[Assistant Chef]
As I put my weight onto the kitchen knife—
The knife flew of its own accord through the air and carried me beyond the Wall.
Outside the Wall, a tremendous cold wave was raging, but—
[Cold Bagor Jerky]
[Through Absolute Palate’s effect, grants Trait - Cold Resistance...]
Monsters that couldn’t adapt to this cold were already dead—
Or had been driven near that “Monsterland.”
The monsters roaming this area either weren’t affected by the cold to begin with—
Or they were monsters that had resistance to it.
‘Among the meat I got from the [Northern Branch], there was a lot that carried elemental resistance.’
Once I ate it, adapting to the environment was easy as well.
FWOOOSH!
After finishing all my preparations like that—
I sprinted southwest at maximum speed.
An Awakener’s physical abilities couldn’t be compared to those of ordinary humans.
Especially my own physical abilities, which I didn’t think fell behind anyone’s purely in terms of stats, were overwhelming even among them.
Once I started running flat-out—
Even in an environment where thick snow was piled up—
I was able to move at a speed comparable to a car.
Of course.
That didn’t mean moving was easy.
“Guh...!?”
As I kicked off the ground and surged forward—
The snow-covered ground collapsed, and a massive chill engulfed my body.
When I lowered my gaze—
I saw my body had fallen into water.
‘So this was a river.’
I’d kicked off too hard—
To the point that I’d smashed even the solidly frozen river ice.
My vision was limited by the blizzard.
On top of that, the ground was buried under absurdly thick snow, so it was hard to even identify the terrain.
“Goddamn it.”
Thanks to my cold resistance, it was bearable, but—
Once my whole body was soaked, I could feel the cold intensify all at once.
‘I don’t have time to hesitate.’
But.
I ignored all of that—
And kept running south.
—Grrrr...!
The moment I moved at full speed without any thought of hiding my presence—
Sure enough, the monsters that sensed that energy came rushing in.
“Heh heh...!”
“Master of our master! This makes the twentieth one we’ve taken down!”
The two vampires who’d only been hiding in my shadow until now—
Cut the monsters down.
‘We’re not completely safe.’
No matter how much those two elite vampires were squad-leader-class—
Or above, in terms of combat power—
This world was a place where even our unit couldn’t move around freely.
For now, because of the harsh environment, the number of monsters was low, so we could still push through, but—
At some point, we’d probably hit a limit.
‘No wonder everyone else hesitated to head this way.’
But—
‘If I push it, I can still get there.’
With the thought that I had to reach that place at the southern end—
The place where my parents might be—
I ignored the danger and ran.
The further I ran toward the epicenter of the cold—
The more I could feel the surrounding chill intensify.
My clothes, soaked from falling into the river, froze solid, making it even colder and my movements more restricted, but—
I clenched my teeth and ignored it.
And as I kept going—
“Uh, Master!?”
“Just a moment...!”
Even though every second counted—
The two vampires grabbed me without reading the room.
“...What is it.”
I didn’t stop my running feet—
But I frowned and asked them.
“Even while we’re wasting time like this, I don’t know what’s happening to my family...”
“W-we know that too!”
When I shot them a sharp glare—
“But... this is something we figured we had to tell you!”
The two vampires answered, cold sweat running down their faces.
“There’s a smell of blood nearby!”
“What... With how many monsters we’ve fought already, of course there’d be—”
“N-no, that’s not it!”
But then.
The next words out of their mouths—
“It’s the smell of human blood...”
“...What?”
Made me falter mid-step.
“Very fresh blood...”
“It smells like it’d be deli— I mean, that’s not the point!”
Even if they had a lot of vampire blood mixed into them—
To me, who was still more than half human, there was nothing I could sense.
But those two vampires were specialized at smelling blood.
“Somewhere around here.”
“It smells like humans are dying.”
They—
Licked their lips and said so.
****
The “Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association.”
This Guild contained several large groups.
They held exchanges on a regular basis.
“Move, move!”
“As fast as you can!”
To participate in that exchange—
The Awakeners of the [Southern Branch] were pushing through the blizzard.
However.
Their route of travel was not aimed toward the Central Branch.
“Hyowon!”
“Get down!”
KWAaaaaaANG!
The spot where the Southerners had been standing—
Was struck by something like a massive chunk of ice.
“Guh...!”
“Goddamn it, Hyowon’s hurt!”
“I’ll carry her! This way!”
They’d avoided taking the attack head-on—
But even so, one Awakener had taken heavy damage and another carried her on his back as they ran.
Watching that—
The man commanding their movement, and one of the three leaders of the Southern Branch, an elderly man—
“What the hell are those monsters...!”
Jo Beomseok muttered through clenched teeth.
The Southern Branch of the Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association.
Among all the Association’s branches, this place was said to be the strongest when it came to base defense.
However.
That didn’t mean there were no problems.
While their base itself was safe—
It was also the only base among all of them that didn’t have a single Awakener capable of producing food.
‘Gang Jaeho... It would’ve been nice if that guy had stayed longer.’
For a short time, an Awakener capable of producing food had stayed at the Southern base.
But once the land’s vitality was exhausted and he could no longer produce any more food—
He silently moved on to another region.
In the end—
The place most deeply mired in a severe food shortage was the Southern base.
For them, this was the only chance to acquire food.
They had set out to participate in the meeting held at Central.
Especially this time, they were even more short on food than usual.
Unlike previous times, when they were always late because of the distance—
This time they’d set out on a schedule that would let them arrive at least a day early.
But then—
“They’re coming again!”
KWAANG...!
In the middle of that.
They’d been ambushed by unknown monsters.
Along with a sound ripping through the air from far away—
Something huge came flying at him.
“Damn it... General, get down!”
“You...!”
KWAANG...!
One of his group members shoved Beomseok out of the way as he was about to be turned to dust by that attack—
And took the massive blow in his place, getting blasted off somewhere far away.
“What on earth...!”
It was a situation Beomseok couldn’t understand.
Getting attacked by monsters while on the move?
That in itself was entirely possible.
Even if most monsters had fled to the Monsterland to escape the cold—
There were still monsters left that had resistance.
Their numbers weren’t small, either.
However.
There was something off about the attack they were currently under.
‘It’s like they know our route...!’
They had set out as carefully as possible—
Because they were tasked with the crucial mission of securing food.
And yet—
Once they reached the point where they could no longer receive support from the Southern base—
As if they knew that timing, the monsters had suddenly launched their ambush.
Monster attacks themselves were common.
They’d tried to avoid those attacks—
And move along whatever path would still get them toward the Central Branch, but—
‘Why are they here too!?’
‘Goddamn it, let’s run along another route!’
The monsters, as if they already knew which way they’d go—
Had gotten ahead of them and were lying in wait on their path.
In the end, like that—
Even though enough time had passed that it wouldn’t have been strange if they’d already reached the Central Branch—
They had been chased for days on end without even being able to sleep.
Far from reaching the destination they were supposed to arrive at—
They’d been driven away from the north they’d been trying to head toward to avoid monster attacks,
And further and further—
‘South... It’s driving us south?’
They were fleeing—
Right into the place where the blizzard grew stronger.
The place where this cold grew more and more intense.
‘And... the place where the Chair went missing.’
They were heading south.
‘Why?’
As if—
Instead of killing them—
The goal was to herd them in that direction.
“How can something like this be happening...!”
More suffocating still was—
That even though they were the ones being constantly attacked—
‘We still can’t even see what kind of monster it is!’
They hadn’t even been able to identify what those monsters were.
The blizzard howled viciously.
Because of it, people’s vision was extremely limited.
No matter how exceptional an Awakener’s eyesight was—
They couldn’t see through something obscured by that blizzard.
They had tried attacking a shape they saw beyond the blizzard once—
But that turned out to be nothing more than a shadow beyond the snowstorm.
It wasn’t where the real body was,
So their bullets just cut through empty air.
The only thing they could see—
Was the silhouette of some shape on the far side of the blizzard.
And the moment that silhouette appeared—
KUUUUUUNG!
A massive spear of ice, flying in from beyond the blizzard—
Would strike them.
“General...!”
“That makes ten wounded!”
“Mm.”
The relentless pursuit.
They had tried to shake off the monsters’ chase, but—
There was a limit to how much they could do.
‘We’ve got more wounded.’
Unless they decided to just abandon the wounded entirely—
Their speed would only continue to drop.
No, even if they did abandon them, it’d be the same.
The monsters’ pursuit was so fierce that it was doubtful they could shake it off even with everyone in perfect condition.
In the end.
The leader of these people—
Jo Beomseok had no choice but to make a decision.
“...Our only option is a counterattack.”
“General?”
At those words—
All the group members’ eyes turned to him.
“To get combat support, we’d have to head toward a nearby base... but for some reason, these things are reacting as if they know where we’re trying to go. We kept trying to run from their attacks, and ended up further and further from any base.”
“Then...”
“If we keep taking attacks like this, we’ll end up wiped out. So... before our fighting strength gets cut down even more, we have to take out those things hiding behind the blizzard!”
The aura bursting out of Jo Beomseok’s body—
Was intense enough that you wouldn’t believe he was an old man.
Tension ran through the group.
“...Can we do it with just us?”
“Heh heh. What choice do we have.”
Jo Beomseok lifted his weapon—
His K2 rifle—
And muttered,
“If we don’t, we’re all going to die anyway. So whether we can or not, we make it happen.”
“...Ha. You’re right. You’re absolutely right, General.”
At this rate, they were all going to {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} die anyway.
There were no other options.
In the end—
They steeled themselves for death—
And prepared one last charge to survive.
‘If I die here... what will happen to the Southern Branch?’
As he checked his weapon—
Beomseok found himself thinking that.
The leaders of each branch all had the ability to head a group.
If Jo Beomseok died here—
The Southern Branch would be left with a huge gap in its fighting strength, but...
‘No... my grandson is there, so I don’t have to worry too much.’
Even if he died here—
‘If it’s that kid... he’ll somehow lead the group well.’
That belief—
That others would somehow survive—
Was what allowed him to accept death.
“Everyone—!”
As Beomseok’s shout rang out—
All the group members crouched down.
“Charge!”
[‘Commanding Shout’ rings out!]
[Charge Order]
[Great bonuses are granted to any act of charging toward the enemy.]
[Intermediate Commander’s Trait ? Individual Combat is activated.]
[Great bonuses are granted to every step of the process leading up to striking the enemy.]
FWOOOOSH-!
At that command—
Their crouched bodies kicked off with explosive momentum.
A charge made with death already accepted.
The speed and force of that charge were truly tremendous, but—
‘Ghh...!’
The shape whose form they could see only as a shadow beyond the blizzard.
That shape, when they launched their countercharge—
Acted as if it had anticipated that movement, too,
And leisurely began to open the distance.
‘How can something move that fast in this environment...!?’
The extreme conditions that had come to Gyeonggi weren’t just limited vision and cold from the blizzard.
The piled snowdrifts alone were enormous.
So even for Awakeners, moving wasn’t easy.
No matter how resistant to the cold a monster might be—
If it had to dig through snowdrifts to move, its speed should have been limited.
Even so—
KWAANG!
“Guh!”
Those things, as if they were even more used to this environment—
Kept casually widening the gap while throwing spears at Beomseok’s group as they chased.
At that sight—
Beomseok felt it in his gut.
‘We’ve lost.’
Death, which he’d already braced himself for, was now certain.
Even so, he kept running forward—
While his mind calmly analyzed the reason for their defeat.
‘In the end, we understood far too little about the enemy.’
If they’d known these were monsters capable of moving that fast even in this snow—
Jo Beomseok would have chosen a different approach.
‘No... they knew that, and hid their forms on purpose.’
The reason the enemy had deliberately hidden themselves and only attacked from afar—
Was precisely to conceal and exploit that aspect until the very end.
‘The way they attacked as if they knew our route... These monsters know far too well how to fight humans. It’s eerie.’
Having sorted out the cause of their loss—
Jo Beomseok calmly nodded.
‘This was a fight we never had a chance of winning from the start.’
Ultimately, the conclusion they’d reached—
Was that they had no way to overcome this ambush.
“It can’t be helped. If we’re going to die anyway, we should at least hurt them...”
With that thought—
He aimed his barrel at the monster’s shadow in the distance.
‘If I empty all the magazines I have, at least one or two shots should land.’
Once he used up all his magazines—
They’d have no way to resist those monsters.
‘But we’ve already lost any path to survival.’
In a state of resignation, just as he was about to pull the trigger—
Right in that moment—
“I’ll clear you a path.”
“...Huh?”
A sudden voice echoed—
From out of the empty air.
“I don’t have much time either... so you’re on your own after that.”
A startled Jo Beomseok looked around him—
But there wasn’t a single visible figure who might have been the owner of that voice.
‘What? Am I hearing things right before I die?’
No.
What was unsettling wasn’t just that a voice had suddenly spoken.
‘That voice just now... I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before...’
That sudden voice—
Felt oddly familiar to him.
If he just focused a bit,
He felt like he might be able to recall where he’d heard it, but—
“General...!”
“Look ahead!”
He didn’t have the luxury of dredging it up.
The unknown silhouette that had been attacking them—
SHRRRK—
He watched as that silhouette—
Split neatly into two.
