"Raaaaaa….” The creature screeched.

The Bounding Y?kai was a difficult midboss to defeat. This was mostly because it leapt around a lot. It looked a bit like a monkey mixed with the spirit of a clown. Regrettably, that was the best way to describe the creature. It had big eyes and big lips with pale skin, but it also leaped around, using it arms to swing from the ceiling. Whenever we did a little damage to it, it’d flee. That was the difficult part. It was prone to attacking at the worst moments and then fleeing just as we got to the point we could start dealing some damage to it. Eventually, I had enough.

We continued to hunt for the library, but the possibility of the Y?kai attacking made every encounter frustrating. Thus, I decided it was time to set a trap. Very carefully, we hunted groups waiting for the next appearance of the Y?kai. As soon as it appeared, I immediately used holy circle. In an instant, it was trapped in the bubble. It let out a shriek as it leapt around, unable to get out of the shield I had left for it.

“Celeste, Now!”

“Wind Break!” She cried out.

The area within the holy circle looked like it had shattered for a moment. This is what wind Break did, it literally shattered the air like glass. It looked like a terrifying ability as expected of a high-level adept. The Y?kai shrieked as it took some heavy damage. I immediately followed it up with exorcism. That seemed to be enough, as the Yokai was obliterated shortly after. At its feet were two items. The first was a pair of gauntlets that sped up your sword strikes. I put them on.

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With my faster footwork, these gauntlets, and Quick Attack, I’d be a lot more dangerous. As for the second item, I was a little surprised when I noticed it.

“Ah… that’s right, I left Cook equipped.”

It looked like when collect was equipped, it was possible to get both a normal drop item and a cooking item. As for the cook item from a boss, it was naturally very good. This looked to be the meat of a full pheasant. However, when I glanced at it, that was truly when I was impressed. With item identify, it said. “After consumed, gain stat bonuses for 24 hours.” This told me that cooking in this world, at a high enough level and with the right ingredients, could have some major power boosting elements.

“Mmm… smells good.” Celeste said, looking down at the Pheasant in my hands.

I casted Purify and Preserve on it, then put it in my storage ring. At that rate, it should be good for a few weeks.

“We’ll cook this on the 19th level. It’ll help us take out the boss.”

Celeste nodded, basically accepting anything I told her at this point. The pair of us continued to walk around the dungeon level 15, even after we had discovered the exit down. Escaping wasn’t our only priority. We also wanted to find out about the story.

We finally found the library. This was one of the harder ones to find. Had I not been looking for it, we would have passed it a dozen times over. As usual, I sealed the entrance, registered with the kiosk and then set up a campfire. After making food and settling down, only then did I stand up to study the murals. Celeste flew over and sat on the steps, eagerly waiting for me to tell her the next part of the story.

“Alright… so, where were we…”