The Wall’s gate opened.
The Central Branch’s combat personnel, heading for the Southern Branch, moved out into the blizzard.
“......Hey, senior.”
Of course.
Not everyone in the group was combat personnel.
In that party, there were me and...
this guy, right here.
“Why do I have to be dragged into this too...?”
Howard was in the party as well.
His face was full of dissatisfaction.
“Your cooking lessons aren’t over yet.”
“......”
“We’re going to keep at it over there too. I still have a lot left to learn from you. And you still have a lot left to learn.”
“B–But my duty is to cook for the people staying behind at the Branch.”
“That’s why you made a ton of food in advance before we left, right? And if it’s not for buff purposes, it doesn’t absolutely have to be you cooking it.”
“.......”
Unlike me.
Howard had lived his whole life as a purely non-combat chef.
He seemed dumbfounded that he was being sent out on a campaign like this.
But what can you do.
“If you’ve got a problem, you can be the senior.”
“.......”
He looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
But then Howard lowered his head.
Heh.
The hierarchy in the culinary world is harsher than in the army.
The pecking order between him and me had been decided by clashing with actual cooking.
That relationship is, in some ways, even stronger than the senior–junior chain in the Legion.
Watching him like that, I let out a small laugh
and turned my gaze to look around us.
...I brought this guy along because I figured there’d come a time when I’d need him, but.
As I looked around,
I could see the Awakeners moving along with me.
“Kh....”
“What the hell is with this blizzard...!”
They were struggling as the blizzard pelted them.
Seeing that,
I felt a slight sense of unease.
It was something I’d thought about back when I first arrived at the Central Branch, but still.
‘Their average level is low.’
From what I’d heard,
the Central Branch had originally been the strongest of all the branches.
Not just the Chair himself,
but all the group members he led were supposedly considerable powerhouses.
Those so-called elites were probably on par with our regular Legion troops.
But.
Now that most of that force had vanished, the situation was reversed.
The Central Branch, which should have been the strongest, had fallen to the weakest among all the branches.
“...Kh.”
“Hang in there, everyone. We’ll have a rest stop if we go just a little further.”
In fact,
it didn’t seem like they’d ever moved with this many people after their elites disappeared.
Their basic method of movement was similar to what the Northern Branch Awakeners did,
but they looked like they were having a very hard time of it.
‘The combat personnel who hadn’t been assigned to that [Assault Operation] and had stayed behind at the Branch...’
They said not even a single officer had been left out of that operation.
It was an operation where they’d gone so far as to pull a crazy stunt like that just to mobilize the maximum possible fighting power.
Everyone here, except for that Yunseong, were people who hadn’t been included in that operation.
In other words,
they were people who’d been treated as so far outside the fighting power that they’d been excluded even when they dragged every last scrap of strength they had into that operation.
For that, their numbers were oddly high.
But I could more or less guess the reason for that ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) too.
‘Our Legion only started broadcasting on the radio relatively recently.’
The people who listened to the radio back then and properly grasped how to awaken.
They supposedly dragged out the frozen zombies belatedly and awakened using those parasites.
If my guess was right,
they were the ones who only awakened belatedly after that radio broadcast went out.
And.
The man leading and dragging them along.
That man called Yunseong, too...
[Ha Yunseong]
[Lv.21]
Level 21.
You could more or less call that high-level,
but it was still far lower than the Northern Branch leaders, who had all been in their high twenties.
He’d been an elite combatant,
but he hadn’t been a squad leader or an officer.
In truth, that meant he wasn’t all that strong.
‘...This is unsettling.’
Moving through this blizzard is by no means an easy task.
Last time, when I came with the Northern Branch people, I’d been with the combat personnel led by Park Junggu, one of the strongest in the entire Association, so there hadn’t been much of a problem.
Honestly, I had my doubts about whether this lot could really manage it.
If I were going alone, it’d be no problem.
But these people were also part of the force meant to investigate that ‘Source of the Cold.’
They were part of the strength we were taking to scout that area where my family might be.
And the more fighting power you have, the better.
So we had to bring them along too...
‘I’ll have to give them a bit of help.’
Having decided that,
I spoke up to Yunseong, who was leading in front.
“Hey.”
“...You’re Section Leader Seo’s son, aren’t you.”
When I addressed him,
Yunseong answered with a frown.
“What do you think you’re doing? Don’t break formation during a march.”
“Ah, that’s not it. I have something I need to tell you...”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but we’re in the middle of an important operation.”
Before I could even get the words out,
he cut me off.
“You might not be a member of our group, but the moment you joined this party, you became jointly responsible for its safety. That means you have to detect monsters approaching from the position you’ve been assigned. Leaving your post like this could put your comrades in danger. Return to your place.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong, but.”
Still.
I still had to say what needed to be said.
“If we keep going like this, something bad is going to—”
“How many times do I have to tell you.”
Yunseong glared at me with a scowl.
“You may be Section Leader Seo’s son, but you’re not a member of our Guild.”
“......”
“You’re not even formally part of the Central Branch, and while you claim to be Section Leader Seo’s son... for all we know, that could be a lie. And yet you refuse to listen to me, the one commanding this party?”
In his eyes,
a faint hostility flickered.
“Do you want me to treat you as an enemy?”
“There’s a monster up ahead.”
“...What?”
“I know this route is the fastest way, but we’ll end up engaging a monster. It’d be better to go around. That’s what I came to tell you.”
At my words,
Yunseong faltered for a moment,
then shook his head firmly as if regaining his senses.
“I understand what you’re saying, but this has long been the route our Branch favors most.”
“......”
“It was a route that was regularly maintained until those elites went missing. It’s also a place we can observe to some extent from the Wall. A large-scale monster group or a giant monster wouldn’t suddenly settle here. At most, if there are monsters, it’ll be a small group.”
“Even so...”
“Minor skirmishes with monsters during movement are common. Taking some other route might actually be more dangerous.”
Saying that,
Yunseong ignored me and started walking again.
“We’re not changing our course.”
“......”
“You return to your position as well.”
There was nothing I could do.
I went back to the position I’d been assigned.
And I thought to myself.
‘This is... the lowest-priority spot in this formation.’
Just like back in the dining hall,
I was now sure.
How should I put it.
‘This guy is extremely wary of me.’
He’s very wary of me interfering with or influencing this group...
That was the feeling I got, anyway.
Hmm.
At this rate,
‘this is going to be a bit of a hassle.’
And so, in the end,
the party kept advancing without changing course.
Then, at some point,
“Uh...”
“There’s something over there!”
The people at the very front
spotted something and shouted.
“What is it? A monster?”
“Uh, well... it does seem like a monster.”
The humans pushing forward at the very front
had faint smirks tugging at the corners of their mouths.
– KYUIT?
“Looks like a nothing-special monster.”
What was there
was a small creature no bigger than a small dog.
It looked more like a plush toy than a living being.
The mana aura coming off its body was extremely faint too.
“...Don’t tell me this is what you wanted us to avoid?”
Seeing it, Yunseong
also let out a small, disbelieving snort.
To be fair,
what Yunseong had said wasn’t entirely wrong.
This was a route the Central Branch frequently traveled and kept cleared.
If it was a small-bodied monster, that was one thing.
But if a giant monster or a large group of monsters had been passing through,
even this weakened Central Branch would have noticed.
If there was a monster that had suddenly made this route its territory,
it could only be a small monster like that.
“We could just pass by it, but... that’s still experience points. Take it out quickly and move on!”
“Yes, sir!”
And.
Watching that,
...Figures.
I thought to myself.
‘These guys don’t even have the basics down.’
The low-level Awakeners, excited, stepped forward
and swung their weapons at the monster...
– KYUIT?
Right at that moment,
– KYUIIIIIII... IK?
the ones that had looked so small and fragile,
those white cotton-ball-like monsters,
– KUIK... KUIK... KUWOK...
their bodies
started swelling up rapidly,
– KROOOOOOOOOOOAR!
“W–What!?”
and they transformed into gigantic beasts over three meters tall.
The roar the beasts let out was strong enough to make the ground around us shake.
“W–What the hell is that!?”
Unlike when they’d been small and cute,
the monsters now blocking the party’s path were not only enormous,
– KRUUUOK...!
– KUHUK... KUHUK...
their eyes were bloodshot with a vicious red,
and their whole bodies were wrapped in some unknown dark-red mana.
[Yethil of Rage]
[Normally it has a small body and a gentle temperament, but the moment it discovers an enemy, it cannot suppress its rage, goes into [Berserk], and takes on its true form. This monster is called Yethil.]
[A notable feature is that its flavor differs greatly between its small and large forms. If you want tender meat, it is recommended to hunt or assassinate it before it goes into [Berserk]. After [Berserk], the meat of an enraged Yethil is a little tough but has a deep flavor, making it suitable for use in soups, so by deciding the timing of the hunt according to your intended use, you can enjoy a variety of tastes from this ingredient—]
The moment it encounters an enemy, it goes [Berserk]
and brings out its original power.
The efficiency of that [Berserk] skill was incredible.
Every time those monsters, which had looked so small and frail, exhaled, I could feel the mana around them surge.
Knew it would be like this.
From the start,
if they’d truly been weak monsters, I wouldn’t even have bothered to warn them.
The blizzard was bad and visibility was limited, but I had the [Combat Power Gauge].
This power measured the difficulty of a target monster by the amount of mana it possessed.
The difficulty those monsters showed me had been a bit faint, but...
it was still green.
‘They’re not monsters you can just suddenly fight like this.’
They had enough power to be treated as boss monsters by ordinary Awakeners.
Even our Legion
almost never tackled monsters of that level without any preparation.
‘Judging an enemy’s strength just by its appearance...’
I could hardly believe that Awakeners, this long after Doomsday, were still doing that.
Then again, in this Gyeonggi, thanks to that Wall, there were a lot of people who’d managed to live relatively safely.
People who had stayed inside that Wall and only succeeded in awakening recently.
Most of them probably didn’t even know these basics.
“D–Damn it!”
“Everyone, draw your weapons!”
Yunseong, who was frantically trying to direct the battle,
was, at his core, a fighter, not a commander.
He’d always just followed orders from his superiors.
Now that he was the one having to issue orders himself,
he wasn’t paying attention to things that a commander should naturally be keeping in mind.
“Kh...!”
Yunseong rushed forward and swung his greatsword, placing himself in front of the monster.
Awakeners from the Central Branch rushed in around him, but—
“Ghk...!”
“Aunt Sunja!”
“W–What kind of strength is that!”
Three monsters, all with green-colored mana.
They’d be a tricky enemy even if everyone here were Legion elites.
But Yunseong was the only one above level 20,
and most of the rest were Awakeners below level 10. There was no way they could handle this.
In the end.
“This is why I told you.”
In the end,
I sighed and stepped forward.
“I figured this was going to turn into a hassle.”
“Y–You...!”
At that,
I could feel Yunseong looking at me with trembling eyes.
“What you said... was real.”
This was something that wouldn’t have happened if he’d listened to my warning.
He looked like he was feeling guilty.
But, well.
It had already happened; what good was regretting it after the fact.
“Lead your people and fall back.”
“...What?”
“We were unlucky and ran into monsters like that on this route, but if you take another route, you should still be fine.”
When I said that,
Yunseong looked at me and asked,
“F–Fall back? Then what about you?”
“Well... not running into them would’ve been best, but now that we have, someone has to deal with them, right.”
“...What are you talking about.”
They were quite strong monsters.
If the Awakeners here tried to run, it was obvious they’d be caught in no time.
Someone had to step up.
“...The amount of mana they’re giving off is no joke. This would’ve been a tough enemy even if all our other elites were here!”
“Uh, yeah, probably.”
“And you’re telling me to leave you alone to face an enemy like that...!”
But.
How exactly had he taken what I said?
Yunseong bit down hard on his lip,
then lowered his head and spoke.
“How could you... tell me to do something like that!”
...This guy.
Looks like he’s seriously misunderstanding something.
