“Let me coat you in my magic.”
Red magic wrapped itself around the Association’s humans.
The Demon Realm’s monsters were furious—those cold giants had come to steal even the little land they had left.
Even monsters that normally fought over territory—
right now, they only wanted to deal with the invaders.
“With this, the monsters of this land will have no reason to be hostile toward you.”
“......!”
Humans coated in the Queen’s magic—seen as a being of the Demon Realm—at least for now...
were no longer targets the Demon Realm’s monsters would treat as enemies.
And then—
“Meal prep complete!”
Inside the hastily built fortress.
From the cook station set up in one corner, Cuisine came out finished.
“It’s good...!”
“A-and we’ve been eating it the whole time, but... this power—!”
Up until then, it had been something people dismissed.
But on that expedition to the Source not long ago.
And in the weeks-long war that followed.
The one who had quite literally kept the Expedition Force alive by feeding them—
“Unbelievable. If it weren’t for your help, we wouldn’t have lasted this long.”
“Really—thank you!”
“......It’s nothing. Don’t leave any behind.”
Howard’s Cuisine.
And on top of that—
‘Hard, violent movement is tough... but cooking, at least, I can manage.’
I added my strength again.
It wouldn’t match that battle at the Source where everyone’s appetite had dropped to rock bottom—
but even so, the two chefs’ collaborative Cuisine produced a powerful effect.
Especially—
[Kitchen Chef’s Special Sauce]
[The Radiant Courage-]
Power Howard couldn’t use on his own—
was added into the Cuisine.
‘......Damn it, I just have to do it!’
The Association’s commander who ate the Cuisine—
Jo Beomseok hauled himself up,
took a huge breath, and shouted.
“Entire force, prepare for battle!”
“Yes!”
“The Association fights as one!”
The Association’s Awakeners answered his cry.
“Kneel before our united strength!!”
*****
The shape of the battle was simple.
Humans entrenched deep inside the Demon Realm.
Giants invading to strike those humans.
And—
-krk...!
Demon Realm beings who believed their territory was being violated—
trying to stop them.
A battle carried out with humanity joining in on top of that.
“Bombard them!”
“Battery 3, shift a little farther right—make a path for that giant snake to move!”
A wall erected high.
On top of that wall, artillery batteries hastily installed spat firepower.
The Southern Branch had collapsed and we’d lost a lot of batteries—
but the firepower we had left still wasn’t lacking.
“They’re trying to surround the Queen’s forces!”
“Northern Warriors Unit, move out! Don’t let them get encircled!”
As Frozen Souls tried to encircle the Queen’s forces—
[Black Claw] and the red-eyed monsters following him—
the Association’s Awakeners stepped in to block their movement routes.
The Demon Realm–Association alliance.
Its momentum was undeniably tremendous.
But...
CRUNCH.
-Trifling flying beast.
-kee-rook...!
Whether the overall battle situation favored the Demon Realm—
it didn’t.
‘......Because in this world, what matters isn’t just numbers.’
Something even more important than that—
was whether you had the strong.
And right now...
the monsters with truly strong power that appeared in this world were subject to this world’s seal.
‘And the stronger the being, the longer that seal doesn’t last.’
Unless they weren’t subject to the seal for some reason—
or unless the seal had been forcibly broken, like the monsters from that military unit—
the strongest beings in the world right now were...
‘The ones who were just released from the seal.’
Yeah.
That meant those giants.
“......Damn it, the Man-Eating Bird got suppressed!”
“Help it, no matter what!”
The monstrous bird that flew through the sky and kept multiple monsters in check—
when [Torn Wing] was grabbed by the back of the neck and driven into the ground,
the Association’s Awakeners rushed out, trying to get that monster bird free.
With bombardment from the wall,
and the Association’s Awakeners fighting like hell—
the monster bird managed to regain its freedom.
But—
‘In the end... even that [Torn Wing] can’t fully handle multiple giants.’
It wasn’t just Torn Wing.
Including [Black Claw], whom Ariella had forced into submission—
there were only four monsters, total, at a level that could even trade blows with those giants.
-Blood-stinking bugs!
“Do stray specters dare look down on nobles?”
At best, Ariella and the three elite vampires following her were only at a level where they could handle one more giant.
That meant we could only handle about five giants.
Even then, all we could do was hold them in place—
we didn’t have enough to bring them down.
‘......Tch.’
After finishing my assessment,
I dragged my heavy body over to Jo Beomseok.
“General Jo!”
“Battery 3, fire on Giant 4—what is it!”
“Please keep commanding while you listen.”
With a grave expression, I spoke to him.
“General Jo, you feel it too. Even with the Demon °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Realm’s strength added, it’ll be hard to wipe all those monsters out.”
“.......”
The four great beasts that had ruled the Demon Realm.
Even they were formidable enemies—blue grade, according to [Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)].
But the magic power inside them...
if I had to compare it, it was around the level Ariella had when I first met her.
‘At best, viscount-class....’
On the other hand, the magic power of those twelve giants was so dense it matched Ariella back when she’d already advanced once more—when she was a baron.
We were outnumbered.
And outclassed.
There was no way the battle could tilt in our favor.
‘This is humanity’s weakness.’
Humans blessed by the [System] had limitless potential.
Given enough time—
someday, people stronger than those monsters would appear.
‘But growth takes time.’
And the number of humans was far too small.
There was a reason I’d tried to recruit even more monsters into the Legion.
“We can’t beat them.”
“Can’t beat them? What are you talking about!”
Jo Beomseok shouted back, pushing against my words.
“I know your injuries are severe and you can’t join the fight. But even so, you can’t start talking about giving up already...! If we keep fighting, somehow a way—!”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not telling you to give up.”
“Hm?”
We can’t beat them.
But we’d built enough power to at least scrape by.
“So you must not try to defeat the enemy.”
“What?”
“Instead.”
The choice we had wasn’t the best-case scenario—killing the enemy.
“Please command the operation so we can hold out for as long as possible against them.”
“......?”
Second best instead of best.
“What are you saying?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. Drag this battle out as long as possible, and fight in a way that minimizes allied losses. Use the Demon Realm’s monsters as much as you can.”
“......?”
“Even if a situation arises where you could deal major damage to the enemy—if you judge it’ll make this battle end faster, you have to avoid it. Don’t fight thinking you’ll win—fight thinking you’ll endure.”
“Endure.”
At my words, Jo Beomseok asked back, like he couldn’t believe what I was trying to say.
“If we endure like that... does anything even change?”
At his doubt—
I nodded with certainty.
“Yes. It changes.”
“......Is that so. If you say so, then I guess it is.”
Thankfully,
Jo Beomseok accepted my words without resistance.
*****
“Warriors Unit 3, stop your sortie preparations! Instead, move to support Warriors Unit 2, already deployed!”
A unit preparing to sortie to deal damage to the enemy halted its deployment—
and moved to support those who had gone out to defend against the enemy’s intrusion.
‘That’s enough.’
Jo Beomseok’s buff might be inferior to Lieutenant Kim’s—
but strategically speaking, there were plenty of areas where that man was better than Lieutenant Kim.
Now that he’d accepted the order—
he’d do his best to buy time.
‘The Association’s side is handled.’
The buff through Cuisine had already been applied,
and the effects of [Ingredient Management (Degraded)] were active as well.
I’d handed command to Jo Beomseok—
“Whew. Honestly, my condition is absolutely the worst, but....”
...Now what I had to do was—
“I have to run it with my body.”
There was nothing left except to patch it with my own body.
[Environmental Assimilation]
After swallowing a fistful of slime jelly,
I moved toward the entrance of the Demon Realm, where the fighting was at its peak.
KUUUUUUNG....
And then—
when I got close enough that I could feel the vibrations from the battle—
I climbed one tall tree nearby,
and—
CLICK.
I racked the handgun’s slide, chambering a round as I thought.
‘As long as the side effects of [Rampage] remain, direct fighting is impossible.’
It wasn’t like that four-stack Cuisine aftereffect that had been strong but didn’t last long.
A side effect that had caused permanent damage to my body.
Those aftereffects lasted longer than I’d expected.
But if I just waited here doing nothing—
we wouldn’t even hold out until the time limit.
So what I needed to do was—
‘My job as a producer... as a buffer.’
Unfortunately, the Demon Realm’s monsters and the cold monsters were already mixed together, fighting in a single tangled mass.
It was hard to scatter wide-area buffs like before.
So there was only one thing left.
“Good thing they’re all huge. Makes them easy to hit.”
A sniper buff—
aimed at the enemy’s core strength.
BANG!
Fire burst from the bullet—
and that bullet reached the massive white lion that had been pushed on the defensive against two giants.
[White Mane].
Ammunition specially modified with the sole purpose of hitting the target.
The bullet didn’t deal damage to the one it struck—
instead—
[Joint Work of an Intermediate Chef and War Cook, Panteron Stir-Fry of Intense Fighting Spirit]
[Upon consumption, all stats greatly increase.]
[This Cuisine has been divided into small portions. The effect is slightly reduced.]
-...KRRRK!
The monster’s momentum visibly surged.
-This...?
-Its resistance suddenly grew fierce.
Thanks to that—
the white lion, which had been getting overwhelmed, could hold out against the giants a little longer.
After that—
-SHAAAAAAK!
I hit [Light Scale] too.
-KEE-RUUK...!
[Torn Wing] too.
-GOOOOOOOOOOO—!
Even [Black Claw].
‘That’s the end of the buffs.’
Next—
debuffing the enemy.
I leveled the muzzle again
and fired as fast as possible at the twelve giants.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
-Ugh...!?
-My body... it’s getting heavy....
[Joint Work of an Intermediate Chef and War Cook, Thick Defeat-Tinged Junk Food Set]
[Upon consumption, all stats greatly decrease!]
[This Cuisine has been divided into small portions. The effect is slightly reduced.]
A chaotic battlefield where everyone was mixed together, fighting.
The giants couldn’t notice me, with my presence hidden by [Environmental Assimilation].
And because of their enormous bodies, they couldn’t dodge the bullets—
so they had no choice but to be helplessly [Force-Feeding] the Cuisine I fired.
‘Just a little more...!’
Like that.
If I landed just one more hit—
I thought I could debuff every giant.
But then—
-The way this power functions... it’s the same as the method used to break that seal back then...!
-Ah, I can feel it!
The giants’ gaze—
suddenly poured onto me.
[Environmental Assimilation] was still active.
I’d attached a suppressor in case the gunshots caused trouble,
and I’d been sniping while moving across the widest possible area.
‘How?’
But—
their eyes were locked precisely on me.
The reason was simple.
-That loathsome slaughterer’s soul!
“......Of course.”
Their essence was Stray Specters.
Spiritual beings from the start.
-There you are! Guardian god of the native species!
-You haven’t forgotten!
Even if I assimilated into the surroundings—
to those who could sense my ‘soul’,
it didn’t matter much.
FWOOSH!
“Ah.”
Cold gathered in the giants’ hands—
and spears of ice, unimaginably huge, took shape.
It reminded me of the water spear the [Pope of the Deep Ones] once wielded.
Dozens of those massive spears...
-We will never forgive you!
“......Damn it.”
CRUNCH!
pierced my body.
*****
Giant spears of ice.
With [Rampage]’s side effects leaving me unable to move, I couldn’t dodge them.
CRUNCH!
A massive spear pierced through my abdomen—
and I felt my body lift, floating into the air while impaled on it.
“SKREEEEEEE!!!”
Agonizing pain swallowed my mind,
and time stretched into something like eternity.
But...
even in pain so intense I felt like I’d pass out, my body floating in midair—
TREMBLE...
‘One last...!’
I forced my trembling hand to move,
and grabbed the handgun.
‘One...!’
BANG....
The gun flashed—
and that was the end.
BAAANG!
My body, still impaled, began to fly through the sky—
and the handgun in my hand slipped free, unable to withstand the recoil through the pain.
‘Hah...!’
Watching the handgun fly off into the air, I thought—
‘So this is what it felt like for Captain Jo Jun.’
KWAANG!
“......!”
“Something’s flying over here!”
Soon—
I felt the spear—still lodged through me after I’d flown for a while—
slam into something.
“What... what is it? Is there a person?”
“Th-there’s so much blood—.”
A few people ran over
and lowered my body from the ground, still skewered into a huge tree.
“Who is it?”
“His body’s transparent—we can’t tell who it is... is it some kind of curse?”
“F-first, he looks human, so get him to the medics!”
As I was loaded onto a stretcher and dragged to the rear,
I stared up at the sky.
‘The Black Wall.’
So high and enormous that I could see it even lying down—
a wall of heat.
Staring at that wall,
I muttered inside.
‘[Status Window].’
Multiple windows appeared before my eyes.
‘That last shot definitely hit.’
Clinging to consciousness that felt like it might go out at any moment,
I looked at the translucent windows floating before me.
‘With this....’
Cough.
“I just hope we bought enough time....”
