The moment the monsters’ attack began.
A massive wall of ice that blocked that attack.
{......Indeed.}
And.
While that wall held the attack back—
Srrrk.......
Using the surrounding shadows as exits,
existences of many different forms revealed themselves.
And.
KWAJIIIK!
-KWORRREEEEEEEK!!!
{They are the Legion Commander’s...... guardians.}
The monsters that emerged from the shadows,
and the doctor’s tens of thousands of experimental subjects,
collided.
“Master! Master!”
“That bug thing is still saying the right thing, though?”
“Hehe. I see.”
At those words.
There were beings who smiled pleasantly.
[Elite Vampire Knight]
[Im Naeun]
“Protecting Master is our role, as nobles!”
[Elite Vampire Knight]
[Im Naehun]
“It’s our job, not those humans who ran away!”
As the twin siblings with inhuman beauty shouted cheerfully—
“Hehe...... well, don’t make such a fuss.”
Between them.
The owner of these retainers, a noble count of the night.
“There’s no need to be that happy just for saying what’s obvious, is there?”
“Ah, right!”
It was Ariella.
It was obvious.
But it wasn’t like I had charged at that thing without thinking, either.
Separate from wanting to be honest with it—
I can handle this...... to some extent.
That calculation, too,
had been laid underneath.
And.
The reason was that thing right there.
[Night Viscount, Ariella Vimanaro Karshtein]
Ariella.
And the retainers she led.
In the past...... it wasn’t at this level.
Originally.
I limited the number of Ariella’s retainers.
When she first entered under me as a retainer, Ariella could only make retainers of a similar form to herself......
that is, humanoid lifeforms.
And humanoid vampires were existences that sustained their lives and grew their power by consuming the blood of humanoid species.
If she made too many retainers.
It would end with a situation where even innocent humans had to be harmed to supply blood for them.
Since I judged that an unmanageable number of retainers would become a penalty problem anyway, I restricted the number.
But.......
Not anymore.
Because.
I released her into that demon realm in Gyeonggi.
And left her there so she could freely grow stronger.
As a result.
She achieved more growth than expected......
And when I added a bit of assistance on top of that—
[Night Viscount, Ariella Vimanaro Karshtein]
[Titles]
[Viscount of the Karshtein Bloodline]
[Steel Legion’s Royal Guard Captain]
Her rank was still viscount.
But—
[Deputy Count of the Bloodline]
[Lord of the Veil]
On top of that.
A few more titles were added.
[Deputy Count of the Bloodline]
[As a regent and prime minister who can exercise all authority of the county as the count’s proxy in emergencies.]
[In the count’s absence, you are effectively no different from the count, and you are granted the title of ‘Lord’ permitted to the lowest seat of a count.]
I didn’t really know.
But according to what she herself said—
—I simply have not yet performed the proper succession ceremony...... I am no different from a count.
The power she held.
Was, in practice, no different from a count’s level.
And the right created by that power was—
[Lord of the Veil]
[A title of lord permitted only to the bloodline’s great nobles.]
[Within the Shadow Veil, the shadow of a colossal fortress that once stood upon that land is her territory.]
[As a lord possessing territory, restrictions on forming private troops are lifted.]
This.
There was still a limit to the number of retainers she could handle, based on her power—
but that was only a numerical limit.
Right now, she could.
Make any species her retainer.
The number of humanoid retainers is still restricted, but.......
With restrictions on taking in retainers removed—
most of the retainers she handled were made up of non-humans of other species.
And their number, and their quality.
Were on an entirely different level than before.
[White Mane Losperos]
[Torn Wing Kelembor]
[Shining Scale Kurdan]
[Black Claw Inaron]
At the head of them.
Were the four great great monsters that had ruled that demon realm.
[They were once great monsters who possessed tremendous power and reigned over their territories, but at death’s door they surrendered to noble blood with powerful vitality and changed into retainers.]
[In exchange for never being able to walk beneath the sun again, they gained mana and regeneration, and supernatural abilities even stronger than in life.]
Perhaps.
A force that could be called the greatest gain among everything we obtained in that Gyeonggi demon realm.
“Whitey, knock that building down!”
KWAAAAAANG!!!
A monster shaped like a gigantic lion.
Collapsed a building, slaughtering all the monsters in that area.
“Sparkly! Roll!”
A massive snake with beautifully shining scales.
Thrashed among the monsters.
Four great great monsters made up of boss-grade monsters, each one radiating blue mana.
And commanding them.
The ‘Elite Vampire Knights’—with power greater than even our unit’s squad leaders.
They were.
Quite literally slaughtering the monsters that filled Gangnam.
No wonder it feels absurd.
Not long ago.
When Jeong Sua and the others volunteered to be the escort team, Ariella showed dissatisfaction and anxiety about having her role taken away.
With Ariella’s current strength.......
When I heard that, a laugh slipped out.
Because.
No matter how capable Jeong Sua and the others were—
Compared to every awakened person in the Legion...... they don’t fall behind.
For someone with that kind of overwhelming strength to be on edge.
It was too ridiculous.
And.
It wasn’t just Ariella and her forces.
“Ah! Master’s master!”
While Ariella and her retainers fought the monsters.
A gigantic monster came toward me.
[Obese Fusion]
Among all the monsters filling Gangnam, it looked especially huge and strong.
As Ariella’s retainers stepped to the front lines to push back the monsters that had rushed in.
It exploited the opening and approached me.
“It’s fine that you’re excited, but.......”
And.
The one ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) who stopped it.
“You seem to have forgotten the most important mission, Viscount.”
A black knight whose mere presence made your whole body feel like it might freeze.
[Curse of Weakness]
When the knight reached a hand toward the monster.
The momentum of the monster that had been charging at me at terrifying speed weakened sharply.
Pshaaak.......
Then, as the knight extended a hand toward it—
the monster’s body froze cold.
The knight approached the frozen monster.
KWAJIK.
And punched that massive body.
The frozen body shattered miserably, scattering into the surroundings.
“In the first place. Wasn’t it me who protected Master during the very first assault as well?”
“......Tsk.”
“I don’t quite understand why you’re acting so triumphant, Viscount.”
The noble who commanded that powerful army.
And the one who could casually scold Ariella like that.
[Awakened: Mountain]
[An existence that cast aside its original name and chose to be born anew.]
One of the greatest gains.
We brought back from Gyeonggi.
A dark knight in black armor, exuding cold.
Swinging an enormous greatsword as if it were nothing.
Wielding chill and curses that seemed capable of freezing even souls.
He’s a little different from Ariella.
He was lodged within my shadow.
But strictly speaking, he wasn’t my retainer.
Someone I subdued through the power of cooking.
To be honest.
I carried a heavy discomfort about the act of subduing someone through the power of cooking.
Lieutenant General Kim Hyeonseok—the first victim—was the prime example.
Even if he acknowledged what I did.
It didn’t change the fact that it was an enormous wrongdoing.
So.
As a rule, I used that power only on criminals......
But.
When I used it on that bastard, I didn’t feel even a twinge of conscience.
After subduing him with the power of cooking,
and hearing the details,
I was sure.
If you ask whether he’s human or trash, he’s closer to trash.
No tragic backstory.
No “forced to twist because I had to survive.”
Nothing like that.
He had been properly twisted from the start—an archetypal villain.
His strength drew followers.
He led them and built a huge faction......
But even that faction was something he could discard at any time for his own sake.
I don’t even know how a bastard like that could reign as a regional leader, but.......
In fact.
I already knew the answer to that question.
KWAAAAANG!
With a slash of his blade.
Dozens of the doctor’s powerful fusion monsters were swept away at once.
That bastard.
Even if his character was closer to trash than to human—
“Weak trash......!”
“.......”
Even so.
His [Talent for Violence] was...... truly overwhelming.
I’ve never seen someone with violence talent like that...... except Gwangil.
After completely breaking his mind into submission,
I once brought him to our unit’s martial arts instructors.
“So wasteful.”
Back then.
Seohwan, who was serving as an instructor, said—
“A talent that might show up once in tens of millions...... and it ends up in a man with a soul like this.”
It might be an obvious thing.
If Corporal Gwangil (Jeon Gwangil) was the greatest warrior in Gangwon.
Then that bastard was the greatest warrior in Gyeonggi.
Even if Gangwon’s awakened people had a higher overall average thanks to the Legion’s support—
Gyeonggi...... was the region where the most people had lived in the Republic of Korea.
Among all those people...... violence that shone alone.
Separate from his character.
His combat ability was something I could never belittle.
When I first met him.
Even compared to Corporal Gwangil (Jeon Gwangil), who as an awakened person was level 29, he was a strong one who didn’t fall far behind.
And if you considered that Gwangil was armed with madness and martial arts—
power ordinary awakened people couldn’t possess......
Then it was abnormal martial force.
And even then—
That’s only if you consider him as an awakened person.
At least.
As an awakened person, he was the “just insanely strong awakened” type.
But not anymore.
[Species - Human(?), Belsnickel(?)]
He was, in a way, similar to me.
A precarious human.
And a precarious ‘Belsnickel.’
That bastard’s power.
Came from the winter giants that had appeared in Gyeonggi.
And now.
Those monsters that had occupied Gyeonggi were all gone, but—
That isn’t the source.
The source of that power.
The king they served was still alive.
More precisely.
“Tsk.......”
Under my feet.
Ariella’s territory.
Inside the Shadow Veil.
“You’re the one who turned my precious territory into a mess...... and you have the nerve to act like that!”
“Yeah, yeah!”
The king of ‘Belsnickel’ that I barely managed to grab,
and somehow throw under my feet.
“I was so happy thinking a cool fortress finally appeared......!”
“You made 30% of it unusable land!”
Because I shoved that thing in there in a hurry.
Thirty percent of Ariella’s territory, [Shadow Veil], froze solid.
Even now, I could still hear Ariella’s screeching voice when she found out later.
And I, too.
When I first learned that, I worried something might happen, but—
{That cold thing?}
If I could call it fortunate.
According to Mirinae.
{It seems to have no interest in you at all.}
Even though it had been thrown into that narrow patch of land under my feet.
As if it had no interest in anything else.
It just lay there.
Sleeping.
Which meant.
That thing wasn’t harboring any particular malice.
And yet, merely by existing, it was an existence capable of freezing thirty percent of Ariella’s territory—despite Ariella having power on a count’s level.
But that wasn’t only bad news.
“These disgusting monster bastards, how dare you.”
The ‘king of Belsnickel’ didn’t merely have no interest in other existences—
Mountain stole that overflowing power.
“This unique great overlord dares to oppose me......!”
The twenty great overlords that served it.
Even though power on par with them was being ‘stolen’ at will—
it didn’t care at all.
PAAAANG!!!
And.
This is where it mattered.
The Chair I met in Gyeonggi...... was definitely strong.
Back then, he was merely borrowing power from Belsnickel’s overlords.
But now, it was different.
SAAAACK!!!
A sight where dozens of meters in every direction froze solid with a single flick of his hand.
Because he monopolized the power flowing out of the king alone.
Right now, that bastard’s strength matched the overlords who had once lent him power.
And it wasn’t only that.
“It’s certainly a waste...... but it might not be bad.”
“Sister?”
“Even if he was born evil, if he’s used for the right thing, isn’t that enough?”
Even as an awakened person, he possessed overwhelming strength.
And when he fought me.
“That was the first time I’d ever seen movement that beautiful! What was it? Did you create it?”
He couldn’t stop marveling.
At my movement.
And now.
[Martial Art]
[Frost-Soaring White Horse Sword S-]
That bastard.
Was showing movement even better than what I had shown him.
......Right now, he was.
Stronger than the Chair I’d met in Gyeonggi.
......He and I are similar in quite a few ways, in terms of capability.
[Class: Cursed Dark Knight Lv.36]
Half human, receiving the system’s support.
[Species – Human(?), Belsnickel(?)]
Half monster.
Borrowing alien power.
[Martial Art - Frost-Soaring White Horse Sword]
Using powerful techniques learned.
From outstanding masters.
But.
There was one biggest difference.
I’m a chef. Not a combat class.
Meanwhile.
That bastard is a combat class.
And.
Only after watching him fight.
I realized.
“I lost 30% of my territory?”
“Huh?”
“So what?”
Someone with growth similar to mine.
If that someone was specialized in combat rather than cooking......
“Isn’t it enough for Master’s subordinate to fight well.”
KWAAAAAANG!
“I don’t listen to someone weaker than me.”
“Wow...... Master’s master! Look at that trash talk!”
“J-Just because you’re a little strong!”
They became.
An absurdly powerful existence.
