I had forcibly broken the Beastkin’s seals.
Four weeks had already passed.
“Are you truly thinking of going with them, Junior Sister?”
“Our benefactor promised to awaken our brothers. I must do what is right in return for that grace.”
In the meantime,
the soldiers stationed here had been learning martial arts from Seohwan.
“Also, our benefactor’s martial skill is not yet complete. I believe I should keep watching over him.”
“Ng.”
My schedule, which had gotten a bit tangled,
was, for the most part, wrapped up for now.
So then—
it was time to exit the Gate and return to the unit.
“Well. If that’s how it is, can’t be helped. Leave this place to us.”
“We’ll hold it so you can return anytime.”
This Gate...
the Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall would be guarded by Jeochil and Woojin.
Seohwan and Miho—already processed as members of our guild—would depart with me to our unit.
They were Trainer NPCs,
and would take on the role of instructors for the Legion’s soldiers.
“Shall we... go?”
“Mm. We should hurry a little.”
“Hurry? Why?”
“Is something happening, benefactor?”
At Miho’s and Seohwan’s words,
I looked at the system window floating in the air.
Messages were plastered all over it.
[Someone who was served your meal performed well in battle.]
[The chef’s renown spreads!]
[You gain experience points.]
[Someone who was served your......]
[The chef’s renown......]
[Experience points......]
At the core, I am a chef.
It just so happens I’ve been fighting fairly often, too.
But my primary source of experience is still cooking.
When someone who ate my food excels in some field,
experience is granted to me as well.
And,
for the past three weeks, experience had been piling up inside me without pause.
The “excelled” mentioned there doesn’t mean killing a single monster.
At least five have to be taken down before that line appears.
Only then does the experience come in—and it kept coming.
That can mean only one thing.
“Looks like things are a bit busy on that side.”
A relentless, all-out fight
was happening day after day.
****
—Grrrrooooooooaaaar!!!
Cheorwon County.
A Green Mane warrior let out a savage bellow and swung his weapon.
—Grrraaagh!
And the one who met him head-on
was another Green Mane warrior who looked very much like him.
The difference was:
this one’s eyes burned blood-red.
Thud!
—Kruk, kh... khuh...
The duel of the two warriors.
The winner was the one with the crimson eyes.
—Brother! Why do you attack us!
—He is no longer our brother! Kill him!
The red-eyed victor did not last long, either.
Warriors who had witnessed their comrade’s death swarmed him,
and they split the heart—the vampire’s few weaknesses.
‘How many days has it been like this already?’
A Green Manes shaman, who had barely cut down one enemy, thought grimly.
Ever since the Green Manes realized vampires were among them,
battle had raged in this area without end.
‘This shouldn’t have been drawn out so long...!’
No matter how strong vampires are,
the power of numbers the tribe commands is immense.
With the whole force mobilized for an extermination,
normally, even a tricky foe should have been purged by now.
However,
an unexpected variable appeared.
‘If not for those natives suddenly interfering...!’
The native forces whose territory bordered theirs—
they acted as if they knew the tribe’s circumstances inside and out.
At the very moment the tribe massed to the rear to hunt vampires,
the natives attacked Green Manes territory.
‘As if they had chosen the timing!’
Of course,
such a colossal evil and the feeble natives could not possibly be allies.
It was merely a misfortune that great evil had appeared behind them,
and on top of that, ill luck overlapped and the natives “happened” to counterattack...
‘It’s heavy.’
The result:
the enemies the tribe had to fight
were no longer just vampires.
“Om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum...”
“Om amogha Vairocana...”
“Die, demon!”
Crunch!
Monks who recited sutras while caving in skulls without hesitation.
Not long ago, after forging an alliance with the Legion,
they had promised to support the fight against the Green Manes.
“Amitabha!”
They were the monks of Myohyangsa Temple.
“By the way, these are truly remarkable pieces of equipment.”
“Venerable Seungju is right. When they said they would support gear if we made an alliance, I wondered what they meant, but...”
In the past they were armed with store-bought gear.
Now,
they wore ash-gray monk’s robes like ordinary clergy.
Of course,
they were anything but ordinary.
[Intermediate Tailor’s Ashen Wolf Leather Monk’s Robe]
Made from the hide of a beast, it was tougher than most steel plates
and incomparable in mobility.
Artisan Lee Sanga had focused this set on freedom of movement, and the reason was simple.
Whoosh.
One monk lightly slipped past a Green Mane warrior’s swinging weapon,
then—
Crunch!
“I never knew it would be this easy to move!”
“Ha-ha! There’s no comparing this to fighting in armor!”
Warrior-monks smashed skulls with brutal iron cudgels and iron maces.
Their movement carried the essence of the [Exorcist Monk Combat Arts].
The ashen robes were designed so they would never hinder the monks in unfolding their forms.
“W-what’s with those monks?”
“To think monks could be that strong. What is this, Shaolin?”
Watching from afar with some consternation were
the Awakened from Chuncheon who kept close ties with the Legion.
“Anyway... did you all hear?”
“?”
“They’re paying five combat rations per monster head.”
“...We can’t get shown up by monks. Let’s go!”
Individually, they still weren’t all that powerful yet.
But there were a lot of them.
And
when they joined forces to assault a single settlement—
“Ah... left thirty degrees.”
Screee...
“Wind’s good. Angle’s good... fire!”
KRA-KA-BOOM!!!
When a Legion tank opened up,
the defensive wall the Green Manes had erected began to crumble.
“Defenses are down! Breach!”
“For the Legion’s victory—!!!”
Legion soldiers advanced into the gap.
They were already the strongest among the local powers.
And then...
[Legion’s Aura]
[A synergy effect is triggered when enough people sharing the same aura gather.]
[War Song]
[Members of the same faction sing the marching song simultaneously to form a wide-area Fear.]
Guild skills whose effects scale higher the more gather.
A tremendous mass of buffs blanketed their bodies.
****
Ordinarily,
each force of Awakened should not have been a match for the Green Manes.
But
not only had all of them united—
—They’re coming from every side...!
From the north, vampires pouring in from Cheorwon County.
From the west, the monks of Myohyangsa.
From the south, the Awakened of Chuncheon City.
From the east, the Legion’s soldiers.
Not from a single direction,
but converging from all sides—
no matter how vast the Green Manes’ numbers,
they were surrounded so tightly they could not mass troops anywhere.
A proper fight was hard to mount.
—Krrk...!
—These natives are stronger than we thought!
The warriors were driven into grueling combat.
There was one fact they could not comprehend.
—Are they truly the same species as the ones inside our land?
Within the territory they ruled,
humans certainly existed.
Dealing with them had been laughably easy.
Back then the Awakened had resisted to a degree,
but most could not even handle a single Green Mane warrior.
However—
these ones were different.
—Their average power is unlike that of ordinary natives.
—One or two, maybe—but for numbers like that to all fight that well? ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) How is this possible?
There was a reason
the Green Manes could never have known.
“Three days’ worth of combat rations. Delivery!”
“Oooh!”
After we made combat rations for the Chuncheon Awakened,
the “fee” we received had piled up in storage as combat rations,
and those were being supplied to the Awakened every single day.
Awakened who ate the combat rations—even if they could not shine alone—
even the originally weak ones, once three or more grouped up, could handle a single Green Mane warrior.
Thus,
the Green Manes who had completely dominated
Cheorwon County and Hwacheon County—
now,
were barely holding about fifty percent of each.
—Gruk...
Under these conditions,
the one most ill at ease was none other than
the tribe’s Great Warrior.
—If not for this pathetic curse!
Those gathered nearby shrank under the Great Warrior’s gaze.
He had set out, full of swagger, to purge the vampires,
but when the assaults from all sides began,
none of the enemy forces were easy to sweep aside.
Just then—
—Did I not tell you to stop blaming the curse.
The High Shaman approached him and spoke.
—If you’ve come to quibble with words—
—I have found the weakness of the ones who appeared in our rear.
—...!
—They seem weak to the sun.
—...That’s it?
The Great Warrior, who had briefly entertained hope at the High Shaman’s words,
waved a hand in exasperation at what followed.
—They only ever appear and fight at night. Even a fool can guess they have some reason they cannot exert full power by day.
The problem was, the vampires simply never showed themselves in daylight.
Wherever they were hiding,
until that location was uncovered, knowing the weakness wasn’t enough to mount a purge.
Smirk—
—That isn’t all. I have also found their lair.
—...!
—The sky is closed so prophecy cannot be used, but the spirits of the earth still keep their eyes open.
If that were true,
the conversation changed.
—Kahahah! Gather the forces!
—Gather? Enemies are attacking from every quarter!
—We can cede a little ground elsewhere. We’ll clean up one side first, then take the rest back at our pace!
Unlike the natives, who could support one another from their positions,
the vampires were isolated from everyone else.
If they succeeded in eliminating the vampires, at least the rear would be secure.
Their troop dispersal would drop sharply as well.
—We fight... at dawn.
****
Ariella, expanding her domain on the edge of Cheorwon County—
toward her,
the tribe’s extermination force was advancing.
—Do not worry, my lady!
The Green Manes shaman at her side,
Hakahjin, spoke with great confidence.
—You know this well! Those things’ intelligence is no different from beasts!
“They were your kin, to begin with.”
—They’re a rabble with only numbers! With your army, we can surely—
“...There is no way we can.”
—We can sur... eh?
Sigh.
Ariella looked up toward the sky.
Outside the cave that concealed her,
far off, the sun had begun to rise.
“How hateful, that natural enemy.”
Under the sun, most of her army’s strength would be lost.
Inside the hideout they could maintain some fighting power, at least.
‘Perhaps I should have pulled out sooner.’
Judging by their numbers,
they looked like they had come with their teeth thoroughly bared.
‘At this rate... even I may be in danger.’
