Since she was the only one who could produce heat while the others could cut up the monsters, she had been put on grill duty. Dawson had refused to help, leaving the square while they worked. Marlow carried the meat to her, stacking it on the large skin of one of the Demonic Moles. The fur had been turned towards the floor, but there was still the occasional hair that Penelope had to flick off with the dagger she was using to flip the steaks.
With the others dressing the meat, she was able to focus on only cooking, which allowed her to cook the meat faster. She was also getting better at regulating her mana with the beam spell to keep the metal warm enough to cook the meat fast, but not so fast that it cooked unevenly or burned.
An hour passed and then two. Penelope ran out of mana and took a mana potion so that she wouldn’t have to stop. Five hours later, they were finished with most of the meat that they’d salvaged getting cooked.
“I think this shield is cooked.” Patrick chuckled at his joke.
He’s right about that. Penelope couldn’t bring herself to use her outside voice. While she had been trying to keep the heat low enough that she didn’t burn a hole in it, the constant application of heat had started to warp the dented piece of gear.
She looked at her menu to see how much it had gone up.
Penelope swept her menu over the pile of meat. Everything on the bottom of the stack was named ‘Well-Done Mole Meat’, ‘Medium Mole Meat’, or something else like that. The ten pieces on top all had similar names, but with a * after the name.
There were four different effects: increased natural healing, Power, Defense, and Recovery. Each effect lasted from an hour up to four, but there didn’t seem to be a pattern to how the time limit was distributed.
“Well.” Ula wiped her forehead with the cut-up robe that they had been using as a rag. “That took longer than I expected.” The grandmother nodded at the stack of meat. “But we shouldn’t have to cook anything else until the timer runs out.”
“The latest stuff I cooked has bonuses.” Penelope pointed at the pieces of steak that she’d been stacking to the side.
“Trying to steal from us?” Dawson glared at the other person his age.
“Daw, go find somewhere else to be.” Ula rubbed her neck. “I doubt you want anyone to see me bend you over my knee.”
“You…!” The man’s face paled. “You can’t do that! There are laws!”
Ula raised her eyebrows. “Sweetie. You are on a different planet in an underground Dungeon surrounded by Demons. What law are you talking about?”
“The…” He looked at the two older men, but both of them found somewhere else to be. “There will be laws when we get back!”
Ula started laughing. “You think we’re all getting back?” The Hispanic grandmother pointed at 2E. “We haven’t been here ten hours. Three people are dead down here. Who knows how many more topside, but one thing is for sure.” She pointed at the remaining Demons. “More people are going to die. So if you think for one second that I won’t bend you over my knee and give you an attitude adjustment, well..." She rolled her shoulders. “Don’t test me.”
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Dawson glared at the older woman, but after almost a minute, he looked away. “Whatever.” He turned and walked away from the group.
“Well, that was unfortunate.” Ula sighed. “Kids these days. They think they’re entitled to everything even though they haven’t done any of the work.” She smiled at Penelope. “Having said that, you should take what you want since you cooked it.”
“It’s okay…” Penelope looked down at the stacks of steaks. “None of those stats help me out. Plus you did all the butchering.”
“You’re a sweetheart.” The tan woman reached for Penelope’s hand but stopped. Ula looked down at her hands. “You probably don’t want my bloody hands touching yours.”
Penelope glanced down at her own hands. She’d cut up meat earlier, but the constant use of
“No, thank you!” Ula chuckled softly. “We wouldn’t have been able to go very long without food. Now all we have to worry about is water.”
“You haven’t been getting water from the Demons?”
“Five ounces of bitter water for four people..." Ula shook her head. “We need thirteen a day each.” The grandmother motioned in front of her to the southwest. “We’ve cleared nine.”
“Oh.” Penelope’s stomach reminded her that it was getting close to dinner time. Her body was feeling the strain of the day’s activity and her mana was in the single digits. The soda she’d brought with her had supplemented her fluids, but otherwise, she would need to clear more squares so that she didn’t start dehydrating. “Are you going to keep fighting today?”
“We don’t have much of a choice.” Ula raised her eyebrows. “Thinking about joining us?”
Penelope’s heart thundered in her ears. “No.” She closed her eyes to calm her nerves. This wasn’t a good run, and now that she knew about the jobs, there were other things that she could adjust on future attempts.
“Already thinking about redoing your best attempt?” Jeru teased.
I’m being realistic. Penelope thought back at him. We wasted too much time cooking. We won’t eat all of this even if we do clear the first floor this run.
“... what you want and leave the rest for us?”
Penelope blinked and tried to piece together what Ula had just said to her.
“I just need a dozen.” She began loading up the meat onto a cloth belt from one of the Casters. The strip of cloth was as wide as her hand, which made it about the right width to wrap around the steaks.
“Are you sure?” The older woman eyed the stack. “There’s almost ten times that here.”
“I only need three a day.” Penelope turned around to look to the north where the boss room waited. “Once we beat the boss, we’ll be able to go back to the surface, and if we don't..." She shrugged. “It won’t matter.”
Ula scrunched her brow. “How do you know that we’ll be able to go outside once we kill that thing?”
Penelope almost choked. She’d just dropped privileged information. “Um…” She swallowed. “Whenever we clear a square, the barrier walls connecting it to the safe zone come down. The boss is being kept on this floor by the barrier at the front door. So I would guess that once the boss square is cleared, we’ll be able to leave.”
The tanned woman tilted her head as she nodded. “Sounds logical.”
“This is more than enough for me to eat over the next three days.” Penelope glanced at the men, then back to their leader. “Good luck.”
“Take care, Sweetie.” Ula waved. “I worry about you taking on all of that on your own, but you’ve been doing okay so far.” Her pleasant face grew serious. “But if you die, don’t haunt me.”
“That’s…” Penelope didn’t correct the older woman. “That’s sweet; thank you.”
“You can thank me by not dying.” Ula nodded at the square to the west. “Go ahead and do your thing.”
Penelope looked west to her left, then turned north.
“You’re going to keep going even though you have food?”
She smiled. "Thanks; I think I’m going to deviate for a bit.”
Jeru? What would be the most helpful square in C for them to clear?
“3F has leg guards that Patrick would be able to use. 3J has gloves that will make Dawson’s poison stronger.”
Penelope nodded and motioned east, which was on her left. “You can gear up if you pick ones that have better gear.” She closed her mouth and ran her tongue over the front of her teeth like she was debating something. “My investigate skill lets me see the special gear. 3F and J look like they’ll help your team the most.”
“F and J, huh?” Ula nodded. “You just keep helping us. You certain that you don’t want to join us?”
Penelope cast a nervous glance at Dawson. She wasn’t comfortable being around him for any longer than she needed to. Even if she had felt comfortable about joining a team, the young Poison Caster was a deal-breaker.
“Just trying to help the best I can.” Penelope forced a smile, then turned and walked away before Ula could say anything else.
She set her gaze on the monsters in 4D. It was time to start killing things again.
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