“Doesn’t seem like I’m that late.”
-What?
When I muttered that.
The giants hurled sneers.
-To still put on airs, even after coming all the way here?
-No matter how great the power you carry is, we know your body isn’t in normal condition. And that you can’t do anything to us in a mere one minute.
I can understand why they’re so sure of victory.
If there were about five minutes left, it might be different.
But no matter how much I went wild.
In just one ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) minute, there was no way I could do anything to those giants in here.
STEP.
“You guys got way too careless.”
-......?
But.......
As I walked toward them, I said,
“No, rather than careless...... I guess you should call it a lack of research?”
And that was only natural.
Because that is, truly, strictly......
Only the case when there’s just one minute left.
“You don’t know anything at all about...... the seal’s mechanism.”
Fortunately.
I knew this seal better than those bastards did.
“Who knew my experience going to [Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall] would help here.”
I had already been through another Gate before.
And inside it, I’d also met those lying collapsed while sealed.
Back then.
I’d been able to figure out a lot about that seal.
For example.......
“That this seal’s duration is determined by the power the sealed one possesses.”
The stronger the existence, the longer they’re sealed.
The weaker the existence, the shorter they’re sealed.
Also.
If you use this part well.
“If you pour debuffs on the target and weaken them...... then, limited to that weakened state, it becomes possible for them to move.”
The martial brothers of Seo Hwan who had been asleep in [Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall].
Some of them, like that,
Could open their eyes faster than the time originally set.
“Debuffs through Cuisine can affect that seal.”
And.
If debuffs through Cuisine affect the seal......
“Then the opposite should be normal too, right?”
If you apply a debuff, the seal loosens limited to the weakened state.
Then, speaking the other way around.
“If you apply a buff...... what happens?”
[Shadow Veil]
I plunged my hand into the shadow.
Then pulled out Cuisine from within it.
[Intermediate Chef and War Cook’s-]
-What are you.......
-Trying to do?
As if they’d realized my attitude wasn’t just empty bluster.
Unease seeped into the giants’ voices.
“You’ve been sealed for a long time, so you must be hungry.”
At those bastards’ questions, I gave a faint smirk and answered.
“Let’s eat first, then do it.”
WHAP!
The Cuisine I pulled out from the shadow.
I threw it toward the giants.
THUNK!
Colossal monsters that were clearly mighty, but still couldn’t move yet.
My Cuisine struck the ice that bound their bodies.
......and that was enough.
[Force-Feeding]
Because that Cuisine......
Began to seep inward, regardless of their will.
-Th-this is.......
-What is this taste, no, more importantly.
The monsters that had been looking down at me with smug confidence.
Their pupils shook violently.
[Sealing in progress......]
[Time remaining until seal release - 25.......]
-There should have been, there should have been almost no time left......!
The seal that remained on their bodies.
That time, which had only been shrinking more and more.
[......26]
[......30]
[......67]
-W-What the hell!
It started reversing.
-What the......!
-What did you do to us?!
After pulling the kitchen knife out from inside my clothes.
I stared at them and thought.
[......82]
[......108]
[......189]
[......404]
“It’s Cuisine I made properly, but...... in the end, it’s cold Cuisine.”
The time I’d extended was about ten minutes.
Since they were powerful existences to begin with.
Even if they got stronger from my Cuisine.
It must’ve been difficult for them to recover the seal time that had already been consumed by much.
“It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
Dragging my heavy body as I approached them.
I recalled a variety show I’d seen on TV in the past.
A program where famous, skilled chefs went out as a group.
And competed with each other.
“The given time is ten minutes.”
There were many ways they competed skill.
But among them.
The one coming to mind right now was one.
“You have to produce the maximum result within those ten minutes.”
......Within a limited time.
A match where you make the best output possible.
“What did I do, you ask.”
With the kitchen knife in my hand.
I walked up to the nearest giant’s body, grabbed the ice, and climbed onto it as I spoke.
“I’m going to try some cooking.”
-St-stop......!
[Soul Cuisine Mastery]
I looked at the grotesque essence layered over the giant’s body.
[Warchief of the Frozen Kingdom]
[Thick Crystal, Gellimbo]
[As one of the Twenty Grand Lords who rule Frozen Soul, Belsnickel, and as the leader who commands loyal warriors for the king.......]
One of the heads leading these stray specter bastards.
And a monster that likely held tremendous power.
Right before the seal was released earlier.
It was the one spouting nonsense at me about “guardian of bugs” and whatever else.
-P-Please...... stop.
But.
Right now, it was a body seized by the seal, unable to move.
[Advanced Dagger Mastery]
[Martial Art – Cuisine]
[Field Cooking]
CRRRRK.......
-I’ll apologize for what I said earlier. So please......!
“You don’t have to apologize. I’m not really hurt by that.”
The edge of my dagger cut into the ice and burrowed in.
And eventually.......
“Whatever a thing that’s going to become my Cuisine says.......”
[You have defeated Boss Monster, Thick Crystal Gellimbo!]
“There’s no reason for me to be hurt.”
-Gellimbo!!!
-No.......
Along with the giant’s flesh.
Its soul was [Processed].
[Processed Soul of Thick Crystal Gellimbo]
After stuffing only the processed soul into my shadow.
I climbed onto the next giant’s body and thought.
“I have so much I want to ask.”
What happened in their world.
Why the other monsters lost their flesh like that.
And why only these bastards could barely maintain flesh.
I had questions piled up like mountains, but.......
“There’s no time right now.”
According to [Gate]’s description.
These bastards are the ones who already created an eternal winter in their world and drove it into ruin.
“Maybe if a moderately calm conversation were possible. But they’re bastards who’d feel temperatures humans can live in as extreme heat.”
Just like that Pope.
As long as the environments each side can live in are different, they can never coexist.
Then.
Right now, while these bastards can’t move, and only I can.
What I had to do was already decided.
[King’s First Blade, Crystal Knight Midir.]
[As one of the Twenty Grand Lords who rule Frozen Soul, Belsnickel, and as the being that fought most faithfully at their king’s side.......]
An existence that would become an enemy.
Erasing as much of that force as possible.
“Next is you.”
-Cutting down an enemy that cannot move is a cowardly act. If you know the courtesy of a warrior.......
“Sorry, but I don’t know that shit.”
Unlike the previous one.
This one’s soul form wasn’t all that grotesque.
A knight-like figure in shabby armor.
“I’m not a warrior. I’m a chef.”
-......Is that so. What a pity. If only this body could move, I might have engaged you in a splendid duel.
Of course.
No matter how much more dignified its soul looked.
SLICE—
[You have hunted Boss Monster, Crystal Knight Midir!]
“You can’t move, though. So what the hell do you want me to do?”
In the fact that it was nothing more than an ingredient to me.
There wasn’t much difference.
-Sir Midir!!!
-A-ah.......
I threw my heavy body onto the next monster’s body right away.
[Winter’s Duke, Iceflame Duke Balthazar.]
[......As the one who ruled the most territory, excluding the king.]
-St-stop. Listen to my proposal first!
“Proposal?”
-You saw the brother from the native species outside, didn’t you. His power too!
The one who’d been talking while looking down at me with arrogant posture earlier.
By the time I’d crawled halfway up its body.
That same arrogant bastard shouted in a desperate voice.
-We bestowed upon that brother the power to become a lord like us. You saw that power too!
“Yeah, it was impressive.”
-If you saw it with your own eyes, you know! We never break our promises!
“So?”
-If you want it, no—if you want it! We will bestow upon you power like ours, no. Power to stand above us.......
SLICE—
“Fuck off, you bastard.”
Of course.
I didn’t have any leeway to listen to that.
[You have hunted Iceflame Duke Balthazar!]
-Even Duke Balthazar.......
-Aah, my Duke......!
Something flashy floated before my eyes, and experience poured into my body.
Ignoring all of it.
“Next!”
[Protector of the Fallen Frosts, Extreme Saint Baleim]
[As the one who informed Frozen Souls of the king’s existence and created a religion they could unite under, the de facto key figure behind the fact that ‘Belsnickel’ could function as a single army may be considered to be him.......]
-As expected of the native guardian. We should have predicted you might have one more move for an existence of that caliber...... I acknowledge it. We were arrogant.
[You have hunted Extreme Saint Baleim.]
“Next!”
[Chancellor of the Frozen Kingdom, Wise One Iterek]
[Belsnickel, born from the souls of the dead, were beings with no such thing as civilization. But after Iterek, who was a great politician and scholar even in life, joined them, they were finally able to achieve a civilization with a political system.......]
-To think you could even interfere with the seal this world set...... once again, I realize how petty and fleeting the wisdom I have built is.
[You have hunted Wise One Iterek.]
Like that.
As I cut them down as fast as I possibly could, I thought.
“Each one...... they’re bastards called by an individual name, not a species name.”
To a chef’s eye.
The other stray specters I’d met until now were called things like [Frozen Soul, Belsnickel Lower Knight], or [Frozen Soul, Belsnickel Lower Sentry].
By a species name and a position.
But these weren’t called by a species name like that.
They were called by their own unique names.
“Named boss monsters.”
Great existences who achieved tremendous feats in their world.
And came to be called by their unique names rather than their species name.
[Interpreter of the Lonely Soul, Grand Archbishop Anador]
[‘Belsnickel’ were originally souls trapped in extreme loneliness. The one who healed their souls, and first informed them of the existence of brothers with whom they could share wounds, was.......]
-I never knew my end would be like this...... but it’s a life given a second time anyway. I’ve always steeled myself, thinking a day like this might come someday. Do as you will, child.
“I was going to, even if you hadn’t said it.”
-Out of needless worry, I’ll give you one piece of advice. Don’t try to carry too much burden alone. I can see you’re pushing yourself, and it pains me.
[You have hunted Interpreter Anador.]
“......Useless advice.”
Among them, some......
I could feel a strange dizziness in those words.
“Separate from being our enemy...... those bastards were probably treated as the greatest heroes among their own.”
Originally.
A powerhouse that would’ve required the Legion to launch a massive operation just to face one.
If they’d opened their eyes as-is.
Mighty existences that could have dominated all of Gyeonggi Province in less than a week—
-Please, just spare my life......!
“No.”
SLICE.
[You have hunted Guardian of the Hardened Sea, Glacier Margrave Rakrond.]
-If you’re going to kill me, kill me quickly. I have no intention of pleasing your ears with wretched begging and screams.
“Sounds like you enjoyed that kind of thing.”
SLICE.
[You have hunted Chief Inspector Illaon, Watcher Standing on the Icicle’s Tip.]
Without being able to resist at all.
They were carved out, souls and all, by my blade.
“Ghk......!”
How many monsters had I cut down like that.
Suddenly, I felt agony crash over my entire body.
At first I thought it was pain from forcing my injured body.
But...... it wasn’t.
[You acquire a massive amount of experience.]
[You acquire a massive amount of experience.......]
[You acquire a massive amount of experience.......]
“What kind of experience is......!”
A blue-grade monster.
I killed that kind of monster alone.
I’d run into monsters of similar grade a few times until now.
But most of the time they were in a weakened state.
Or I handled it by forming a friendly alliance rather than subjugation.
[......has been hunted!]
To hunt them directly like this.
And obtain that experience—
This was the first time.
[Your level has increased.]
[Lv.37]
After reaching level 30.
The experience that had refused to rise even if I died for it.
[Your level has increased.]
[Lv.38]
It filled up in an instant.
“A level comparable to what I got after solving Morjan.......”
That Morjan didn’t vanish and entered inside me.
And the experience I got back then was, in the end, experience earned as an achievement for clearing a Gate.
But this is different.
“A species that drove an entire world into ruin and ruled it.”
The history their rulers built up.
The terrifying strength they must have piled up as they achieved great feats.......
[You acquire a massive amount of experience.......]
Was flowing into my body.
“Ggghk.......”
With experience surging in, it felt like my body would explode, but.
Even so, somehow holding onto my sanity, I said,
“The Twenty Grand Lords...... huh.”
I recalled a few words that had appeared in the description text as it flashed by.
-Aah, aaaah......!
-What a miserable end, fitting for my vile life.......
-......Everyone, calm yourselves, brothers. The time has come to accept our end.
-A nightmare. This is a nightmare, it must be......!
Those bastards falling into despair.
The number of those giants was exactly twenty.
They looked like they’d given up on everything.
Like they were already dead, like they’d thrown it all away.
But.
“I don’t have enough time to cut them all down.”
Maybe if my body were normal.
But right now, I’m in a state where even walking properly is difficult.
Cutting down one per minute was my limit.
Then.
“There’s a king, right?”
-......!
I had to kill the enemy as efficiently as possible.
-The being that fought most faithfully at the king’s side.......
-Loyal warriors for the king.......
According to what the system text showed.
These bastards had, beyond the twenty lords.
A king who stood above them.
-.......
-.......
“Ah, you’re shutting your mouths?”
When I brought up the king’s name.
The bastards who even stopped their bewildered screams and clamped their mouths shut.
“So you don’t want to die, but you still have to protect your king, huh?”
I hurriedly scanned my surroundings.
And.
Only then did I see one thing.
“That.......”
This massive royal castle.
A gigantic wall, in its deepest reaches.
......No.
“It was a giant.”
Because it was so enormous.
It didn’t enter my sight all at once, so I mistook it for a wall.
But that thing was seated in the deepest part of this royal castle.
[Created Emperor, Ariant]
[This is the emperor Ariant created with the full power of the great empire, Ariant.]
[To resist the invasion of Frozen Souls, the surviving free people came to yearn for a powerful being who could lead and command them. Created Emperor Ariant is the result of that, and a single world’s entire technological power was condensed to create.......]
[State - Possessed]
[The progenitor and king of Frozen Soul, Belsnickel dwells within.]
A body so massive even the other giants looked like children.
No, size wasn’t everything.
What mattered more was the aura leaking from that flesh.
[Combat Power Gauge]
“Dark blue......!”
The magic power pouring out of that body.
It was a color I had never seen once in my life.
And on top of that.
“There’s another color inside.”
Deep inside that flesh.
A slightly darker color was faintly flickering.
-St-stop.
-The king...... unlike us, has not yet opened his eyes.
As they said.
If you consider that the stronger the being, the later the seal is released.
That existence wouldn’t open its eyes until much later.
Unlike the other bastards, who woke first even if only as souls.
This “king” bastard still looked like it hadn’t even come to its senses.
And if you say that the other way around.
“This is the only chance...... to deal with a foe this strong easily.”
A monster with a dark-blue-grade body.
A monster that could become a massive calamity for humanity someday if it woke up—right now.
THUD.
Was right in front of my eyes.
Recklessly exposing its neck.
-No......!
Somehow climbing up onto that body.
I leveled my blade at its neck.
“......At this rate, the blade wouldn’t even go in.”
A body absurdly hard and powerful.
Originally.
Even with [Advanced Dagger Mastery] like I have now.
With an injured body, it would’ve been difficult to inflict even a single proper wound on this thing.
......The one saving grace is.
One.
-Your Majesty......! Our king, at least!
This bastard is a king.
And.
If the opponent is a king.
[Title - KING SLAYER]
[All types of effects against leader-class individuals increase by 100%.]
My strength.
Becomes a little more efficient.
CRRRRRRK.......
CRUNCH, CRUNCH.
SLICE, SLICE—
“God, it won’t cut for shit!”
-Noooooo!!!!!!!!
My blade.
Dug into the giant’s neck.
