After the lava crocodile, we encountered a few more peculiar monsters.
There was a monster like a golem that ate hardened lava rocks, a monster that seemed to be the owner of the egg we saw earlier, resembling a wyvern, and a gigantic insect-like monster with a mix of mantis and beetle features, which seemed to feed on that egg.
Of course, Ara took care of all of them.
“Time for a knuckle rap!”
Ara is invincible, and knuckle raps are divine.
In the end, she succeeded in giving every monster a knuckle rap.
Except for the golem-like monster—it was quite docile.
“As expected from a 9th-tier dungeon. These creatures are wild.”
Even monsters who wouldn’t attack Ara directly still picked fights with her, despite her maximum level of affinity.
After disciplining them one by one, I began to suspect that Ara’s physical strength might have already reached the level of a level 8 awakener.
But we still hadn’t encountered a gnoll.
At least we weren’t as tense as we had been at the beginning.
Having repeatedly realized that Ara was invincible, it felt more like a leisurely stroll.
“Shall I take out Purr or Woofy and wander around with them?”
“Then you won’t be able to put them back, right?”
“… Our Ara is smarter than me.”
Considering the cooldown time of the Master of Gluttony, it was easy to take them out, but hard to put them back.
Awakeners with taming abilities could summon and dismiss their familiars easily, but that wasn’t the case for me.
Ultimately, we’d have to find them directly, and considering our time, we had only 30 minutes left.
We didn’t have to worry much about getting back since we could use a return stone.
“Hmm…?”
Even Ara crossed her arms and started to ponder.
This was still a Seven Deadly Sins dungeon and quite vast, so maybe we had oversimplified things.
‘Let’s think about this.’
According to Ara and Mammon, the boss of wrath, Wrath (Ras), was a lower-level monster.
So, his subordinates, the gnolls, would also be low-tier monsters.
How could such low-tier creatures survive in a place full of these monsters?
“… Underground?”
A sudden thought.
Ara perked up her ears when she heard my murmuring.
“Is it underground?!”
“Oh, no. It just seemed possible. The gnolls are weak, so I thought maybe they went underground to avoid the monsters we’ve encountered.”
This aligned with the rumor that gnolls liked to dig dirt and carve stones.
Although I spoke uncertainly at first, the more I thought about it, the more confident I became.
“It must be underground.”
“As expected, Kyu-seong is a genius!”
Ara immediately began scanning the ground.
The Clairvoyant sees far, but what exactly does Insight do?
Does it allow her to see through things?
“Oooh!”
“Did you find something?”
Ara exclaimed while scanning the ground.
I urgently asked, thinking she’d found something.
“There’s a lot of dirt!”
Just when I thought we wouldn’t find anything, Ara’s eyes sparkled again.
“Oh! I’ll use both at the same time!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll use both the shiny eyes and the ticklish eyes at the same time! Now I understand!”
Shiny eyes? Ticklish eyes?
She probably meant her Clairvoyant and Insight abilities.
It seemed she had just figured out how to use them simultaneously.
Then, as if she had found something, Ara grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“This way!”
Following her, we came across a cave filled with flowing lava.
Thanks to the lava streaming like a river, the inside was brightly lit.
As we went deeper, despite the bright interior, I felt a bit uneasy.
But Ara continued moving with determination.
“This is it.”
“There’s nothing here?”
Ara arrived at a wall inside the cave.
There was no visible path.
“The space behind here is empty,” she said.
When Ara knocked on the wall, the sound echoed, indicating there was a hollow space behind it.
“So, should we break through?”
“Knock, knock. I’m here!”
Ara suddenly started knocking as if it were the most natural thing to do.
Just as I was thinking how innocently cute she was, an unexpected reply came.
-Keng?
It was a hyena’s cry from the other side of the wall.
How did I know it was a hyena’s cry? I had studied in advance, expecting we might encounter gnolls.
“Knock, knock. I’m a polite Ara.”
-Keng!
Soon, the wall began to crumble slightly, revealing a small hole just large enough for a pair of glowing eyes to peer through.
-Keng?!
“Hello! Is Ras inside?”
Ara waved her hand with a smile.
The gnoll, startled, began to fidget before disappearing.
“Uh…”
I was taken aback by how quickly it all happened.
What now?
But my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the gnoll returning. This time, it wasn’t alone.
-Keng!
-Keng keng.
“I’m Ara! I’ve come to meet my friend Las!”
As Ara introduced herself naturally, the wall crumbled a little more, revealing the gnolls.
They were small and stout.
Closer to puppies than hyenas, their appearance was striking with spotted fur and bipedal walking.
Their large, bright eyes made them look incredibly cute, like puppies standing on their hind legs.
-Keng!
-Keng keng?
“Just tell Ras that I’m here!”
By the way, Ara, wasn’t your original name Gula? Didn’t you change it?
Will Ras even recognize you?
I was curious but remained quiet.
Meanwhile, the gnolls noticed me and became startled, raising their fur.
-Keng keng!
-Keng!
“This is Kyu-seong Kyu-seong! He’s my dad!”
“Uh, hello?”
Even though I couldn’t communicate with them, I instinctively greeted them.
The gnoll, about the height of my thigh, approached and began sniffing me.
-Keng!
“You smell delicious,” Ara said, seemingly translating for them.
Hearing that, something clicked in my mind, and I started rummaging through my backpack.
“Here, have this. I’m not a bad person.”
I handed them some dog chews I had prepared in bulk for our dog.
I gave one to each of the two gnolls and to Ara. Ara immediately started chewing hers with a happy expression.
-Keng?
-Keng keng.
The gnolls were still a bit cautious, but after watching Ara enjoy her chew, they began to sniff theirs curiously.
Unable to resist, they soon started chewing on the dog treats right where they stood.
Crunch, crunch.
Munch, munch.
The three of them sat in a circle, happily chewing on the treats.
It made me wonder if this was really okay.
Since the chews weren’t the extra-large kind for dogs, they were gone in no time.
Seeing the gnolls looking disappointed, Ara shouted, “There’s still plenty! How about we all share some?”
-Keng!
-Keng! Keng!
The gnolls’ faces brightened up immediately.
The simple creatures then stepped forward, as if beckoning us to follow them.
-Keng!
Was this really okay…?
The gnolls seemed somewhat concerned themselves.
***
Following the gnolls, I realized we were descending into a tunnel.
Before moving on, they made sure to neatly seal the entrance behind us.
“Wow.”
The tunnel going down was rough but sturdy.
Unknown glowing substances placed along the walls lit the way.
-Keng keng.
“We’re almost there.”
The gnoll’s rapidly wagging tail was adorable. It seemed excited, probably anticipating more dog treats when we reached the bottom.
You innocent creatures, what would you have done if I were a bad person?
Finally, when we reached the end of the tunnel, we were met with a vast hollow chamber.
There, we saw some crude structures that resembled a makeshift village.
-Keng?
-Keng keng keng!
-Ke keng!!
There were quite a few gnolls gathered.
When they saw me and Ara, they were startled, raising their fur in alarm.
“Don’t worry! I’m a friend of Ras!”
Ara puffed out her chest and confidently stepped forward, shouting.
Despite her reassurance, the commotion didn’t settle down, so the gnolls who had come with us started explaining something to them.
This seems like another good time for…
I quickly grabbed more dog treats from my backpack.
I took a handful and scattered them among the gnolls.
-Keng?!
-Ke keng.
The gnolls, with their keen sense of smell, quickly focused on the falling treats.
The two gnolls who had tasted the treats earlier each grabbed one and began to chew hurriedly.
“This is a dog treat! It’s delicious! It’s a gift we brought as friends of Ras!”
Ara grabbed a treat and started chewing on it as if to demonstrate.
Seeing her, the gnolls, who had been on guard, cautiously picked up the treats and sat down to chew.
-Ke keng?!
-Keng! Keng!
Their eyes widened in surprise after tasting the treats.
Even though they were monsters, their expressions were so full of emotion that I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.
‘They’re cute.’
Lower-tier monsters were cute, both in appearance and behavior.
I wondered if other lower-tier monsters acted like this too.
As the gnolls continued their dog treat party, I realized we were running out of time, so I quickly checked my watch.
‘Only 10 minutes left…?’
We had just 10 minutes remaining.
It seemed like we’d have to just say our hellos this time and come back later.
It was disappointing, but I had already prepared a Plan B, so I wasn’t too worried.
As I watched the gnolls munching on their treats, I started counting them for no real reason.
Of course, these weren’t all the gnolls in the village, but it was something to do while we waited.
There were about 30 gnolls gathered here, which seemed to match the size of the hollow.
Seeing such a small number compared to goblins was both curious and surprising.
As the dog treat party came to an end, the gnolls finally seemed satisfied.
-Keng keng.
-Ke keng?
“We’re friends of Ras, and these are gifts we brought for him.”
-Ke keng keng!
The gnolls were overjoyed.
They were so simple.
It seemed like if I just offered them more treats, they’d follow me anywhere, which made me a bit worried.
What would they do if a stranger offered them treats? They should be saying “No!”
I’d have to take them and give them a proper lesson.
‘Wait, am I the one who should be saying this?!’
As I was pondering this seriously, a few gnolls approached and started sniffing us.
They sniffed around and even licked my hand like puppies.
-Keng?
-Ke keng.
Without thinking, I petted their heads, and their tails began spinning like propellers.
These cute little things!
I can’t resist. I’m going to take all of you with me!
-Keng!
“Oh, is Ras inside?”
-Ke keng, keng!
“Are you going to guide us? Let’s follow them, Kyu-seong Kyu-seong!”
Finally, we might get to meet him.
The boss of this dungeon, Wrath Ras.
Even though he seemed to be hiding out in a place like this, he must still be the strongest monster as the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins.
‘I’m feeling a bit nervous.’
Although I’d seen plenty of cute gnolls, I wondered what Ras would be like.
Surely, as the leader and one of the Seven Deadly Sins, he couldn’t be as cute as these gnolls… right?
Following the group of gnolls, we arrived at another large chamber on the opposite side of the hollow.
This one also had a small village, and the gnolls there seemed wary of our sudden visit.
-Keng! Ke keng!
-Keng keng!
The gnolls on both sides began conversing with each other.
And then…
“Who dares to summon me?”
A commanding voice echoed through the chamber.
The weight of the voice made it clear that this was Wrath Ras.
I eagerly and nervously awaited the appearance of the voice’s owner.
At the same time, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Huh?”
“Who are you? Have you come to see me?”
A cute little dog stood on two legs before me.
Cliche Novel 