kscans

Chapter 72 - Giant Anaconda Tastes Like... Meat

The Witch's Shrine, third basement floor. A slimy cave where damp air and mushroom spores drifted. It was dimly lit, and eerily glowing moss clung to the walls.

"Ugh, is the witch really deeper in here...?" Defray said, walking while pinching his nose.

"Why has she been advancing with the energy of someone entering a kitchen this whole time?" Amy muttered under her breath, but Defray didn't seem to notice at all.

"Ah, I'm starving... I wonder if there's anything edible around here~♪" As he said that, he tried to pluck a mushroom from the damp ground and bring it to his mouth. At that moment.

Zururi...!

Behind him, the ground 'moved.' No, to be precise, a giant something that had been camouflaged as the ground had wrapped itself around Defray's feet.

"Huh? ...Hnnnnnnnnngh!?!?!?!?"

When he looked, a giant anaconda, with a body as thick as a drum, had coiled itself around Defray's body and was squeezing him tight!

"You've gotta be kidding meeee!? I'm being made into the main dish!?" Defray's eyes were spinning.

"Everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I'm being squeezed! I'm getting squeezed ouuuuut!!!"

"What are you doing!?" Koni-chan turned around and screamed.

"W, waaaaaaaaah! What is that living black sausage!!"

"Fufu, but..." Tiris murmured. "It rather suits you. A chef being eaten, that's reaching the realm of art."

"Seriously, help meeeeeeeeee!!!!"

Amidst the chaos, it was Amy who was calmly analyzing the situation.

"...Snakes, you see, are weak to temperature changes."

She quietly snapped her fingers, and a magic circle deployed in the air.

"Ice Spike, Splash Freeze!!"

A cold blast enveloped the anaconda's body, freezing it in an instant. Gigigi... Pikiiiiin!! The pressure of the constriction loosened all at once, and Defray was spat out, rolling onto the ground.

"I, I thought I was gonna die... I could smell stomach acid..."

"That was a close one, you were almost a Defray-wrap." Mamoru said with a wry smile.

Defray was still huddled on the ground, but when his eyes fell on the anaconda's corpse, he said,

"But since it's frozen, it might be easy to cook!" and immediately took out his 'Magic Forged Kitchen Knife: Amatus.'

Snake cuisine, let the cooking begin!

Using the fire magic 'Flame Mist' instead of a gas burner and Amy's ice magic for cooling, the cave was transformed into a one-night-only high-class kitchen.

"First up, the classic, a live blood cocktail!!" It looked like red wine, and he squeezed a lemon into it. Everyone was a little put off.

"Ugh, I can't..." Koni-chan was trembling, but Defray paid him no mind.

"Next! Shredded steamed snake meat, an Asian-style cold dish. Cilantro and fish sauce give it an Asian flavor."

"This... is refreshing and delicious." Even Amy seemed satisfied.

"Inside the fried spring rolls, we have minced snake meat, chives, and glass noodles! I never thought they'd go so well together!"

And then, the main event.

"A snake meat hot pot!! Look at the richness of this soup! It's milky white!!"

In the bubbling, steaming pot were snake meat, wild vegetables, mushrooms, spices, and... a mysterious leech.

"This thing gives a great flavor. I don't like you, but for the secret ingredient leech, you're the only one I'll acknowledge."

Just as the feast reached its peak.

"...You know, snake meat... it might... taste a little... like human meat..." Koni-chan muttered.

"Hey, heyyyyyy!!?!" Mamoru, Amy, and Tiris all stopped their chopsticks at the same time.

"Mamoru was originally human, y'know, Ko-Koni-chan, that's the one thing you shouldn't say...!"

"...But, it's delicious♡" At Koni-chan's smile, everyone nodded with complicated expressions.