Dungeon Gourmet

Chapter 1

Recipe 1. Table of Contents

Champ, crunch, slurp.

There was the disturbing sound of ravenous chewing, as if a wild predator was feasting on the flesh of a dead animal.

It was a creature with a hyena-like jaw that could chew through a ridiculous amount of bones, and it wasn’t at all bothered by the bones in between the meat and continued to chew on its food easily.

The prey was a roe deer that had just died, and the creature quickly devoured the chunks of its flesh in the warm blood that flowed out of its body.

But still, it was too much of a poor meal to be called lunch.

In the deepest part of a sordid forest full of dreary plants, there existed a giant monster with a human’s upper body grafted into a spider’s torso..….

It was busy chewing on the shoulder of the roe deer.

Was it a human, or a monster?

If you took away the fact that the surface of its skin was covered with a hard shell just like an insect’s, had six spherical black eyes like a spider’s, and the “Kiririk” sound it makes was incredibly inhuman, and its lower body was that of a spider’s… Yep, definitely human.

At this moment, its eating manners seemed to be terrible, considering the green saliva dripping down its mouth as it was nose deep inside the animal’s dead body.

Now, the monster darted ahead and decided to grab the human body lying next to its prey.

But then, suddenly, the monster that was about to feast breathlessly stopped.

And its face began to droop slowly.

Ding—

Multiple notifications rang loudly.

The Fairytale Debuff is removed by Touch of the Illuminated Saint (Rare).
TL/N: Previously translated as ‘Shining Saint’s touch’

A clean and clear chime sounded as if a bell calling a servant in a luxurious mansion.

It was a familiar sound.

[The Fairytale debuff has been lifted.]

With the sound of the chime, the sight that was dyed red from the excitement disappeared when the atmosphere changed as quickly as melting snow.

As he regained his vision, a bright light filled his head, and the air that entered his lungs made him feel a sense of coolness.

“…?”

Despite not knowing the English language, he realized one fact as he blinked his eyelids open.

Finally, ‘I’ is sane. [After the duration time of Madness, the effect disappears.]

[Current Madness Stack: 1 (Max stack: 15)]

I left behind the pleasant voices that came to my mind one after another, and stared blankly at the sunlight shining through the dreary leaves around me.
TL/N: These ‘pleasant voices’ are the System’s voice.

What I did after that was to check my appearance. When I turned my gaze downwards, I saw the dark red tail end of the spider’s body. When I caught sight of it, I wasn’t surprised nor upset.

As I recall, this was natural. However, there was a part of me that I was really surprised by.

Ding—

‘…Status windows.’

Standing still, I stumbled through my memory and came up with how to use that skill.

But then, I accidentally used it on the half-intact human body which I unconsciously touched as it was on the ground. A window appeared in front of me with a strange sound effect…

Corpse Status

Species: Human

Occupation: Holy Knight

Level: 88

Attack: 936

Defense: 780

Strength: 120

Intelligence: 37

Agility: 99

Luck: 68

Titles: [Advanced Knight] [Golden Conquest Breaker] [Master of Divine Protection] [Hero…]

“He…ro…”

Until just now, clear and understandable human language came out of my mouth, which would usually be spilling alien-like green saliva and making creepy noises.

The human’s stats couldn’t compare to the title of [Hero].

He’s a Hero……

Hero……

“…….”

As soon as I woke up in the morning and started a new day, I made a list inside my head, 1. I killed the Hero 2. And ate the Hero?

Does this even make sense?

For about a month, I just simply wanted to stay in a quiet place and die, but I finally put up with that desire and decided to check my own condition this time.

TL/N: A month has passed (?)

It was hard to figure out why I suddenly became so distracted when I was in such a hurry, but it could just be an aftereffect……

“My status…..”

As I muttered in a small and feeble voice, I visualized the familiar blue, translucent ‘Notification Window’ at that moment.

Status

Name: Charlotte

Level: 247

Species: Human

Age: 117 years old

Occupation: Warrior

Attack: 1614

Defense: 1786

Ability: 108(+99)

Intelligence: 73(+99)

Agility: 67(+99)

Luck: 36(+99)

! Remaining Points: 540

Titles: [Wolf Trainer] [Successor of the Magic Tower] [Intermediate Knight] [Kin Slayer]

Uh?

No, this one is strange too. Even more than the last one.

Above all, the age part was the most problematic, although all the other stats were relatively similar to each other.

I was able to overlook my absurd level and the left-over points that I shouldn’t have even had, and came to terms with all my titles, like ‘Kin Slayer’.

However, it was still hard to comprehend the three-digit number written on my Age section.

117 years old?

Obviously I… My age is………….

“I’m seventeen years old.”

I blearily recalled it.

That sentence was nothing more than an answer to a question I was asked by a weapons dealer when I was walking around the market before coming here.

Seventeen. I’m seventeen.

It was a sentence I automatically responded with when I was asked how old I was because I was carrying around a weapon.

“…….”

So, maybe I’ve been a monster for 100 years?

I was 17 years old before I entered this forest.

However, the number written on the Status window was 117.

Then there was only one way to explain this situation.

So it seems that I’ve spent 100 years in the body of this enormous spider…..

“This can’t be.”

The sound of my voice was small, but it was enough to capture my sorrow and resonate through the entire forest.

How did things come to this?

When I opened my eyes, 100 years passed while I was in the form of a monster, and the first thing I did was kill the Hero.

As I stood still absent-mindedly, I heard a loud sound that couldn’t be compared to my weak and feeble voice.

Geurrrrk… My stomach was rumbling.

“…….”

The grumbling of my stomach made me realize what I wanted the most right now.

That’s right. I am…..

Hungry.

I have to eat.

Hunger, which began in my stomach, gradually filled my body and made my head hurt from the pain.

The only way to solve this desire was to eat the Hero’s corpse in front of me, but I didn’t want to do that.

“I’m a human being. I will not eat my own kind.”

These were the words he spoke as I made a promise to myself.

It’s only been 10 minutes, and it’s hard to say that it was a time of lamenting over the fact that I had killed someone, but what can I do?

Of course, I offered my condolences to the dead Hero.

However, even if I was absorbed in my own self-shame like this, there was nothing good to come by me or the dead by doing so.

“…..”

I carefully thought about my situation, starting with my grotesque body that still looked like a spider monster’s.

I focused on my consciousness and….

Ding—

Skill: Arachnephobia has been lifted.

[After some time, the effect of Madness disappears]

[Madness stack: 0(Max stack: 15)]

Several more notifications passed, and the moment I opened my eyes again, my vision seemed to be lower.

Did I become shorter? It seems that I now have the torso of a human, and not a monster.

Another thing that changed was that my hands were no longer red.

I groped my torso, checking to see if I really did return back to normal.

I was fully convinced that I was back in human, so…

“…….”

Now it’s time to find out what actually happened.

‘…Hm!’

First of all, the two biggest that I’ve realized ever since I became conscious were,

One, I killed the Hero. Two, 100 years have passed.

“Unsurprisingly…..”

It didn’t take long to uncover the truth behind the first one.

Since my mind had become sane, I vaguely began to recall what I did in the form of a monster.

It felt like I’d just woken up from a deep sleep.

For me, I had just woken up overnight but fragments of memories were already scattered inside my head.

‘I remember everything…..’

But the only thing that came to my mind were all of the actions I’ve done to harm or eat people. The memories of the time I was a monster soon became painful.

“What…..?”

I’ve been slaughtering people!

Unknowingly, I glanced at the corpse of Hero, and every time, I looked at the sky and felt the urge to escape reality.

‘Why is this happening? What is this situation?’

My mind was completely white.

And the human corpses around me are probably adventurers and mercenaries

“How do I check my Skills…… Ah!”

As I was immersed in my thoughts, a blue window appeared in front of my eyes at the words I unintentionally uttered. It was the so-called ‘Skill List’. There was one thing that could be the cause of all this.

List of Skills

○ Active Skills

[Arachnophobia(M)]

[Swordsmanship (A)]

[Martial Arts(A)]

[Fireball (C)]

……

“This is it. ‘Arachnophobia’. Obviously, it’s because of this skill…………!”

Before all of the skills were displayed, I selected a skill that was placed on the top of the list, and windows of similar color immediately popped up.

It was detailed information related to the skill.

Details

〈Arachnophobia (Master)〉

[Transformation type] [Dark attribute] [Active]

This skill will allow you to use the power of an ancient spider-type monster, Arachne. The user’s skin will be replaced/sheltered by the spider queen’s, along with an immense amount of power in exchange for worshipping darkness.

○ Effects

During the duration, all stats will rise tremendously.

You will be able to use Specialized/Exclusive Skills during the duration.

(Current Proficiency : 100%)

○ Specialized/Exclusive Skills

[Cobweb]

[Witchcraft]

[Reproduction]

[Blade of Blood]

[Predator]

Quite a lot of information was written on the detail windows.

Usually, skills do not have such side effects. But that was understandable because of the rarity and cheat-like skill.