The sun no longer rose in the dungeon.

"Will it stay like this?"

"I think that will depend on what the Tree of Life thinks."

"That makes sense."

The Hunters lingered near Honey, who had grown enormous, about five meters tall.

"Wow, it's warm..."

"It's cold now that it suddenly cooled down."

"Does it make sense that it ate all that heat and it's only warm?"

"So what if it doesn't? As long as it's nice and warm."

"That's true..."

Perhaps because its body had grown heavy, Honey did not fly.

"Hmph."

"Let's let it out when we get home."

"Hmph, hmph, hmph..."

"If you blow it out here, it'll all have been for nothing."

"Hmph, hmph, hmph, hmph, hmph..."

"Do you want a snack?"

"Gurgle."

Kang Seodam approached Jio after Jio put an entire sack of snacks into Honey's mouth.

"Hunter Seo Jio."

"Ah, priest."

"Thank you for helping with this."

"It was something I had to do."

"Honey was a great help too..."

Kang Seodam seemed about to say something more, but soon closed his mouth.

"..."

He continued a moment later.

"... It only feels that way because of the difference from the initial temperature, but the current climate is quite mild. By Earth's seasons, it could be considered spring."

"Has it stabilized a lot?"

"We don't know for certain, so we've called over those among the people still able to move whose specialty is magic and had them dig up the ground, but there doesn't seem to have been any particular result yet. Even if we don't necessarily pump up groundwater, given the current situation... I don't think there will be much of a problem."

"I see."

Jio asked.

"Will you be checking those small trees now?"

"Yes, which is why I'm gathering people to accompany me."

"I would like to go with you."

"I would be grateful if you did."

And so a small group of Hunters moved to where the pale purple tree stood.

Despite all that commotion, the small tree remained exactly as it had been, without so much as a scratch. The tree in the dark night was giving off a faint light, and Jeong Youngwon, who carefully examined that delicate tree, spoke.

"The tree's temperature hasn't changed much even though the climate has changed so greatly."

"It does seem that more heat has drained from it than before, but it looks that way to me as well."

Kang Seodam nodded and turned toward Sanarae.

"Is there anything you can advise us on separately?"

"Thank you so very much for relying on me."

"I can tell very well that you're being sarcastic."

"I don't have much to say either... hmm, there's a scent."

"A scent?"

"Before the weather cooled down, it smelled like a corpse."

"Then we should certainly consider that a change."

It was then.

"Meow."

Dana cried from within Jio's shadow.

"Meow."

"..."

"Meow..."

At Dana's cry, the tree's branches trembled faintly. No matter how exhausted they were, the Hunters were not so dull that they would miss a movement of that degree. At the inexplicable phenomenon, a Hunter from Eunwol looked tense.

"C-Could this be a monster too...?"

"It was once a human child that turned into a tree, so it's not impossible."

"Then shouldn't we prepare for it?"

And before they could discuss anything further, the tree began flapping its branches.

FLOP.

"..."

FLAP, FLAP FLAP.

"...?"

SPLAT...

The Hunters stared blankly at the tree as it struggled to crawl out of the ground. The tree floundered like a puppy that had fallen into a swamp. About ten minutes passed like that.

Unable to endure that bizarre silence, one Hunter spoke up.

"... Should we... help it?"

"... It makes no sense to help a monster."

"We don't even know whether that thing is a monster in the first place..."

Not everything that moved alive inside a dungeon was a monster. Most dungeons did contain only monsters, but in some, there were ordinary trees or wild animals too.

But it was hard to say that a tree moving this much was not a monster. Unless it was an ordinary creature that had lived here even before this dimension became a dungeon...

"..."

"... But it looks weak."

"... We've become much weaker too. There are many cases of people approaching weak-looking monsters and getting killed instead."

"But isn't waiting until it comes out on its own a pointless concern to begin with?"

"True, it does look like we'll just end up watching it until it gets out..."

"Let's just pull it out, now that it's come to this."

"It doesn't look that aggressive toward humans either."

Monsters did hate and threaten humans, but the difference between individuals was significant. In the end, though the Hunters wore doubtful expressions, they gently pulled the struggling, flapping tree out of the ground.

And then the Hunters realized something.

"...! A seal?"

Someone shook their head.

"It has a long neck and four legs. It's much broader too."

"Then what do you usually call a creature like this?"

"I feel like I saw a similar monster in some dungeon. Well, a water dragon?"

"If we had to say... wouldn't it be a plesiosaurus?"

One Hunter asked, sounding dumbfounded.

"Are you giving us a dinosaur name right now?"

"Yes, well, there was a dinosaur that supposedly lived underwater on old Earth."

"That's not what I'm asking. No, how do you even know that?"

"My son likes them..."

"Ah..."

Although this was an age where countless records had been erased after the Great Catastrophe, records about dinosaurs remained. Even now, many children memorized dinosaur names by heart.

"Did that dinosaur called a plesiosaurus look like this?"

"Yes. Long neck, four legs, flat like a board, and a tail too."

"I wondered why it was the only one that wasn't an animal, but it was a water dragon..."

"I didn't recognize it because it was mimicking the form of a tree."

A water dragon trapped in a dungeon filled with the sun's horrific heat. It was clear how much suffering Life wanted to inflict on the tree. It was like laying a fish out in a dryer.

"When it was stuck in the ground, it just looked like a tree."

Now that it had come out of the ground like this, it simply looked like a water dragon with wisteria flowers hanging all over it.

The small pale purple water dragon slapped its tail and crawled over. Since it had no particular killing intent or hostility, they watched it quietly, and the creature approached Seo Jio. It cried out in a short sound.

"Moo."

One Hunter covered their mouth.

"It's cute."

"It's a monster."

"There are plenty of cute monsters."

"People can have tastes like that."

In this world of individualism, Hunters readily respected a comrade's tastes.

As if it had little interest in the Hunters' murmuring, the thing made of trees tangled into the shape of a water dragon lifted what appeared to be its head and poked Jio at the waist. Jio, who had been watching it closely, lifted his pouch.

"Moo-oo."

"Are you hungry?"

"Moo!"

"How admirable."

Hunter Sanarae asked.

"If it's hungry, it doesn't matter even if it's a monster?"

"It's always nice to see something eat well."

"Mm... your tastes are very clear."

One of the Hunters said in surprise.

"That monster seems to like Hunter Seo Jio."

"Is it because he's a trainer...?"

"No, until it's tamed, trainer or not, you're just an enemy."

"Then why is that thing acting like that toward Hunter Seo?"

Since it looked to anyone like a baby animal asking its parent for food, they began murmuring, and someone spoke in a guess.

"Maybe it's already been tamed?"

"What did he even do...?"

"Just with affection and love..."

"... Is there anyone here who knows how taming works?"

But there was no way anyone knew about the techniques of those precious trainers. To begin with, there was no way they would tell others their valuable secrets. Above all, taming methods varied wildly from trainer to trainer.

In the end, the Hunters convinced themselves.

'I guess monsters care about faces too.'

'Does he smell nice or something? Like pheromones...'

'Maybe he has a skill that lowers a monster's guard.'

'Or maybe it's an ability of a monster he's already tamed? It's not like he would have shown us everything.'

This was a world where, fundamentally, it had become etiquette not to pry too deeply into others. An age where they could only imagine stories they could not ask about recklessly. The Hunters simply let it pass with, "I guess that's just how it is."

If another trainer had been there, they might have known just how absurd this situation was, but the chances of that were low. That was how much idolization and jumping to conclusions had become natural in this society.

"What should I do? This is all the jerky I brought..."

At Jio's words, the Hunters were amazed.

"Hunter Seo Jio, you brought jerky too? Those muffins weren't the end?"

"What do you mean, muffins? What I got was jelly."

"... Wait, I received chocolate. Just how many snacks did you bring?"

At that, Sanarae thought.

'They'll stop making a fuss only after they see him pull a giant pot the size of a person out of his subspace.'

Seo Jio, who had been kneading the water dragon whose head barely reached his waist as though he were rubbing a dog's cheeks, tilted his head. Some Hunters' gazes turned along with his, and some had already noticed something.

And soon, water gushed up.

"..."

"..."

"... It's water."

A quick-witted Hunter summarized the situation.

"I guess that thing was blocking a water vein."

The Hunter who said that lifted a communicator. It was to stop the magicians who were probably digging through the ground and sweating blood to find possible groundwater.

The Hunters exchanged stunned looks.

"There really was groundwater."

"But is it okay for it to keep pouring out like that...? What principle is this?"

"Isn't the speed a little fast?"

Around then, Kang Seodam, who had received a report from another side, spoke.

"The other teams are making similar reports. Some trees still haven't managed to get out of the ground and are floundering, while some have already come out... and water is apparently gushing out over there too."

"At this rate, won't this dungeon flood?"

"I don't think it will be completely submerged. I don't know exactly how much groundwater was lying dormant, but even on Earth, the world doesn't flood just because one water vein is opened."

"That is true, but..."

PATTER, PATTER...

Jeong Youngwon raised her hand.

"It's raining."

"What?! Ah, wait, where should we take shelter...!"

"It's all right."

Jeong Youngwon, rubbing the raindrops on her hand, continued.

"Because it doesn't hurt anymore."

The rain of pain that had driven people mad with just a touch was gone now. Unlike before, it was not a downpour harsh enough to hurt the skin, but a fine drizzle falling as gently as dawn dew.

At that moment, the Hunters were able to check their System notifications.

"... The clear..."

"... It's cleared."

"P-Priest. Just now...!"

"It was cleared just now!!"

"We get to clock out now!!"

"That is a wise decision."

Kang Seodam nodded.

"Let's return."

It was time to head back.

"Mr. Sanarae."

"Yeah?"

"I have something I'm curious about."

"Aha, and what might that be?"

"What is a claim reward?"

"A claim reward..."

Sanarae, who was looking at Jio, grinned and said,

"You can think of it as a gift from the System."

"What kind of gift?"

"When a dungeon clear is completed, the System judges how much you contributed to that clear and sends a gift accordingly."

"How do you receive the gift?"

"Usually, you can receive it through the System. It's delivered to the subspace bound to you..."

"How do you do that?"

"Why on earth are you asking something like that?"

"It looks convenient."

"... Hmmm..."

"..."

"..."

A translucent System quietly appeared between them. Sanarae's eyes reflexively checked his own notification window.

"I didn't see anything just now, got it?"

"Wouldn't it be a message that came for you to see?"

"I said I didn't see it, didn't I? Why are you doing this to me?"

"Do you not particularly like jerky?"

Giovanni whispered.

"I asked because I have received nothing from the System."

"..."

First, it was impossible for a Hunter not to know about "claim rewards." That was basic, utterly obvious common sense one learned if one lived in human society.

Second, no human could learn the System's technology simply because it "looked convenient." Just as one could not create Earth merely because it looked impressive.

Third, there was no reason for a contributor on the level of "Hunter Seo Jio" not to receive a clear reward. Unless he had no System at all, or used a different kind of System.

"..."

And there was no reason to go out of his way to tell Sanarae that...

"Everyone has left."

"... They have."

"We should return now too."

"Shall we?"

Sanarae decided to shut up and smile.

After living for a while, he had found there was no answer wiser than that.