The chant flowed naturally, mana shaping itself into the spell.
“Source of the mighty current, gentle cradle, bearer of both death and destruction...”
A blue magic circle flared in response to my words. Mana drained from my entire body.
“Ye who rule the waters, reveal the might of one who is king and cut all with water! Blade of the Sea King!”
Water burst from my outstretched right arm, wild, swirling, the very image of water itself—and a deep blue, the kind anyone would imagine.
“Ugh! This is...bad!”
My mana’s going crazy! It’s going wild inside my body, and I’m aching all over! This is too hard to control! But I had no problem activating it!
The massive blade of water, over ten meters long, began to lose its shape, bending unnaturally. The spell’s gonna go out of control! It might even hit Shiro and Kuro!
I roared, pouring everything I had into stabilizing it. My throat burned as more mana surged into the spell. The collapsing water regained its form—
A whooshing sound tore through the air and a sharp crack rang out, like steel clashing against steel. The hell chimera and I both let out a dumb noise. The dungeon wall, tough as it was, now bore a deep gash.
Did my Blade of the Sea King do that?
It had been too fast even for my eyes to follow. The blade had shot forward at dizzying speed, slicing the wall behind the hell chimera.
But the beast was still standing.
Did I miss?
The vast body of water rebounded from the wall, waves surging back toward us—it’s not quite a tsunami, but it’s high enough. The hell chimera, standing motionless, was swallowed by the wave. Its massive body shifted, blood spraying out of it, until it collapsed with a heavy thud.
“Huh...?”
I let out a strange noise—the sight was so surreal. Blade of the Sea King had sliced the hell chimera clean in two. It had been so fast, so sharp, that despite being the one who cast it, I hadn’t even realized it had struck. It was a terrifying spell. Just the thought of an enemy using it against us gave me chills. Are all advanced spells this insanely powerful?
“That was amazing!” Shiro said, coming to her senses. “Thor, you’re awesome!”
“Thor, suuuper aaawesome.”
“Actually, I’m as shocked as you are.”
High-tier magic clearly needed to be used at the right place and time, or it could easily drag allies into it. Its power and difficulty were on a whole different level from mid-tier spells. Next time, I’d need a wider space.
“Anyway... I’m starving.”
Right before us lay the two halves of the massive beast’s corpse. The smell of blood and guts began to waft through the air. It shouldn’t have been a pleasant smell, but somehow it made me hungry. At this point, all I could see was a pile of meat.
“What do you say? How about we eat before we use the teleportation circle to head to the deep layer?!”
“Agreeeed.”
“Agreed!”
This was a boss room. It seemed like small fry didn’t spawn in here, and few monsters wandered close. I’d heard that mercenaries sometimes rested in boss rooms after a fight. That must’ve meant it was safer than a corridor.
“Meal time it is, then! Let’s grill some hell chimera meat!”
“Wuffu!”
“Myah!”
We took down the hell chimera in perfect condition, so there’s plenty of meat! I stored away the beast, split clean in half from neck to tail, and used the storage’s butchering function. Despite the hell chimera’s massive size and mixed anatomy, it broke down instantly. This storage really is a cheat.
From the broken down parts, I pulled out the ribs, which had just the right balance of fat and lean meat. When I pressed my finger to it, I found the meat had spring and moisture. Refined and meaty, it was gonna make one heck of a yakiniku.
I stripped the meat from the bones and sliced it thin. The aroma was strong. I could already tell this was going to be amazing. I put the slices into a bowl and worked them with yakiniku sauce.
This sauce is my pride and joy. I’ve been improving it ever since I got my hands on soy sauce. I marinated herbs and dried mushrooms in the soy sauce and added grated garlic look-alike and fruits. I gotta say, it’s as good as anything sold back on Earth. The flavor and aroma are on the heavy side, and when it hits the pan and begins to char, the smell’s just irresistible.
As Shiro and Kuro looked on, their stomachs broke out into a duet of rumbles—actually, make that a trio.
“Hurry! Hurry!”
“I’m staaarving.”
“All right, all right. I’m almost done!”
I grilled a mountain of meat, piled it onto plates, and set it down on the stone table I’d made with earth magic and stashed in storage.
“Death pit hybrid beast yakiniku, isekai style.” Magical effects: small life recovery, medium stamina recovery, great mana recovery, medium life boost, medium stamina boost, medium mana boost, complete.
Because I’d used soy sauce, the name got tagged “isekai style.” Apparently, when something didn’t exist in this world, that was how it got labeled.
“All right then, let’s eat.”
“Let’s eat!” said Shiro and Kuro in unison.
Their chopsticks were already reaching for the meat as they spoke. I can’t blame them, though! The irresistible aroma of the hell chimera yakiniku was almost criminal.
“This is awesome! I can’t even believe it!”
“So good!”
“Deeelicious.”
The three of us were completely absorbed in our meat-only lunch, which was so good I almost forgot we were in the middle of dungeon diving. It was a nonstop barrage of fat and flavor. It was just meat, but it didn’t feel lacking, and we never got tired of it. We just kept raving about how incredible it was until the meat was gone in no time flat.
They say what you eat becomes your flesh and blood, and I can really feel that happening. Shiro and Kuro look satisfied too.
But wait, there’s more!
“Next up, we have this.”
“What’s thaaat?”
“It’s creepy! But it smells good!”
I’d pulled out a slimy, reddish-black piece of meat. It was the acid sac from the hard shell bug we’d defeated before. I’d already washed, detoxed, and dismantled it. All that was left was to grill it. It looked like innards, and some people might’ve found it gross, but Shiro and Kuro looked eager to try it. To me, it’s just like the offal I used to eat, and the girls will eat anything anyway.
They crowded around the acid sac roasting over the flames, sniffing constantly.
“Acid sac yakiniku of hard, steel-shelled bug, isekai style.” Magical effects: small life recovery, small stamina recovery, medium mana recovery, slight life boost, slight stamina boost, medium mana boost, complete.
The acid sac looked like grilled liver and was incredibly appetizing. Even though we’d stuffed ourselves with hell chimera ribs, we still had plenty of room.
“Crunchy and tasty!” said Shiro.
“Addictive.”