[Martial Art — Food (食) reacts to dish effects.]
A line I have never seen before fills my vision.
A martial art that is not yet complete.
It said this art changes its direction according to my actions.
I learn what that means almost immediately.
[Applied Cooking Effects – 4]
[1. Course Meal – War]
It is a course that grants bonuses to every kind of combat action. We ate it just before arriving here, and it helped Gwangil bring down the Great Warrior.
My body begins to move in line with the art I have learned. Through that movement I can immediately recognize what this art does.
‘It adjusts me into the optimal movement set based on the dishes I have eaten.’
[2. War Chef’s Sleipha Jerky]
It is a dish that massively raises raw power, and now that dish fuses with the art.
[Martial Art — Food (食) assists raw power.]
Growth of raw power via Sleipha is certainly overwhelming, but handling power that strong used to be difficult for me. Not now. A technique has taken root in me that lets me command that power perfectly.
FWAAAK!
My body rockets straight ahead in an instant. The speed is on a level I have never felt, yet there is not a hint of wobble as I home in on the target.
[...Counterattack confirmed.]
The moment it sees me charging, the Spirit of Darkness snaps into an interception stance.
‘Do I need to evade?’
If I dodge, closing the distance becomes that much harder. As the thought passes, the art tells me there is no need.
[3. War Chef’s Steel Lizard Jerky]
It is a dish that grants hardness enough to tank most attacks. The art recognizes that effect.
[Martial Art — Food (食) presents a combat method aligned to your defensive capability.]
Attacks howl toward me to intercept. Under normal circumstances I should absolutely be dodging that kind of firepower, yet the direction the art teaches is the exact opposite.
‘Punch through.’
The barrage is wrought from thick shadow. I hurl myself straight through its heart.
KRAK-KKZZZZT!!!
‘Damn, that is filthy painful.’
Boring through the center of the onslaught lets those attacks rip and flay at the outline of my body. Even so—
‘I can bear this much.’
The monster [Steel Lizard] shrugged off bullets. Thanks to that dish’s effect, the damage is largely blunted. The wounds would drop an ordinary human out of the fight on the spot, but I am not an ordinary human right now.
What runs through my veins is the blood of a “Noble of the Night,” not human blood.
Srrrip.
Skin mashed and torn by the attacks knits and finds its place on its own. I do not dodge the storm that was meant to drive me away; I break through the center and hurl myself along the optimal route toward the “Spirit of Darkness.”
For the finisher I prepared a dish just in case.
[4. Garlic Beef Jerky of Sacred Energy]
It is jerky made with holy water and a heavy hand of garlic. Its effect is simple.
[Anti-Demon Aura]
[You gain a bonus in combat against beings aligned with “ma (魔).”]
That black shadow thing was called a Spirit of Darkness, if I remember right.
“Even the name looks evil at a glance.”
[Martial Art — Food (食) presents a justified attack path.]
In line with that effect, the blades in my hands move naturally toward the spirit’s core.
A spirit has no proper form. It looks like mist that could not possibly be cut by a kitchen knife.
Sssk.
Yet that mist, which should not have substance, makes the sound of being sliced by my kitchen knife.
****
[[email protected]#[email protected]#[email protected]%?!!!!]
Perhaps the shadow never imagined it could be cut. Its silhouette heaves like a scream.
But it was too shallow.
That strike did not let me butcher it perfectly, and the reason is simple.
‘It is still unfinished.’
My art is not like the others’ that are complete to a point. It is an art I must finish myself, carefully and step by step. I do not know what it will look like at the end, but for now it cannot end this thing in a single blow.
[Damage confirmed. An impossibility.]
To butcher it properly I will need at least two more cuts, and even then I am not confident I can finish it. Honestly, I do not know if it is possible.
“Well, I do not think I need to be the one to do it.”
There is one point that must not be twisted. My job is chef, and this is not a front-line class.
It is a support class.
KABOOM!
“Sergeant Shin!”
“We’ll reinforce!”
No matter how strong I have become, I cannot compare to the dozens and hundreds of soldiers who have eaten my food. The same goes for my enemy.
“That thing looks evil at a glance!”
“Everyone, ingest the anti-demon combat rations!”
As the reinforcing soldiers take their rations, a soft radiance blooms around their bodies.
[Anti-Demon Light]
It is a light that exerts tremendous power against enemies of the demonic attribute. It is a buff created by combat rations. Compared to the vampire subjugation operation the light is a bit weaker, but the soldiers now are on another level entirely.
All that remains is to [cook] that thing together with the troops.
[Removing the most threatening presence....]
Just as I think that, perhaps it senses something off in my cuts.
[Failure. Failure. Failure.]
“Huh?”
The black shadow that had been attacking me so aggressively starts pulling back.
[Flee! Flee! Flee!]
“It—uh?”
“That thing is running!”
It exits the battlefield at ridiculous speed and slips away as if it had never been here at all.
“...That thing.”
It made an entrance as if it were something impressive and had me on the ropes just a moment ago. It is certainly ominous, but would it really run?
My squadmates saw me get ambushed and have linked up. If we joined forces, the complexion of the fight would change a lot, but running like this?
The only direct damage it took was that one cut. Perhaps that spirit is more of a scaredy-cat than I thought.
Ding!
[You faced a Spirit of Darkness and survived!]
[Spirits of Darkness, as underlings of a great demon, are beings that bring death to many dimensions.]
[You not only survived such a Spirit of Darkness—you even drove it back!]
[A reward is granted for this tremendous feat.]
As if to prove my thought, messages flood my sight.
[You gain experience points.]
[You gain points.]
[As a reward, you obtain a high-grade cooking ingredient: Spirit Core.]
Fulfillment spreads through my body. The rush of experience delivers a thrilling ecstasy.
****
Corporal Jeon Gwangil feels as if he is dreaming.
In that dream a huge monster stands before his eyes. It looks terrifying, and it swings a weapon at him. Timid by nature, he would normally do no more than curl up and tremble all over.
‘Huh? I’m not scared?’
At some point the fear stopped coming even when he saw a monster. In the dream he fights it, and when he fights well the people around him praise him.
‘Hehe.’
He is helping others, and the fact alone makes him happy. Then the monsters in the dream start to grow. They become so strong he can hardly take them on.
‘Hiiing.’
No one blames him for not being good at fighting, but he feels pain that he is not helping anyone.
Someone approaches and places a huge toy in his hand.
[Celestial Execution Divine Art SSS+]
It is big and splendid enough to subdue even monstrously large foes. When he grips and swings that toy, he can teach a lesson even to an enormous, evil monster. It feels like becoming the hero of a comic.
Dream-Jeon Gwangil smiles. He can help others again, and the fact makes him quietly glad.
A question then flits through his mind.
‘Why am I not scared?’
The old him would have been so terrified he could not take a step. Someone erased his fear.
‘And what is this toy?’
Ordinarily the weak him could never beat evil monsters, but someone put a toy in his hand. When he thinks of that person, Jeon Gwangil engraves a deep grace in his heart.
That benefactor not only turned a coward like him into someone usable, he devised a way to make the weak him strong and even let him control that troublesome Madness. He will use this toy for that benefactor’s sake.
“Back with us?”
“...Ah. Yes.”
When he comes to, the battlefield is still raging. He lifts his head and finds Sergeant Lee Minjae standing at his side.
“What happened to me?”
“What, you don’t really remember?”
“Yees... I’m still a bit unsteady on the control.”
“Well, it isn’t hard to explain.”
Sergeant Lee Minjae chuckles lightly and continues.
“We won thanks to you.”
“Pardon?”
“You beat the monster [N O V E L I G H T] that was acting like the boss over there as if it owed you money. That alone was surprising, and the way you went straight to hunting other monsters the moment it blacked out was something else.”
“I did that?”
“Yeah. You rampaged so long even those beastlike things started avoiding you. You only collapsed once there were barely any enemies left.”
Corporal Jeon Gwangil is dumbfounded that he put on that level of performance.
“...You were here to guard me.”
“Seeing how fast you came to, maybe I didn’t need to.”
He is not all that close to Sergeant Lee Minjae, but he has noticed the man often helps squadmates quietly like this.
The outward leader is Lieutenant Kim Hyunsik. The real leader is Sergeant Shin Youngjun. The one who shores up the unit’s substance more than anyone feels like Sergeant Lee Minjae.
“Ah. Speaking of which, what about Sergeant Shin Youngjun...?”
“Over there.”
If he really performed that well, the one who made it possible is Sergeant Shin Youngjun. Thinking he should go give thanks, he turns his head that way—and freezes.
Near Sergeant Shin Youngjun the light has vanished, and a black space has unfolded. Centered on him, a black radiance has settled like another world. At its center, a massive, black shadow shape he has never seen before ripples. The baleful aura it exudes is overwhelming.
Facing that unfathomable being, Sergeant Shin Youngjun wields cooking tools floating in the air.
“S-Sergeant Lee Minjae!?”
“Mm?”
“What are you doing! Don’t guard me; help Sergeant Shin first!”
“Yeah. I was going to.”
Only now does Jeon Gwangil notice the huge lightning spear in Lee Minjae’s hand. He must have been about to throw it at the black shadow.
But Lee Minjae smirks.
“Doesn’t look like we’ll need to.”
It does not take long to understand what he means. The enormous, mist-like entity is suspicious to the eye and reeks of demon, yet Sergeant Shin Youngjun swings a sashimi knife wreathed in pure white light.
Sssk.
The shadow that had been blasting out overwhelming presence loses a piece of itself to that single cut. As other soldiers are about to jump in, a new system line appears.
[Flee! Flee! Flee!]
The shadow, now missing a piece of its body, bolts away as if in terror.
“Told you.”
“....”
“Who is helping whom?”
Seeing that, Sergeant Lee Minjae flicks the lightning spear at a different enemy.
The Green Manes’ Great Warrior that Corporal Jeon Gwangil felled was undoubtedly a tremendous powerhouse, and bringing him down has clearly helped the Legion seize the initiative. Even so, Jeon Gwangil could fight that Great Warrior again if he had to, but he has no confidence against the black shadow he just saw. How do you beat something that does not even seem to have a body?
He starts to laugh.
“Hehe.”
“Wh-what.”
“Hehe, hahaha!”
“Damn it. Still got Madness left in you?”
Sergeant Lee Minjae startles and begins to cast a spell, but Jeon Gwangil shakes his head.
“No, it isn’t that. It’s just...”
“Just?”
“I was thinking: yep, that’s Sergeant Shin.”
His eyes look clearer than ever as he says it.
“Every time I think I’ve gotten a little stronger, he is one step ahead.”
“...”
“Just how far is he going to go.”
At that, Sergeant Lee Minjae gives a hollow laugh.
“Feel a wall?”
“As if.”
The old him might have, but the Jeon Gwangil of now has power that might one day put him on par with Sergeant Shin Youngjun. It is power that Sergeant Shin Youngjun personally placed in his hands.
‘With this power, one day...’
He can catch up, and getting ahead is not impossible either. There is no reason to get impatient. No matter how far ahead Sergeant Shin Youngjun runs, Gwangil will move at his own tempo and hone what he has been given.
He pushes himself to his feet.
“Then I’ll get back to the fight.”
“Already? After what you just did, you must be beat.”
“You didn’t know? As long as I’m not critically injured, when I turn the Madness buff on and perform in combat, I also recover stamina.”
“...Busted as hell.”
“More than anything—”
The martial art he has learned still needs work.
“Time to grind some proficiency.”
That proficiency is still only at 1.
