The Military Chef of a Ruined World

BAAAAAANG.......

The sudden crack of a gunshot echoed through the battlefield.

And because of that sniper shot—

Thud.

The Pope’s charging body collapsed onto the ground.

The violent battle from mere moments ago suddenly felt like a lie as silence fell in an instant.

“......”

The others stared blankly at the sight.

And even after several seconds passed—

The body lying on the floor showed no sign of rising.

“......Did.”

Someone muttered quietly as they stared at him.

“Did we...... do it?”

***

Clack.

“Whew......”

The man holding the gigantic anti-materiel rifle pulled the bolt back with a sigh.

Several shell casings rolled across the ground around him.

‘Barely succeeded.’

And then—

His gaze shifted past those shell casings toward something lying near the Pope.

The pair of daggers the man had been wielding.

Weapons that appeared to have been forged by the Church itself.

‘......I concealed my presence as much as possible.’

The foundation of a sniper was remaining unnoticed by the enemy.

Seo Suhyeok had already been an exceptional marksman to begin with.

But as he leveled up, he had pushed himself to the absolute limit as a sniper.

Even during that battle—

Even while his allies had repeatedly been exposed to danger—

He never once revealed himself.

Amid that fierce combat—

He gritted his teeth and concealed his presence until the Pope completely forgot he even existed.

‘Make it look like Corporal Jeon Gwangil is the main threat...... force him into that misunderstanding.’

And then—

The moment the Pope finally excluded him from consideration and made a reckless move—

‘The real threat is me.’

He seized that perfect instant—

And fired.

But—

Corporal Seo Suhyeok felt cold sweat running down his back.

The two daggers lying on the ground.

Those daggers—

‘He noticed.......’

Had massive holes punched through them.

‘He actually tried to block it!’

Shin Youngjun’s movement had completely excluded him from consideration.

It had been a shot fired with absolute certainty.

And yet—

When Shin twisted his body in midair to intercept the attack, Seo Suhyeok had genuinely felt chills crawl down his spine.

Thankfully—

“......If it had only been one shot, I definitely would’ve failed.”

When sniping his Legion Commander—

He had fired multiple shots in near-perfect simultaneity.

Marksman awakened.

......That was the broad classification they used, but naturally, there were multiple branches even within that category.

The most common were riflemen specializing in assault rifles, others combined grenade launchers with firearm combat, and some sacrificed mobility entirely to wield overwhelming firepower as machine gunners.

Among them—

Corporal Seo Suhyeok had chosen the sniper path as his specialty.

The extraordinary senses he had obtained thanks to Sergeant Shin Youngjun—

He believed becoming a sniper was the most efficient way to make use of those senses.

Unlike other soldiers, he did not overwhelm enemies with barrages of bullets.

A sniper removed the enemy’s key force through a single, overwhelmingly powerful shot.

......Or at least, that was what he used to think.

‘My thinking changed a bit.’

While walking that path—

He had devised another method.

‘A sniper doesn’t necessarily have to fight with single shots.’

That did not mean reducing firepower or changing weapons.

He still wielded an anti-materiel rifle nearly the size of a person.

But now—

Without sacrificing a sniper’s accuracy, he had mastered the technique of firing that rifle in rapid succession.

Something close to impossible.

Yet greedily, he had accomplished all of it.

An enormous barrage of bullets—

Fired into the exact same location with virtually no gap between them.

Those dozens of rounds struck precisely the same point, punching holes through the Pope’s daggers.

And eventually—

The shots pierced his body.

“Are you sure he’ll really be alright? Considering the Commander’s regeneration......”

“That part should be fine.”

Corporal Seo Suhyeok rose to his feet as he answered.

“We had advice from the medic.”

Sergeant Shin Youngjun lay collapsed on the ground.

Part of that body—

More specifically, the upper torso that had been blasted open by Seo Suhyeok’s massive bullet—

Creeeak.......

[Cold-Blooded Marksman]

The wound—

Had frozen solid under overwhelming cold.

One of the reasons Corporal Seo Suhyeok had become the key figure in taking down Sergeant Shin Youngjun.

‘The Commander’s regeneration comes from that blood.’

Which also meant—

‘If we can stop the blood flow, that regeneration can be severely suppressed as well.’

The blood rushing to repair the wound had frozen from the cold contained within Seo Suhyeok’s bullets.

Chilled blood.

A technique specialized in suppressing the enemy’s regeneration to the absolute limit.

“Coming from the one who studied Sergeant Shin’s body more thoroughly than anyone and modified it into what it is now...... I suppose we can trust it.”

His body had been modified far too heavily.

He would not die from something like this—

But suddenly recovering and resuming combat should be impossible.

“No......!”

An old man’s voice echoed from far away.

The Cardinal, who had been trying to break through the beastkin to assist the Legion Commander, cried out in despair.

The beastkin themselves also checked the situation and stared in shock.

‘Even accounting for the fact they hadn’t prepared specifically for those people.......’

When they themselves had fought that man—

He had also faced them without preparation.

And yet they had still lost to him.

Even though the number had been the same: five.

‘No...... the number of people truly participating in the battle was actually smaller than ours.’

They had planned strategies and prepared counters to his combat methods, yes—

But it still felt utterly unbelievable.

‘Individually, they may not surpass us.’

But—

The power of awakened was never determined solely by individual strength.

‘Those five...... may actually be stronger than us.’

And—

Those same five Legion members looked toward the beastkin and thought the same thing.

‘There’s a limit to how long they can hold them back.’

If the beastkin line broke and the believers managed to push through—

The Pope they had only barely succeeded in subduing might recover in the middle of the battle.

“We need to hurry.”

Filled with tension, the five approached their Legion Commander.

Somehow, they had succeeded in bringing him down.

Defeating such a monstrous enemy was an unbelievable achievement in itself.

But—

“......The real problem starts now.”

If their objective had simply been to kill the Pope, there would have been no issue.

However—

That Pope had originally been their Legion Commander.

Naturally, their mission objective was entirely different.

‘We need to return the Commander to normal.’

Their Commander had become the enemy because of some unknown force.

And obviously—

Simply knocking him down would not suddenly restore his mind and return him to normal.

Since the cause itself remained unknown—

There was no guarantee they even possessed a method to bring him back.

The only option available to them was practically a gamble.

‘Even so, we have no choice but to try.’

With that thought—

They approached the Pope’s body.

Twitch.

But then—

At that exact moment.

Twitch.......

“......!”

The body began moving.

“Everyone, stay calm!”

“His injuries are severe anyway, so he shouldn’t pose much of a threat! Just stay alert in case he pulls out any cooking while we approach!”

They continued advancing as they spoke.

Their Commander’s elemental cooking had primarily used water—

And occasionally lightning.

The odds of him being capable of controlling ice, or heat strong enough to melt that ice, were low.

The Commander had no easy method of melting the frozen wound suppressing his regeneration.

And even if he did—

His most terrifying ability was his cooking.

As long as they remained vigilant whenever he tried to produce a dish, they could handle it.

Tremble.......

......However.

There was one thing they had misunderstood.

“System.......”

The one who had fought as a chef—

Had been their Legion Commander.

And—

The Emperor of the Church was slightly different from that Commander.

“Please lend me...... your power.”

Barely clinging to life from his devastating injuries—

The Pope slowly reached a trembling hand toward his waist.

What rested there was not one of his dishes—

But instead—

[Legatus Dagger]

A ceremonial-looking dagger.

Gripping the dagger tightly, the Pope whispered softly.

“I humbly borrow it.”

And then—

FWAAAAAAASH!!!

From the dagger—

An unknown crimson coal-tar substance erupted outward.

***

FWAAAAASH!!!

“......What!”

Red coal-tar burst from the dagger.

The force of it made the approaching Legion members step back instinctively.

‘What the......!?’

An unknown liquid flowed outward, glistening grotesquely as the crimson mass began wrapping itself around the Pope’s body.

Before coming here—

The Legion members had received explanations about their Commander from the medic and the Queen.

They even knew, at least roughly, about the events and powers he had acquired in China.

But—

None of those explanations had included a power like this.

[Legatus Dagger]

Thinking about it carefully, that was only natural.

This dagger had not been obtained by their Commander—

But by the Pope.

[A relic imbued with sacred power. A holy relic.]

A symbol of the System worshiped by the Emperor of the Church.

“......That is.”

The others stared at the crimson coal-tar.

The commander leading the believers while fighting the beastkin—

The Cardinal lowered even the weapon in his hand as he stared blankly at it.

“......Flesh.”

The others might not recognize it.

But he alone knew exactly what that crimson coal-tar truly was.

“Ahh, O Great System.”

Because—

He had seen it before.

“The Great System has bestowed Its flesh upon our Pope......!”

Craaaack.......

The coal-tar erupting from the dagger—

No.

Chunks of someone’s flesh, drenched in blood, wrapped themselves around the Pope protectively.

‘......Warm.’

And within that cocoon—

The Pope felt warmth and comfort as he thought.

[The meaning contained within this dagger granted as a reward for profound faith is that of the highest-ranking proxy.]

[This dagger proves that its wielder is a ruler entrusted with divine authority.]

What appeared before his eyes—

Was the holy relic bestowed upon him by the System.

An artifact said to contain overwhelming power even compared to the other holy relics granted to the Church.

‘A ruler entrusted with divine authority.’

When he had first heard that explanation—

He had not understood what those words truly meant.

Most holy relics bestowed by the System were like that.

Objects whose effects could not easily be inferred from their names alone.

‘......The System’s power.’

But—

Now that he had used it himself, he understood.

Craaaaaack.......

Long ago—

A being that had reached death before human history itself had even begun.

A body so incomprehensibly great that it had never decayed despite the passage of endless ages.

‘The authority to use that flesh.’

Craaaaack.......

Fragments of that body split apart—

Then gathered together like clay, taking shape.

[Agnis Dagger]

[The meaning contained within this dagger is sacred heat.]

Fwoooosh—

A gigantic blaze engulfed the Pope’s body.

An overwhelming heat intense enough to melt the person inside alive.

And yet—

Those sacred flames did not inflict even the slightest injury upon the great god’s proxy.

“......Good lord.”

When the flames finally subsided—

What emerged was—

A body whose frozen wounds had completely melted away.

A body whose blood had fully regenerated the massive holes torn through it.

And beyond even that—

“What in the world...... have you gone through, Sergeant Shin......?”

The Pope stood there cloaked in grotesque masses of flesh.

A horrifying figure.