On The Honeymoon (3)

Ah. Is that so?

Come to think of it, the wounds were about the size of Rurin’s breath. Much smaller than in her full dragon form, but the only thing powerful enough to pierce through monsters like that has to be her breath.

It probably lost energy along the way, which explains why the last monster wasn’t pierced.

The “bouncy-ball” breath bounced around wildly off the ceiling and walls, so it makes sense that each monster has different wounds.

I don’t know how strong these monsters are, but the breath was still powerful in here. So the real problem might be the exit.

“My dear wife is so strong, huh?”

“Since when am I the strong one and you the weak one?”

“Right?”

“Then I’ll protect you! You always protected me—now it’s my turn. Hehe.”

I protected Rurin mostly from other dragons. Back when she stayed in the lair her mother left behind.

Either way, she seemed thrilled with the role reversal, laughing and placing her hands on her hips in a proud pose.

“Please protect me well.”

So I boldly asked her—to protect me.

“Anyway, it’s actually a good thing there are monsters. Means there’s food for them.”

“Oho?”

If their food is human, that’s good—we might get intel. If it’s other monsters, there’s still a food chain. So we’ll find something to eat eventually.

“So let’s keep walking.”

With that, I started walking again. Finding food would be nice. Finding the exit—better.

“You!”

Rurin ran up and stood in front of me.

“Right now, I’m your shield!”

“A shield?”

“Yes! I’ll walk in front. You can’t get hurt. I won’t allow that.”

She was just dragging her feet earlier, but the moment she heard there were monsters, she insisted on walking ahead. Even in polymorph form, she’s naturally tougher than a human, so it’s the right call.

It was definitely a different role than usual.

Actually, under normal circumstances, neither of us would need to protect the other.

It’s a new experience—but not a bad one. We’re a couple. Leaning on each other when one of us is in trouble is natural.

We kept walking like that for quite a while. The path didn’t end. And just as Rurin was about to blow her top again, something finally changed.

The change was a fork in the path.

The boring single path finally ended and a fork appeared ahead. A fork usually means something significant—so of course we were glad to see it.

One side could be a trap, sure. But it’s not like we could freeze up from indecision. Right now, we had to trust in Rurin’s breath and her defenses, and just pick a path.

“Should we go right or left?”

There was no visual difference between the two paths. But Rurin answered without hesitation.

“Right!”

“Right? Why?”

“The version of you on the right is slightly cooler than the one on the left. So I like the right. So here, we go right!”

“What? There’s a difference? My face looks different? How small is ‘slightly’?”

“Hmm… Like if you took a speck of dust, split it into ten pieces, scattered those in the air, then broke those down again—that kind of difference?”

“……”

Is that even a difference?

That’s such a microscopic difference, I don’t even know what to say. Honestly, the fact that she can tell is what’s impressive.

It suddenly made me nervous thinking about how precisely she analyzes my face—down to the nanometers.

No, no, that’s not the issue here.

Her reason for picking right was absurd, but it’s not like we had a better one. So we followed Rurin’s decision and took the right path.

At first, the path looked just like before. But soon, it opened up—the ceiling got higher, and a large circular chamber appeared.

And inside…were live monsters.

Of the same kind we saw earlier.

They had massive claws, sharper than most swords, bodies covered in fur, and were easily twice my size.

“KROAAARRGH!”

No interest in talking. They charged at us like the rabid monsters I got sick of seeing during the Monster War.

With no mana available, I chose to retreat and shouted:

“Rurin, run for now!”

“HUH? Wh-what! Aaaah! You! Wait for me!”

Rapid footsteps

As I instinctively ran, Rurin followed. We bolted all the way back to the fork in the path.

But the monsters were still thudding after us—and at that moment, a critical thought hit me.

Why did we even run? And why did I forget the most important thing?

“Hey, Rurin.”

“What?”

“Why did you run?”

“Me? You said to run, so I did.”

“No, I mean—you have your breath attack. Why run?”

“Ohhh?”

“Oh, come on! We already confirmed earlier you can still use your breath even without mana. There’s no need to run.”

“But whether it’s breath or anything else—you said to run, so I did.”

“Of course that’s when you decide to listen.”

“What are you talking about? I always listen to you. I always follow you!”

Rurin was very proud of that.

So I turned back. Looked down the path we just fled. About five monsters. Thankfully, they were slow.

Either way, those earlier monsters were killed in one breath. Rurin’s not outmatched here.

“Let’s take care of those bastards first.”

Rurin nodded, and as the monsters came charging in, eyes blazing and claws swinging, she let loose her breath.

“RRRAGHHHH!”

“Noisy bastards. Arrogant scum. I don’t like them. How dare they come at my husband!”

She must’ve understood their roars, because she looked even angrier as she blasted them. The breath came out in radiant particles—an energy bomb that struck dead-on.

BOOOOOM—!

The front monster had half its body blown off. The one behind it lost its head. They didn’t even have time to bleed. The moment they were hit, the affected areas turned to ash. This breath was freshly fired, full power—stronger than the one that created the earlier corpses.

“You. Let’s move over there.”

“Huh?”

Surprisingly, Rurin grabbed me and pulled me. She was the one fighting, so I went along quietly.

Her breath blew away two monsters and then continued flying toward the wall. The remaining ones charged at us again.

But when it hit the opposite wall, it bounced back and slammed straight into the monsters’ backs.

KOOOOOOM—!

It was weaker than before, but still blew a hole in one monster’s chest, dropping it instantly. The breath shot up toward the ceiling where we’d just been standing, then rebounded again.

“Hehehe. This is fun.”

“You calculated the trajectory?”

She nodded. Then threw up a peace sign.

“Yay!”

When Rurin caught its attention, the monster paused—just in time for the breath to come crashing down from the ceiling.

“KRAAAHHH—!”

The breath wiped out four monsters in total, then soared toward the ceiling and gradually faded away.

“Hmm, that’s about right? Okay, let’s do this!”

She muttered to herself, then looked at the last remaining monster and fired another breath.

This one seemed a bit weaker, but still—it pierced straight through the monster and vanished.

In that short time, Rurin had started adjusting the strength of her breath. Moments like this really remind me she’s a dragon.

She may find everything annoying and lack even the most basic human common sense, but in combat—she’s an absolute genius.

“Nice work. But when the monster charged and roared, what did it say that made you so annoyed?”

She probably understood it. Rurin doesn’t really not understand languages.

Back in Korea, she spoke Korean effortlessly. Orcish, Dwarvish—doesn’t matter. She can understand them all. So whatever those monsters growled—sounded like “GRAAARRGH” to me—she definitely understood it.

I asked just in case there was any clue about this place in what they said.

“Oh, that?”

“Yeah.”

“It said, ‘How dare you, lowly creature!’”

“What?”

“Ridiculous bastards.”

“Agreed.”

Rurin’s one of the highest beings there is—and they called her lowly? These monsters were clearly out of their minds. No intel, no value.

“Anyway, good job, my love.”

“Kyaah?”

I hugged Rurin briefly and patted her head. Then we walked back to the circular chamber. Time to investigate—it looked like something lived here.

The outer walls were the same as the corridor we came through—built from strange bricks into a circular shape.

What made it different was the junk scattered around—presumably used by the monsters.

In one corner, there were what looked like weapons—whips, swords. Another side had a wooden slab that might’ve been a bed. And in one spot, a barrel-like container made of wood, like an orc barrel.

A wooden orc barrel?

So… There’s wood down here?

Anyway, I checked it. Inside were mushrooms—or something like them.

If this was their food, I was suddenly very interested.

I tipped the barrel and the mushrooms tumbled out in bulk.

I couldn’t confirm they were mushrooms just by looks—but considering what we saw in the corridor, it’s a decent environment for them to grow.

Then maybe this is their food?

Great news for us.

I picked one up.

It looked like a common button mushroom. And since we were starving, I popped it into my mouth.

Rurin, who’d been scavenging nearby, came running over with interest.

“What’s that?”

Seeing me eat it, she grabbed one too and popped it into her mouth.

Luckily, neither of us really needs to worry about poison.

So we didn’t think twice about whether they were toxic.

Crunch—!

It crunched weirdly as it broke apart in my mouth.

“Ugh!”

Ptoo! Ptoo!

Rurin spat hers out. I did the same.

This thing wasn’t just bland—it was disgusting. There was no way to keep chewing.

It was like chewing a tough, hot tire. The more I chewed, the more this horrible smell rose up and made me grimace.

“I’m not eating that.”

Rurin stuck her tongue out, then suddenly grabbed my finger.

“Where’s that finger with the chocolate from earlier? I need something sweet! Ughhh.”

“You really think that’s still there?”