Great, now we are dead!

"This is completely different from the green dragon we defeated before."

The red hill lay fallen on the rubble, its enormous size impossible to bury even with thousands of tons of stone. It had only one wound on its body, insignificant compared to the whole, but its inner vitality had long since vanished, and its cold, vertical pupils had lost their light.

For a halfling like Chilchak, simply standing in front of such a colossal creature would be suffocating; it was unimaginable how they would subdue this monster if the battle plan failed.

In fact, they underestimated the Flame Dragon's defense, durability, and strength. They did not expect that the trap, which was enough to crush most creatures, could only make it immobile for a short time and could not even cause obvious damage.

Fortunately, Ye Shou executed the mission perfectly as a surprise attack, making up for everyone's oversight with a sharp assassination.

Thinking of this, Chilchak couldn't help but look at Ye Shou, who was examining the corpse of the Flame Dragon, with curiosity mixed with a hint of awe.

Halflings possess the strongest sensory abilities among all demi-human races, not only in hearing and sight, but also in detecting even changes in the surrounding air currents; they are natural scouts. And his position just now offered a panoramic view of the entire battle area; theoretically, he shouldn't have missed anything unusual.

But he failed to discover Ye Shou in advance in any way!

It wasn't until the boy launched a surprise attack from the dragon's back that Chilchak realized, just like the red dragon, that the battle was over before he even had a chance to react.

This is not a skill that ordinary adventurers possess, and his agility is indeed exceptionally high... Oh well, he's going to retire after he finishes this job anyway, so who Ye Shou really is is none of his business.

It's said that many parts of a dragon can be sold for a high price on the ground, so being able to earn such a sum at the end of one's career is quite an unexpected bonus!

"Phew, everyone, stop standing there and find Farin first!"

Marushir took out a knife and ran to the corpse. Looking at the solid scales, each as big as her head, she didn't know where to begin.

Leos took a deep breath, held his longsword, and inserted it into the gap between the scales, slowly prying it open like a crowbar before forcefully stabbing it in.

"Ugh...it's so hard."

Although Leos didn't know what rubber was, he now truly understood the difficulty of cutting truck tires with a dining knife.

"Without Ye Shou, it's hard to imagine how we would deal with it... Hmm? Senxi?"

"Here you go, Leos."

The dwarf cook handed him his precious kitchen knife, saying, "I don't know where a dragon's stomach is, so you can use this knife."

"I'm glad you meant well, but a kitchen knife is still..."

"This is no ordinary kitchen knife!"

Senxi solemnly declared, "This is a mithril cleaver that can cleave through the bones of any monster without wearing down or rusting. It is the only one of its kind in the world!"

Mithril?!

Everyone was shocked, and Chilchuk screamed, "Hey, are you kidding me?"

"No, you'll know once you use it."

"……Thanks!"

Without a doubt, Leos solemnly accepted it, and the dragon skin was then easily and smoothly removed in a way that was astonishing.

"So fast! And... such thick skin!"

"No way, it really is mithril?"

Marushir was stunned. Although she came from a wealthy family and had never lacked money since childhood, she had never seen such "legendary kitchenware".

Chilchak, needless to say, halflings have always had a particular obsession with wealth. He glanced at the cleaver in Leos's hand, and then at the black pot that Sensi had taken back.

"Could that pot really be made of refined gold... Oh my god!"

The thought of eating meals made with adamantite and mithril kitchen utensils for the past few days gave Chilch a feeling of floating on clouds.

"...Won't this be divine retribution?"

That said, Senxi looks so shabby from head to toe, but he's actually quite shrewd. Any one of his pieces could provide enough for someone to live comfortably for years!

"I'll help too."

Ye Shou ran his sword along the back, and the crimson light instantly turned orange. He walked to the other side of the dragon's belly and began cutting through the scales and fascia amidst the sizzling sounds and smoke.

This thermal blade is a high-end item even in Night City. In the game, it's the kind that only needs to sacrifice an NPC to become an orange weapon. It can also gain the upper hand when fighting against Su Nuo's demon blade. Although the Flame Dragon's body is tough, it can still break through its defenses.

After all, the Flame Dragon can only breathe fire, but it is not immune to fire. Under the 2,500-degree high temperature of the thermal blade, it is too difficult for carbon-based life forms to withstand it - it is equivalent to a slash flying out of a steel furnace, which would cut a tank's armor!

Of course, the highest power consumption is very high, and it will be gone after a few chops. Normally, the low power is enough to cut through ordinary armor.

With the aid of the mithril cleaver and the "magic sword," Yanlong's ribs and abdominal muscles were quickly separated, carving a "passage" through the corpse. Then, deep within the layers of muscle, they saw internal organs of different textures and colors, and upon further searching, they were pleasantly surprised to find the stomach sac.

However, when Leos and his companions eagerly cut open the stomach, it was completely empty!

"empty?"

"Could it be that it has already been digested... Farin?"

"Is it because you've been active all the time that your digestion has sped up...?"

"No way! No way!"

"Everyone!"

Ye Shou spoke up in time: "Calm down, a dragon has more than one stomach... Leos?"

"Oh...right!"

Leos suddenly realized something, his spirits lifted, and he reached directly into the internal organs, searching for something, from which muffled sounds came from.

"Dragons' teeth are almost entirely used for piercing and cutting, unlike humans who have molars specifically for chewing. So when they encounter small prey, they swallow them whole, just like snakes!"

"This means……"

"That's right, they have special organs for storing the indigestible parts, and the flammable gas they produce is used as fuel for their dragon breath, just like a cow's rumen—we've found it!"

Leos, Senxi, and Ye Shou worked together to pull the entire leather bag out of the Flame Dragon's body, took a deep breath, and used a kitchen knife to cut it open...

All that could be seen was a red, muddy mass of flesh "flowing" out, along with bones, hair, connective tissue, and even pebbles and pieces of iron, all mixed together and indistinguishable.

"...Will Farin be in here?"

"I hope so..."

Ye Shou pulled out a handful of long hair that was somewhere between flaxen and gold. Although it was mixed with a lot of steaming blood, it was still possible to tell that it belonged to a human female before she was born.

"Well!"

Marushir covered her mouth: "It's Farin!"

"It seems he's completely mixed in with these things now,"

Ye Shou quickly got into the zone, searching through the disgusting minced meat without a care in the world.

"It will probably be difficult to find a complete body in this condition, but at least we should try to piece together all the bones!"

"……Thank you!"

Leos looked serious, gave Ye Shou a deep look, and joined in the search—he was ashamed that he wasn't as decisive as Ye Shou, an outsider.

Next were Marushir and Sensi, while Chilchak collected all the human bones that everyone had found and neatly arranged them aside to avoid mixing them with the remains of other creatures.

……

"This is truly... a horrific sight."

Ye Shou examined a human skeleton on the ground, holding a rather heavy staff (hammer) in his hand.

Everyone remained silent, their hearts heavy, while Ye Shou remained quite calm, even offering his own comments.

Although it is a Japanese isekai (another world) work, Delicious in Dungeon is surprisingly "traditional," with its various settings conforming to Western fantasy logic.

For example, Pharin, as a healing mage character, is not a frail saintess, but a "priest" who carries a angular hammer as a staff. Her skeletal frame also shows that she is quite "healthy" in height and physique.

He should be 1.7 meters tall!

—Unlike other works, I won't draw a female character with supermodel proportions and force her head to be set to 1.5 meters tall.

The color of the bones indicates that calcium has been fully absorbed. As long as the nutrition keeps up, this level of strength will be considerable!

Because they are adventurers, they are well-trained and their bodies are not bulky, but their muscle mass far exceeds that of Marusir, making them look chubby.

This thing might be even heavier than Leos's sword—Ye Shou weighed the staff in his hand and couldn't help but smile.

He immediately became serious and turned to Marushir, asking, "After searching everywhere, this is all that's left. Will the resurrection magic still work?"

Marushir did not answer, her eyes fixed intently on the skeleton, a serious expression that no one else had ever seen before.

Leos immediately tensed up, looking nervously at the elven girl, afraid of hearing a "no" from her.

Resurrection magic is a rare miracle, and it shouldn't be used casually, but the special environment and rules of the labyrinth make it possible. Even so, there are still many limitations.

The most important point is that the body must be kept intact!

A corpse can be understood as a vessel that binds the soul; the more broken it is, the weaker the connection between the soul and the body.

Many of the past cases of failed revival were due to this reason!

Now, all that's left of Farin is hair and a skeleton; it's absolutely terrible...

"To be honest, Farin's soul is almost completely detached from her body now. It's just the power of the labyrinth that's maintaining the last connection. As soon as she leaves the labyrinth... no, even just leaving this level, Farin will really die!"

Marushir spoke, but her words immediately made everyone tense.

Leos clenched his fist: "Then, should we bring the resurrection warlock into the labyrinth and resurrect him here?"

"Not only that... I don't think ordinary resurrection magic will work on Farin in her current state, and we can't afford to delay any longer!"

Marushir's brows were furrowed, and her hands, gripping the staff, were stained with dragon blood, making her look somewhat gloomy and dangerous.

"Furthermore, to restore the skeleton to the state of a complete human body, a large amount of fresh flesh and blood is needed as a material replenishment. Usually, we would have to buy pork and mutton from the ground... But now we must bring the meat to the site!"

"impossible!"

Chilchak immediately retorted, "The fifth floor? The meat would have rotted long ago!"

Leos pondered, "If we bring the living specimen down..."

"Are you going to navigate this labyrinth with a burden on your shoulders?!"

"……Feel sorry."

Leos clutched his hair in anguish. "It was my oversight."

"Laios..."

"That's right. Whether you buy flesh and blood or live animals on the surface, it's unlikely you can bring them to the fifth underground level."

Then we'll only have one choice left..."

Marushir cast a somber gaze at the corpse of the fire dragon, remaining silent.

Looking at her, Chilchak and Sensi seemed to realize something as well, their faces showing shock, truly taken aback by Marushir's audacious idea.

"Are you going to use the Flame Dragon's..."

“I can figure out a way to deal with the flesh and blood.”

Ye Shou suddenly spoke, breaking the dull atmosphere and immediately becoming the focus of everyone's attention.

Leos looked up, startled yet hopeful: "Is there any other way, Ye Shou?"

Rationally, he felt there was no other way but to use the flesh of the Flame Dragon. However, Ye Shou had already brought him many surprises along the way, and now even if the other party said that he was a legendary archmage hiding his identity, Leos was willing to believe it.

"In short, as long as the meat isn't rotten, is that fine? Are there any special requirements?"

"No, it's best to use pigs, cows, or sheep, because they are all mammals and the success rate will be higher."

Marusir looked at Ye Shou with anticipation: "Do you have some ancient magical artifact that can solve this problem?"

"That's right"

Ye Shou took his backpack and put it on the ground. Then he reached inside and took out one battery-powered cooler after another, which clearly exceeded the backpack's capacity limit, but everyone was already used to it.

Amidst the curious gazes of the crowd, he opened a box, and a chilling aura immediately emanated from it, revealing a piece of frozen meat in front of everyone.

"This……"

"It's beef."

Senxi's eyes flashed, and he made an accurate judgment: "It's very similar to the flesh of a Minotaur."

"That's right, it's A... but it doesn't really make sense here."

Ye Shou smiled and shook his head, then opened the remaining pages:

Beef, pork, lamb, chicken, whale meat, bear meat, venison...

“Using only the meat of one type of livestock would make up too much of the new body and could potentially affect Farin’s personality. Therefore, it would be best to use a little of each type to ensure that Farin’s own personality takes the lead.”