing and happiness in itself for Shia.
Since becoming the Mangja Seongnyeo, she once thought she would never be able to dine with anyone again, but seeing how much she had changed now made her feel proud of herself.
“Centipede~”
“…..”
“Walker~”
“…..?”
The Lucky Bladed Centipede, tired of waiting, had been chewing on the remaining walker bones when it turned its head at Shia’s call.
Shia, holding out a spoon as if to say “try this,” looked at it with a mix of anticipation and worry.
For reference, this Lucky Bladed Centipede wasn’t dirty at all.
It had been included in the range of Shia’s purification miracles and, in a way, was a being that had directly received the baptism of the Mangja Seongnyeo.
Having become a creature without impurities, it was cleaner and more pristine than even humans.
“Try it.”
“………”
The centipede turned away, clearly disliking it.
But as Shia persistently shoved the spoon in its direction, it eventually opened its mouth to accept the spoon.
“………..Kieee!!”
Suddenly twisting its body, Shia began to panic.
Wait, what’s going on….?
Wasn’t this thing able to eat walkers raw just fine…?
“Oh, right, I needed to remove the stench…!”
As the smell of the greasy walker soup began to waft up, Shia recalled the soju and whole peppercorns she should have added first.
Oh no, it’s not too late to add them now…
“I don’t have any soju, only cooking wine. Oh well… let’s just wing it.”
The centipede looked at Shia as if saying, “That’s not right…”
Though it appeared expressionless, Shia strangely felt the centipede’s thoughts as she resolutely ignored its gaze and focused on the soup.
It’s okay! Cooking wine is still alcohol, right?
It should be fine… probably?
After all, when it’s boiling, it’s all the same, and there’s alcohol in it…
Alright, then let’s go with this.
Shia pulled out various seasonings and cooking ingredients from her transport drone.
Ginger, green onion, garlic.
No matter how much you add, these ingredients typically wouldn’t cause any issues, and rather, the more, the merrier when it comes to flavor.
Starting to throw the ginger, green onion, and garlic in hefty chunks into the bone soup, Shia thought.
“This should be fine… if all goes well, it should taste good….”
As the broth started to boil again and the fat that rose up was skimmed off, it smelled significantly better than before.
Whether it was because of the long boiling time or because of the hurriedly added soju, peppercorns, and garlic doing their jobs, either way, it’s better not to complain.
And three more hours passed.
Shia poured in more water and began boiling again.
This time, the impurities were drastically reduced, and the broth began to take on a bright white hue.
“Centipede~”
“Kieek…!?
“Come on, try eating.”
“…….”
“Open wide.”
“Oh c’mon…”
On that day, the Lucky Bladed Centipede learned the phrase “damn it.”
○○○○○○
Usually, when a previously undiscovered new type of dungeon or monster appears, the hunter who first discovers that monster and dungeon gains the right to name it.
Sometimes new information is revealed by research teams affiliated with the Hunter Association or government, leading to the dungeon’s true nature becoming known, occasionally resulting in name changes.
However, as an unwritten rule, the name of a dungeon is typically given by the hunter who first witnessed that dungeon or monster.
For reference, hunters who discover a new format dungeon or monster are also awarded bounties from the association or government.
Information is life for hunters and key to dungeon raids, and the higher the danger level, the more valuable that information becomes.
For hunters whose lives are on the line over minor gimmicks within a dungeon, the value of information is something that cannot be bought with money, and the government was early to recognize the importance of information regarding dungeons and monsters, hence the bounty system.
In this raid dungeon, the dungeon’s collapse began the moment the boss was targeted; however, no one could be sure that such a form of dungeon wouldn’t appear again.
In that sense, this A-grade hunter team of 19 and temporary hunter Isia decided to name this raid dungeon ‘Adaptive Copy Dungeon.’
It was a fitting term, as it replicated all terrain features, including human-made artifacts while adapting to reality.
Isn’t it nice that it feels intuitive and straightforward just from the name?
As for Shia, she initially had no interest in something trivial like the name of a dungeon.
Anyway, while this dungeon would collapse upon killing the boss just like any existing gate dungeon, it had transformed from an F-grade dungeon to an S-grade one, making it itself a living monstrosity of a dungeon.
The association’s research teams would likely be racking their brains over this new dungeon.
Furthermore, this dungeon was undoubtedly exceptionally sinister.
It randomly sent all creatures that entered it to different locations and if luck was bad, one might be buried deep underground, unable to move or even die, and even using the strongest light wouldn’t give visibility beyond three meters.
Moreover, mimicking real-world structures and terrain, this dungeon stimulated the primitive fears of humans with darkness, weakening hunters’ mental faculties, and it is said that despite being A-grade hunters, they were unable to perform even half of their usual skills due to fear and anxiety.
With what might be an S-grade raid dungeon boss lurking within, it had the potential to wipe out even the strongest hunters without a trace—a truly terrifying dungeon.
“By the way, what do you want the dungeon boss’s name to be?”
“Um, Korean Chimera?”
“Why that name…?”
“I mean, it does look like a chimera. A snake tail, a shadowy body, and the human torso with a fox face. It’s all mixed, so isn’t it aptly termed chimera?”
“It makes sense, but… calling it Korean Chimera feels too trashy.”
Just moments ago, the hunters had felt the threat of death, and now they were able to relax, gathering together, and a smile might naturally spread across their faces as they thought about the reward money they would receive and the various benefits the association would provide.
Equipment made from monster remains valued highly in itself, and continuous maintenance was necessary; consumables, such as monster-specific ammo, ran astronomical prices.
The Hunter Association promised that if they successfully cleared this dungeon, they would provide ongoing aftercare and maintenance for the hunter gear separate from the reward money, making it feel like a lottery win for these hunters, thanks to Isia.
“Let’s call those things walkers. I mean, you referred to them as walkers just now, Isia, and it seems fitting.”
“Walkers? As in walking people?”
“Zombies already exist, and skeleton soldiers and liches have had their names set over 50 years ago. All the usable names have been taken, so this is all we’ve got…”
And the monsters still attacking the hunters within this copy dungeon were simply the emaciated, bony humans.
Moreover, there was even a doubt about whether these walkers were truly alive.
“Well, that’s not too bad. Looking closely, they all look fearsome, but they seem to be similar at their core despite their different appearances.”
“By the way, why hasn’t Shia come back yet?”
“Is it possible she’s in any danger…?”
“I hate to say it, but she’s the one who came back unscathed after getting her body caught in a dam propeller, devouring an S-grade raid dungeon boss… I highly doubt she could be done in by walkers.”
“….Shouldn’t at least a few of us have gone along as backup?”
“Come on, Shia told us not to, so let’s just behave. We are practically the trash and the great sinners that attacked her… we should listen to her.”
“True, but still…”
“Guys! It’s time to eat!”
At that moment, 19 hunters all rose from their seats in unison at the voice ringing out from the darkness.
Like a big pot brought over by the lady serving meals during community service, Shia was walking out from the shadows with a large pot on her transport drone.
“Huh, huh… that smells great?”
“Is that bone soup?”
“It looks like Seolleongtang.”
“It seems like it’s along those lines. No wonder it took a long time.”
Nine hours.
Or perhaps over ten hours, they had wondered what she was making, and it turned out she’d been cooking a type of stew like Seolleongtang from the very beginning.
“Shia, is that… could it be a stew?”
“Yep! You got it, right? Do you like soup?”
“Ah, yes! I like it!”
“Of course!”
Most of the hunters responded with bright faces.
Soup is a popular food that doesn’t usually divide opinions.
As long as one doesn’t take their girlfriend to a stew restaurant for her birthday, it’s food that can bring joy to anyone.
“I’ve never had it…”
“What? Have you not had stew even once in your life?!”
“Jinseong! Ah, come on! I’m sorry… I’ll make sure to educate my boyfriend properly.”
“No, no. It’s okay. Just try it once today and let me know if you think it’s bad.”
After placing the pot down on the ground, Shia spoke to the hunters with a bright smile.
“Oh, by the way, you all have utensils in your transport drones, right? Come get them.”
With the sound of the ladle clanking like a drumroll, she announced the start of the portion distribution.
For some odd reason, the hunters felt a divine aura from her simple gesture, lining up in front of Shia to fetch bowls suitable for their soup from their drones.
When the pot opened, what was revealed was steaming white broth emitting a fragrant aroma.
There was even plenty of meat to go along with it, looking as though it was half broth and half meat.
“Alright, eat plenty. Hehehe.”
“Yes, thank you, Shia!”
“Yes!”
Knowing that them enjoying their meal brought her happiness, Shia showed a genuine smile.
The hunters felt her smile was somehow burdensome yet also very bright and compassionate, and they blushed slightly as they sat down with their bowls of soup.
“Oh…”
“This is delicious. Isn’t it?!”
“This isn’t takeout from the stew restaurant?!”
The soup from the restaurant tasted distinctively different.
While it’s not bad, it gives the sensation of being manufactured exactly according to a recipe, like a commercial product.
However, the broth made by Shia had a flavor that didn’t compare to that of factory-made soup.
There wasn’t an ounce of stench.
Using what seemed like the fresh bones of a cow just slaughtered, the pure white broth was very light and refreshingly clean without being fishy or greasy.
“Wow, it’s delicious!”
“I’ve never had such delicious soup in my life…”
“Yunghoon, isn’t it great?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s delicious.”
Gulp, gulp.
Slurp, slurp.
”Grrrr, heck yeah…”
Delicious.
So delicious.
“Thanks a lot, Centipede~”
“Huh?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Want some more?”
“Ah, yes!”
“Hehe, eat a lot.”
○○○○
Jinseong had been from a wealthy family and had grown up in relative affluence.
Naturally, he had never eaten stew before, and this bone soup made by Shia was his first.
“This is delicious…”
Having had a strange prejudice against the type of food that commoners ate, he sincerely enjoyed the bone soup made by Shia.
To exaggerate a bit, he could eat it every day.
The refreshing and light broth combined with rice brought a warmth that seemed to warm him from within.
“…Hmm?”
At that moment, while enjoying his meal, Jinseong pulled something strange out of his mouth.
“A bone?”
Naturally, since it was broth made with bones, having some in the soup is to be expected.
Looks like it was added by mistake during cooking…
“Wait a minute…”
Jinseong frowned at the oddly twisted and protruding bone he had.
Do cows have bones like this…?
“……………”
Well, it could exist after all. Let’s not jump to conclusions…
As he continued to stir the broth with his spoon, he spotted another bone.
It wasn’t too large, and he could easily discard it, but for some inexplicable reason, Jinseong pulled the bone out.
“…..Jawbone…?”
It was a jawbone.
Not from a wild beast, though.
A bone from something that resembled a person…
“Oh………..”
At that moment, an uncomfortable feeling crept up Jinseong’s spine.
Nah, it can’t be.
It can’t possibly be…
As he turned to inspect the bone with keen interest, a tentacle suddenly snatched it away from his hand.
Crunch, crunch.
BAM!
Before he knew it, one of Shia’s tentacles munched on the bone he had just picked up.
“…….”
“Shh.”
Receiving a wink from Shia, Jinseong’s expression went blank for a moment.
No, I saw nothing.
I know nothing.
There’s nothing I need to know…
“But hey, if it tastes so good, wouldn’t it be fine…?”
Not wanting to think too hard anymore, Jinseong returned to digging into his bowl of stew.
As it was good for his body.
And it tasted delightful, whatever it was.
Forget it, not knowing is… not knowing.
○○○○
“Kii… ee… Ek… damn it…”
And so the Lucky Bladed Centipede diligently chewed on the remaining bone soup and bones.
It was a feast for everyone.
Surely the centipede felt the same way.
