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Chapter 6 – Beast Hunters
This was Kranol’s first time entering a dungeon.
He had knowledge from the original story, but experiencing it in person was new.
Unlike simple monster nests, real dungeons had a much lower survival rate.
‘There are traps everywhere, and the monsters are far more dangerous and aggressive.’
At the entrance of the Swirling Cavern, the ground had collapsed.
Maybe it was from some natural disaster.
Kranol asked,
“Baby dragon. Can you carry me while flying?”
“Kryaaang.”
The baby dragon grabbed his waist confidently.
It wasn’t as strong as an adult dragon, but it could still carry one adult for a short distance.
“Good job.”
“Kryang!”
After safely crossing the broken ground, Kranol patted the proud little dragon’s head.
The two of them headed into the dark cavern.
The real dungeon adventure had begun.
‘Hmm. This is way easier than I thought.’
The Swirling Cavern was disappointingly simple.
All Kranol had to do was walk with a lantern—
because the baby dragon was handling everything else.
“Kreeek! Keeek!”
As soon as they reached the 1st basement floor, giant soldier ants surrounded them.
Their shells were tough like metal, and they had razor-sharp jaws.
But the baby dragon’s white flame breath instantly burned them all to ash.
Fwoooosh!
The divine fire easily wiped out the monsters, even through their thick shells.
They were supposed to be dungeon monsters… yet they died so easily.
‘This is almost too easy.’
It was way more efficient than doing everything alone.
The dragon’s growth directly boosted Kranol’s power too.
‘If I keep bonding with it, I can get more skills later.’
So for now, he would raise this little creature properly.
While clearing the 1st floor, he picked up the monster loot.
Even burnt, the shells and legs were useful for equipment crafting.
“Baby dragon. Store these in your subspace.”
“Kryang!”
The dragon neatly stored everything.
Since Kranol was always broke from buying herbs, he grabbed anything valuable to sell later.
After finishing his loot collection, he headed to the 2nd floor.
Among the soldier ants, larger ones with armor-like shells emerged; these were Knight Ants, stronger and more developed.
“KIEEEEK—!”
Their roar boosted the morale of the smaller ants.
But it caused unexpected trouble.
“Ugh.”
Kranol’s pupils trembled.
A sharp pain split through his head.
He bit his lip until it bled and raised a hand.
“…Shut up.”
Crunch!
The roaring Knight Ant was instantly crushed.
Even the other ants were terrified by the sudden, brutal death.
Even the baby dragon widened its eyes in awe.
“Kryaaang!”
It looked at Kranol like he was something even a dragon couldn’t match.
But Kranol didn’t react. He just chewed an herb.
He had barely avoided a disaster.
‘Damn this madness. Loud sounds always trigger it.’
That overwhelming power only came during moments of madness—
but it caused intense pain, like his body was tearing apart.
Kranol hated using it because it could make him lose control again.
“Baby dragon. Burn the rest.”
He wiped the blood from his lips and gave the order.
The dragon did so without hesitation, easily clearing the floor.
Loot was collected again.
This time, something special popped up in the status window:
[Item: A Decade-Old Venom Fang of a Knight Ant]
[Grade: ★]
[Use: Can be used as a weapon crafting material. Will corrode unless combined with high-quality metal.]
A 1-star item.
Star-rated items were valuable, considered rare blessings from the stars.
They could even be offered to the gods.
Kranol had never found one from simple monster nests before.
And yet here in the dungeon, just from clearing weak mobs, he already had one.
‘This is a huge gain.’
Not all dungeon monsters dropped star items,
but this dungeon’s difficulty seemed to raise the chances.
He stored the item in the dragon’s subspace and moved on to the 3rd floor.
“KIEEEEK—!”
There, even more soldier ants and three Knight Ants appeared.
All three roared at once, but Kranol had prepared this time.
He strapped the lantern to his waist, covered his ears, and stayed calm.
His eyes reddened a little, but he held out.
“Burn them all.”
“Kyraaaang!”
Again, nothing could withstand the baby dragon’s white flames.
Even the knight ants burned black after only a short fight.
[Disaster: “Abandoned Baby Dragon” is hunting.]
[White Flame Breath leveled up! (Lv.2 → Lv.3)]
[Its holy destructive power grows stronger.]
The baby dragon’s skill had leveled up.
Its growth was incredibly fast.
Then it wearily climbed onto Kranol’s shoulder.
“Kryaaang…”
“Good job. Take a break.”
Kranol handed it some jerky, and the dragon eagerly ate.
Dragon breath wasn’t unlimited—it used mana, and the dragon needed rest.
Still, clearing three whole floors was impressive.
‘As expected of a final boss’s bloodline.’
It was basically auto-farming.
Kranol just walked forward and collected loot.
It felt like cheating.
So, he decided to reward the dragon.
“I thought of a name. How about ‘Chubbs’? Because you’re chubby.”
“Kyyaaaang!!”
The dragon furiously shook its head.
Kranol raised an eyebrow.
“Wow, you really hate it that much?”
Just then—BANG BANG BANG!
They both turned their heads.
Someone was banging on a metal door nearby.
They hadn’t noticed it before due to the fighting.
But now, they heard human voices behind it.
“P-Please save us!!”
“There are people in here!!”
The baby dragon gently bit Kranol’s collar.
“Kryaaang.”
Kranol looked at it and asked quietly,
“You want to help them?”
The dragon shook its head.
“Then… ignore them?”
The dragon nodded.
Smart little guy.
In dungeons, cries for help often turned out to be traps—
either monsters mimicking humans or bandits waiting to ambush.
‘But… wait.’
Kranol rubbed his chin, thinking.
Then gave the order:
“Baby dragon. Melt that door.”
“Kyaaang!”
The dragon stared at him, annoyed.
But Kranol explained.
“I don’t help people unless it benefits me.”
“Kyaang?”
“But those people? They’ll benefit me. So I’m helping.”
“Kyaang.”
That answer seemed to satisfy the dragon.
It obediently burned the iron door.
The melted door collapsed, and ragged people stumbled out.
They stared at Kranol—surrounded by dead monsters and white fire.
“W-Who are you…?”
Kranol ignored the question.
He simply held out his hand.
“Hand it over. Your life-saving fee.”
“…What?”
“I saved you. So give me the most valuable thing you’ve got.”
***
‘People trapped in the Swirling Cavern? There’s only one case like that.’
Birg the Beast Hunter.
A short-appearance character… but he did show up in the original story.
The man who was supposed to be a cold, lifeless corpse… was very much alive, though a bit worn out.
“Are you alone? We heard you talking to someone from behind the door…”
“Maybe you just mistook a monster’s cry for a voice.”
The five beast hunters looked around, eyes wide in disbelief.
“Oh my god… look at all these monster corpses.”
“So you’re saying he took down all of them… by himself?”
“And this is deep underground, how did he even get here…”
Before anyone could see, the baby dragon had already gone invisible.
So to them, the blazing white fire and all the destruction looked like Kranol’s doing alone.
One nervous woman spoke up with dry lips.
“A-Are you perhaps a mage from the Magic Tower?”
The mages of the Tower were different; they were people who had dedicated their lives to magic, not just those who loved it.
Kranol calmly replied.
“Scrolls.”
“Um… what?”
“Give me your scrolls first.”
The group looked at one another.
Being asked to pay a life-saving fee out of nowhere…
“W-What should we do?”
“Do we really have a choice? If we say no and end up fighting, we’ll die.”
Even if they had the numbers, they weren’t stupid.
This man had taken down all those monsters alone.
Meanwhile, they were weak, starved, and had just escaped death.
“Here. These are all our scrolls. You can check our packs if you want.”
Birg handed over four rare scrolls.
They were expensive, but nothing compared to their lives.
After taking them, Kranol asked:
“Are you hungry?”
“Uh… well, of course…”
They looked terrible.
Two weeks trapped in that room, without food or water.
Kranol pointed to the burned monster corpses.
“If you peel off the shell and remove the venom fangs, you can eat the meat.
Just don’t eat too much or you’ll get sick. Just enough to satisfy your hunger.”
The beast hunters’ eyes lit up.
They rushed to tear the meat apart and eat.
It was smelly, tough, and a bit charred—
but they weren’t in a position to be picky.
The parts that weren’t too burned still had juicy bits inside.
“When you’re done eating, follow me.”
Kranol then led them to a spot in the dungeon where clean underground water flowed—
a resting place, originally used as the water source for the ant monsters.
There, they quenched their thirst and washed up.
“Th-Thank you so much!”
“Really! If it weren’t for you, we’d all be dead!”
The hunters thanked him repeatedly.
But Kranol shook his head.
“No need to thank me.”
“Huh?”
“The ‘Egg of Calamity’ lies in the depths of this dungeon.
I want to team up with you all for that.”
Their eyes widened.
They were surprised, but also glad.
“The Egg of Calamity?! So you read about it in the ancient texts too?”
“If a powerful mage like you joins us, we can actually destroy it!”
“What a relief! That cursed egg must be destroyed—for the world’s sake!”
But then, Kranol gave an unexpected reply.
“No.”
He spoke calmly:
“I intend to hatch the Egg of Calamity.
And I want you all to help me do it.”
Everyone else wanted to destroy it.
But not him.
Kranol wanted to hatch it—
because he knew exactly what kind of monster would be born from it.
