Chapter 731: Feeding Someone Enough to Live

“To the prince.......”

The goblin that had suddenly appeared, blocked my path, and protected me.

It swung its knife and said.

“Deliver...... the corpses...... to the prince.”

An order that came out in the middle of an urgent situation.

The content was so out of nowhere that I could not even tell what reason it had come from, but.

'That goblin...... has not lied even once until now.'

There had been someone similar in the past.

Even so, I had doubted that person, and as a result, I had to go through an unnecessary battle.

Then here.......

'I have no choice but to trust it.'

[Assistant Chef]

PAK!

An Assistant Chef flew toward me at tremendous speed.

Several monsters blocked its path, but.

[Mudhorn’s Charge]

BOOM!

The Assistant Chef pierced through those monsters and rushed toward me.

Then the handle part stabbed into the shoulder of my combat uniform.

[Soribido]

A knife among the Assistant Chefs that possessed a skill.

My movement speed had been slowed by that command word, but the Assistant Chef had not.

To begin with, the essence of the Assistant Chefs was kitchen knives.

They were not even beings capable of hearing anything, so they were free from the command word.

At that tremendous speed, the Assistant Chef moved me.

And before long.

Tap.

I succeeded in reaching the prince’s side in an instant.

{.......}

Was the wound [N O V E L I G H T] more serious than it looked?

The prince’s energy, seen up close, was flickering uneasily as if it might go out at any moment.

Even in that unstable state, it was still hiding its form with that energy.

'It does feel a little irritating that it’s hiding its appearance even in the middle of this.'

Well, it did not matter.

The corpses of zombies I had burst apart with [Air Dish] were scattered all around.

I picked up one of those corpses and brought it right in front of the prince.

“Here.”

{.......}

But.

Even after seeing that corpse, the prince showed no reaction.

“What are you doing? I brought it like that chancellor told me to.”

{.......}

“......Can you even hear me?”

Even while saying that.

I looked behind me out of the corner of my eye.

The goblin was fighting the five zombies in my place.

It was struggling with everything it had, but.

{It has grown weaker?}

Even so.

Against the five zombies, it could only be at a disadvantage.

{Negative.}

{We have become stronger than the Sword Demon. That is all.}

They exchanged thoughts among themselves while fighting the chancellor.

{The one who was foremost among us.}

{The one who stood in a position we could not catch has been caught.}

{The end of following the traitor.}

{Had that not been the case, the one who would have remained at the end among us would have been the Sword Demon.}

Watching that, I gritted my teeth and shouted.

“I don’t know what you’re hesitating about, but decide quickly!”

{.......}

“That chancellor won’t last long either. That thing is your subordinate!”

At those words of mine.

{Chancellor.......}

The thing that had been hesitating over something.

Finally opened its mouth.

{Open the corpse’s chest.}

“What?”

{Take out the main body...... our kin.}

There was no time to think about anything further.

SHNK!

As it said.

I cut open the corpse’s chest and pulled out the zombie’s main body inside it.

FLAPFLAPFLAPFLAP!

It was a zombie whose whole body had mostly been ground away by the wide-area destruction of [Air Dish], but.

It seemed the parasite, the main body, was still alive.

The thing’s tentacles, whether they were legs or nerves, resisted as they were torn out.

I brought it in front of the prince.

Then.

Sssrk......

From the worm’s body.

Some kind of energy began to flow out.

It seemed to be trying to resist in its own way, but.

The energy could not overcome some kind of pulling force and was being drawn out.

Looking at that energy, I thought.

'......This.'

This was the first time I had seen this kind of energy flowing out from a zombie’s body.

But at the same time.......

I felt something strangely familiar from that energy.

'No, that’s not it.'

It was not familiarity.

This was.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Resentment, Grief, Malice]

[It is resentment, grief, and malice.]

Disgust.

Only then did I realize it.

I had seen this energy once in the past.

Back then, I had not even known its name, but.

I had definitely seen it and felt it.

Yes.

An energy I had already seen once in the past.

'Ariella.......'

Ariella, whom I had encountered in that bunker in Gangwon Province.

When I bound her to me.

The energy that had been suppressing her brain before it was forcibly evicted by the System’s power.

Yes.

“That malice......!”

The energy that had been binding Ariella to the military base.

It was exactly that energy.

***

Ariella.......

No, it was not only Ariella.

The lizards that had invaded our unit, the white spider in the Ammunition Battalion, the eyeball monster in the Tank Battalion.

And besides them...... the countless monsters that had occupied the military base.

The energy that had controlled their minds.

I could not understand why that malice was flowing out here.

But.

Grit......

I opened my eyes wide.

And stared at it while consumed by rage.

This was the very thing.

The greatest culprit that had driven humanity to ruin.

Humanity before the ruin had not been that weak.

No matter how powerful a wave of ruin came crashing in, there had been enough strength to resist it.

The System prepared by the old god to oppose ruin.

And the civilization and technology humanity had built up over a long time.

If those two things had combined.

The world would surely have flowed in an entirely different direction.

If the military’s power had resisted the initial ruin.

And if, in the long term, the fighting power of the awakened had been raised to resist even stronger ruin.

Perhaps we might have defeated those monsters while maintaining the civilization from before the ruin as it was.

After that, well.

Maybe we might have succeeded in stopping this ruin to the extent that a special profession made up of awakened people who specialized in hunting powerful monsters that occasionally appeared would have emerged.

'We couldn’t do that.'

That kind of ending certainly must have existed too.

But our world could not move in that direction.

It had to twist and charge straight toward ruin.

Because powerful enemies of a level that should have been sealed by the System.

Had occupied the military bases, humanity’s armed force.

The energy controlling the minds of those monsters.

That was the very energy in front of me right now.

And.

While I stared at it, filled with rage.......

Sssrk......

That energy headed toward the prince.

In response, the ashen-gray energy surrounding the prince.

Something protruded from inside that energy.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Parasite’s Absorptive Membrane]

[An organ designed to efficiently absorb a specific energy source.]

'......!'

What appeared from there was a small piece of skin tissue.

It was the organ I had seen with Howard.

Back then too.

It had been an organ I had wondered about, because they had said they could not eat anything in other worlds, so why did they possess an organ like this?

And.

Watching that organ protrude.

I realized what Howard had been trying to tell me earlier, right before we fled.

'This is it.'

The prince had certainly not lied.

The power those zombies used as an energy source.

It was not the kind of thing that could be obtained in another world.

That was why their average lifespan had no choice but to be short.

But there was just one.

There was a way to obtain that energy even in this world.

'This energy...... is the power those zombies use as their energy source.'

Because all those zombies.

Possessed that energy.

The reason the zombies I had thought I would be able to deal with a moment ago had suddenly grown stronger.

And why those zombies had an organ like this attached to them.

I could now be certain of the reason.

'Kin-devouring.'

This.

Was an organ that existed so kin could eat kin.

'......Even if one of them extends its lifespan through kin-devouring, the average lifespan has no choice but to drop by the amount of the individuals that die that early.'

Yes.

There had certainly been no lie in the prince’s words.

But this was.

'There were only no lies......!'

It.

Had been hiding this method from me.

Grit—

Rage surged up inside me.

Rage toward this power itself.

And disgust toward the very fact that an organ predicated on kin-devouring existed.

Extreme disgust filled my eyes.

When was the last time I had felt this much rage and disgust?

Sssrk—

And that energy flowed into the prince.

As I watched that sight with a frown—

{......As expected.}

Sssrk.

{I cannot do this.}

“......What?”

That absorption organ went back inside the prince’s body.

***

The energy that had protruded from the zombie’s body.

The organ that had appeared as if to absorb that energy.

The organ went back inside.

I had been erupting with rage as I looked at that energy, but.

At the prince’s reaction, I had no choice but to set that rage aside and speak.

“What do you mean, you can’t?”

This was clearly the energy they used as food.

Just from the fact that those five zombies had grown stronger, it was obvious.

By absorbing this, the prince would also become stronger.

But this thing refused it.

{With your abilities, you should be able to escape while the chancellor buys time.}

“......?”

{Run. The hostages you were looking for have all already been rescued, so there should be nothing left for you to cling to in this place.}

At those words from the thing.

I could only frown.

The words telling me to run were not a problem in and of themselves.

“That chancellor came here to save you.”

That goblin was an incredible master.

The five zombies, before being strengthened just now, had also been strong.

But looking at them as individual entities, none of them was stronger than the chancellor.

And a being with that much ability.

For some reason, was offering loyalty to this prince.

A pure loyalty that raised no questions at all.

“You telling me to run means you’re telling me to abandon that thing.”

I might be able to escape.

But that chancellor, already fighting those five, probably could not.

“Are you saying you’ll ignore the loyalty that chancellor has offered you after all this?”

I had already seen people who betrayed those who served them.

There had been more than one or two times when I had nearly retched while watching them.

I wondered if this thing called a prince was also that kind of type, but.

{Ignore? No.}

“......Then what is it?”

{This decision I make now...... is exactly why the chancellor follows me.}

The prince spoke proudly from beyond the wavering energy.

{If I had not chosen this path, the chancellor would not follow me.}

“......?”

{Because I chose this path, the chancellor will gladly follow that path.}

Words that were impossible to understand.

“The end of that path will be death.”

{You say strange things.}

It might have been my imagination.

But I had the feeling the prince gave a bitter smile.

{Did you see any of the other kin you fought fear death?}

“......That.”

I had not.

Those zombies had charged at me without a single trace of hesitation even while knowing they would die.

It was not a sight that could be shown if they had even the slightest instinct for life.

{We have neither fear nor reluctance toward death. So...... even if the result of my choice is death, that is neither betrayal nor anything else.}

“.......”

{There are things between us that you do not know. If anything, the ones I feel sorry toward are—}

The prince’s wavering gaze inside the energy turned toward me.

{Not the chancellor, but you people.}

“......?”

I could not help but find those words a little strange.

My deal with the prince had not even been formed yet.

What did it have to feel sorry to me about?

If I had to name something, the only thing that came to mind was making me waste time, but.......

'You people?'

Not me personally.

I had no guess as to what it could have done to feel sorry toward the “you people” it referred to.

{Go now.}

At those words.

I frowned and thought.

As the prince said.

There was nothing left in this city for me to cling to.

Even if I left now, there was absolutely nothing I would lose.

“If that was what I was going to do.”

But.......

I frowned and said.

“I wouldn’t have come in the first place, you bastard.”

{......?}

Even so.

I refused to run and opened my mouth.

The reason was...... not anything that grand.

'You’re telling me to come all the way here, waste my time, and go back?'

That, how should I put it.

Isn’t that a little annoying?

“I more or less understand the situation. The reason that chancellor tried to deliver corpses to you is because you needed this energy, right?”

{.......}

“I don’t know why you aren’t answering, but this must be your energy source.”

I had already had a lot of questions.

But after seeing that energy just now, I had even more.

I wanted to resolve those questions.

But.

I turned my head and looked at the zombies that had attacked the city.

'There’s no way I can have a conversation with those bastards.'

The side I could at least talk to was this one.

And.

More than anything, the reason I did not run was.......

Nothing else.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

If things were as I expected.

“Keeping one of you fed isn’t difficult.”

Solving the problem here.......

Might be far easier than expected.

After all.

My job was chef.

And what I was best at was exactly.

[Health Food]

[Force-Feeding]

Keeping someone.

Fed enough to live.