There was only one reason I soothed Morzan’s will.
To erase that miasma.
If the miasma disappeared, I figured we could mine the Mana Stones inside the mine.
But...
The result blew past anything I’d imagined.
‘The Mana Stones in this mine existed because of that thing in the first place.’
Erasing Morzan’s will to obtain Mana Stones?
Thinking about it now, that was nonsense.
The moment I resolved its twisted will,
Mana Stones became unnecessary.
‘Of course.’
Right.
Mana so overwhelming Mana Stones turn into a ‘mere trifle.’
The infinite, mighty mana of an old god.
That mana, which had been distorted into the form of miasma—
“—would regain its original form!”
Mana that had regained form shone with blue light.
Exactly the same color as the blue giant from my memory.
The deep underground mine that had been full of darkness—
that place filled in an instant with blue so brilliant you could hardly open your eyes.
And not only that.
PWAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!
“Holy—...!”
Was it glad to have its original form back?
Brilliant mana flooded the mine,
then began to surge skyward, exploding toward the surface.
‘No... it’s not excited!’
It wasn’t shooting up out of joy at regaining form.
The reason it was surging was something else.
‘This space is... insufficient to contain the overflow!’
Even this mine I thought endlessly deep and wide—
was far too small to hold that mana.
The instant I realized that,
my body yelled on instinct.
“Gate Summon Ticket!”
The item I’d earned as an achievement.
The item that let me summon this space.
Its effect,
besides summoning a Gate, included one more clause.
[Gate Summon Ticket]
[No existence inside a summoned Gate can affect the outside unless the summoner permits it.]
Ordinarily,
that power exists to prevent hostile entities inside the Gate from escaping.
Considering you never know what powerful monster might be inside a Gate,
it’s nothing but an advantage to the summoner.
[Will you release the Gate?]
However—
right now, that effect was entirely unnecessary.
“Release it!”
[Warning!]
[Once released, a Gate can never be closed again.]
[If the power inside the Gate leaks out, depending on what exists within, it may cause severe dama—]
“I get it—shut up and open it!”
[The severance between Otherworld and Present World is lifted.]
[The Gate is opened.]
The wall separating the inside of the Gate from the outside—
collapsed in an instant.
Infinite mana, crammed into a tight space with nowhere to go—
a hole had just opened for it.
Mana that had been on the verge of rampaging because it couldn’t find an outlet—
found an escape route.
KWA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GANG...!
As if stifled by its confinement until now,
the mana poured toward the hole with explosive force.
And—
‘This Gate opens onto Vimana’s Basement Level 2.’
With the Gate released,
the penned-in mana would have started flowing out through that opening.
“In Vimana’s Basement Level 2 is...”
And the very first place
that outflow would meet—
was precisely the
[Mana Reservoir Lv.2]
The Mana Reservoir that drives this massive fortress!
[Marksman Section Leader: Sergeant Shin...! Mana is flowing outside the Gate!]
[Magic Youth: The Mana Reservoir... it started spinning like crazy!]
Just as I thought,
the soldiers topside reported the change immediately.
‘It’s too far for me to see,
but there was a way to know what was happening outside the Gate without seeing it myself.’
“Perk Quest.”
—ding!
[Perk Quest]
[Condition 4 — Satisfy Vimana’s operating mana. (987/10,000,000)]
Even after dragging in all the mana the [Demon Hunters] had once stored for demons,
even after our mages, pumped on buffs strong enough to knock them out, poured mana in,
we hadn’t reached even a ten-thousandth—an evil quest condition.
‘The very reason I wanted to summon this Gate.’
And then...
Even with the mana the demon contractors had stockpiled,
and the mages who ate my all-out dishes—
even after mobilizing all of that—
the mana that hadn’t reached even one ten-thousandth—
[...1,465/10,000,000]
[...6,872/10,000,000]
[...19,872/10,000,000]
began to fill
at a ridiculous speed.
“...Ha—hah!”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok had said
one Mana Stone tossed into that reservoir filled it by about 3.
Target to fill: ten million.
Even if we put the entire unit into mining,
it would have taken months, at least,
maybe more than a year, just to fill half of that reservoir.
But now?
Not even five minutes after releasing the Gate—
[...5,462,114/10,000,000]
“Is this insane...?”
More than half
filled in a blink.
[Warning!]
[Due to excessive mana intake, the Mana Reservoir’s absorption capacity has reached its limit!]
[Info — Low-level facilities have limits.]
[Attempting to store too much mana at once may overload the reservoir.]
[To prevent overload, absorption speed is reduced.]
There was so much mana
the reservoir couldn’t absorb it all at once.
What raised even more goosebumps—
despite the reservoir having surely absorbed a colossal amount of mana,
the quantity still flooding the mine felt unchanged.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
‘How much is this, even?’
The Gate description resurfaced in my head.
[Though the Dwarven civilization was utterly annihilated, the deep and wide mine still boasts a tremendous volume of ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) mana.]
[More than they mined before they perished!]
The Dwarven—
the driving force that let them unify their world and eye others beyond it—
far more mana than that
was now—
‘flowing into our hands.’
Toward the Legion’s fortress,
toward Vimana, roaring up in a frenzy.
As I stared, dumbstruck—
—ding.
A familiar chime rang in my ear.
[You have achieved an achievement!]
The very sound
that heralds a mighty achievement.
****
[You have achieved an achievement!]
“...!”
[Though fallen to ruin, it was once undeniably a mighty divinity.]
[You have succeeded in returning a ruined divinity, which had exuded only distorted will, to normal.]
[This ranks among achievements rarely seen in the entire universe.]
[And accomplished through cuisine... hm, has that ever happened before?]
[This is among the greatest achievements possible for a chef.]
[A miracle seldom seen across all histories of all dimensions.]
[An achievement fit to grace the first page of distant-future myths!]
[Achievement: Inescapable Taste (3)]
[To one who has wrought a great achievement, fitting rewards are granted.]
[As an achievement reward, ‘Top-Tier Ingredient: Brain of the Old Sage’ is granted.]
[As an achievement reward, Trait — ‘Field Cookery’ is granted.]
[As an achievement reward, a Title is granted.]
Text announcing the achievement.
Well...
‘Even if it’s like that now... it seems it used to be quite something.’
A being that was once a god.
I altered that being’s emotions.
It was hard enough that I hadn’t been sure it would work.
Having done it,
it’s no surprise an achievement popped.
‘Right. The achievement itself isn’t what surprises me...’
What matters
are the rewards.
“Top-tier ingredient...!”
Seeing the name,
I immediately triggered [Ingredient Appraisal].
[Stat-Boosting Potion (Strength)]
[Appraisal result for ‘Stat-Boosting Potion (Strength)’]
[Heart of a Sub-Dragon — 10%]
[Sacred Blood of a Forgotten Saint — 10%]
[Core of a Thousand-Year Glacier — 10%]
[Drops from a World Stone — 10%]
[Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng — 10%]
[Brain of the Old Sage — 10%]
[Unidentified Ingredient — ??%]
Ingredients for cooking a stat potion.
We’d crossed the halfway mark.
No—more than halfway.
Until all the ingredients were assembled...
‘Just four left.’
Top-tier ingredients for the potion only drop as achievement rewards,
so who knows when I’ll get the other four...
Even so, compared to when the whole list was nothing but question marks, this was huge.
‘Jackpot...!’
And then,
what I got in addition was a trait.
[Trait — Field Cookery]
[Meals and cooking are essential to sustain life.]
[In any environment—even in severe war!—cooking had to be done.]
[Some rulers sought to solve this with combat rations.]
[Others sent chefs to the battlefield!]
[These were specialized in cooking in field conditions.]
[Proficiency and speed for cooking performed in battle are greatly increased.]
[All dishes made on the battlefield receive a bonus.]
‘...Mm.’
Not a bad trait.
But—
‘If I didn’t already have Combat Ration traits.’
Meals in the field?
Combat rations already cover that, to a point.
‘Still, better to have it than not.’
Earning a top-tier ingredient alone was big profit.
Wishing for a perfect trait too would be greedy.
And then—
[As an achievement reward, Title — ‘One Who Satisfied Morzan’ is granted.]
“...?”
Maybe the top-tier ingredient and one trait weren’t enough.
A final reward arrived.
[Title — One Who Satisfied Morzan.]
And its effect...
[The effect of the Title will be decided through consultation with the concerned party.]
was still
undecided.
“...Huh?”
Consultation with the concerned party?
Uh—what.
‘Who’s the concerned party?’
Before I could make sense of the absurd message—
—...A curious experience.
“...!?”
A voice drove straight into my head—
one I felt like I’d heard somewhere before.
Startled, I turned my head.
Here, there was exactly one existence
that could have spoken to me.
—So this is what you call ‘cuisine,’ is it... My children, as I observed them, were only just about to systematize hunting. There had been no room for a concept like this to be born.
“...”
A great mass of flesh.
A portion of the thigh of the giant that had radiated blue light by itself.
—In any case, it was excellent cuisine.
That thing
was speaking to me.
—A most satisfying taste.
****
Morzan—
a being whose body had already been eaten away, for the most part, by an external enemy.
—Thanks to you... I feel as though I’ve awakened from a long sleep.
“...”
—I am grateful.
It
spoke to me as if nothing were strange.
This was, honestly,
a lot to take in.
I couldn’t keep the surprise off my face as I opened my mouth toward it.
“...How are you speaking so normally?”
—Normally, you say. Do you call it ‘normal’ to speak by will because I lack a mouth?
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
As a result of being devoured by an external entity,
only a tiny portion of its thigh remained like scraps of chewed food.
No mouth to eat with.
No stomach to digest with.
‘No brain left to think with.’
With only a thigh of flesh remaining, normal cognition should have been impossible—
only fragmentary will should have leaked out.
“Then how are you... now?”
—That... would be thanks to you.
“...?”
—You fail to notice, even as the concerned party? The mana in those dishes of yours granted me reason, if only briefly.
Only after hearing that
could I realize it.
It had repeated only the emotions right before its death
because the pain and resentment then were too vast.
But thanks to my dishes, not only did those distorted wills melt away,
‘calm, and stability...’
I had fed it dishes whose effects, in general, should be enough to let one regain reason.
—What remains of me is mere residual will... and yet you made even that think rationally, if only for a time. Your manipulation of mana is truly subtle...
The residual will of an old god lingering in that flesh—
had regained reason.
‘...Which means, in other words.’
The reason I set out to erase its twisted will was simple.
That will—
the resentment it held was preventing it from vanishing.
‘Since resolving the grudge itself was impossible, I’d take the half-forced path of easing just the emotion...’
When the ambient mana purified,
I had thought the method had worked.
“But the fact you’re speaking to me like this—does that mean something’s missing?”
Maybe it was only my mistake,
maybe its grudge still lingered and it couldn’t vanish—
—No.
“Huh?”
—Your intent succeeded. As for me now... I’m merely... taking a moment of leisure.
At those words, I looked closely at the flesh.
Its surface was turning into something like blue dust.
—You have succeeded in completely erasing the existence that is me.
“...I see.”
—Are you not pleased? You have achieved the great feat of extinguishing a divinity.
At that,
I scratched my head and answered.
“Feats like ‘erased so-and-so’... that’s the sort of thing warriors like.”
—Hm?
“I’m a chef. What’s there for a chef to be happy about in erasing someone?”
—Ha-ha... is that so.
Maybe my words struck it as funny.
I felt the mana spread around me laugh.
‘So this mana still includes its will.’
When it held dense pain and resentment, it turned into miasma.
Now that it didn’t, it merely returned to its original form.
From the start, this mana seems to have carried its will.
—You say you are not pleased. I find that a little regrettable.
“Hm?”
—To say that the one who bestowed grace feels no joy... how could I not feel sorry?
...Benefactor?
What did it mean by that—
I had no time to think it through.
—Thank you.
The mass of flesh that had once been a god
began to send such words to me.
