Chapter 740: Look at the Sky

A human presence could be felt from far away.

Most of the humans who had survived in this land still tried to survive by hiding, and it was rare for them to actively move toward somewhere.

And the destination was, by anyone’s standards, clearly this place.

It seemed to be a city ordinary humans would think was overflowing with monsters and never head toward.

Which meant.

'Those humans... may be the Legion’s compatriots.'

The prince went out to meet them.

Because of too much wariness, it had nearly ruined things.

So.

This time, it would soften that wariness a little more.

And be a little more friendly.

***

“Can’t we travel on that bird this time?”

{Our compatriots, few. Work... much.}

After leaving the city, we began moving south.

At first, we had been in a somewhat hostile relationship.

But since it was definitely one of the ones following that prince, I could speak to it a little more comfortably.

“I heard you were pretty famous among those zombies?”

{Fa, mous?}

“Am I wrong? I heard you were one of the strongest among the zombies.”

{Truth, that is. But... meaningless. Strong, though one may be, merely strong individual... acts for purpose. No different...}

The more we talked, the more puzzled I became.

'Except for the fact that it follows that prince... it doesn’t seem all that different from the other zombies.'

Why had a creature like this betrayed its own kind and followed the prince?

No.

Now that I thought about it, there was not no difference.

'This one... felt sadness when it looked at the zombies that had not evolved yet.'

At the time, I had thought it might have been my imagination.

But after hearing the prince’s story, it seemed I had not felt it wrong after all.

The prince had said it felt the emotion of wanting to live because it had come into contact with the brain of a living human.

But the other zombies also awakened the brain’s functions to a certain extent in order to use the body.

'I don’t think this one’s swordsmanship belongs to that goblin host.'

Swordsmanship of that level could not possibly come from muscle memory ingrained into the body.

Parasites that sought evolution in many different directions.

Among them, perhaps this one’s direction of evolution had been to use that brain a little more.

To the point where, after bringing it a little too much to life, it could feel more emotions than its other kin.

'Well, that’s good for us.'

If this one had not been there during the fight in that city, the result might have been different.

The fact that a creature like this was under the command of the prince who wanted to be with us was a good thing in itself, regardless of the cause.

......By the way.

'Hm.'

As we were leaving the city.

Something suddenly began to bother me.

'I feel like I forgot something.'

A thought like, was it really right to return like this?

Only.

As I was clutching my head, unable to figure out the source of that uneasiness.

Rustle......

From somewhere.

I began to feel a presence approaching us.

The Legion members sent wary gazes in that direction, but.

“......Master!”

“Ah.”

Once the figures that soon appeared came into view.

That wariness collapsed in an instant.

Naturally.

“Master...... why are you here?”

Because the ones who revealed themselves were Ariella and her retainers.

And the unit members and the unit’s collaborators who had left with her.

And.

'......I forgot to tell them we had decided to return to the Legion.'

Only after seeing them.

I could guess the source of that uneasy feeling.

“Hmm, how should I put it? A lot happened over there too.”

They must have thought we would be staying in the city.

But.

Because things in that city had moved quite busily.

I ended up forgetting that I had to report my situation to them.

“For now, we decided to return to the Legion for a while.”

“To the Legion......?”

“Sorry about that. You went all the way to the city looking for me, didn’t you? I made you take a pointless trip.”

Because of that.

I naturally thought they had gone to that city to look for me.

Since I had made them take a pointless trip, I said that with apologetic feelings.

“No, that was not the case.”

“Hm?”

“You know, don’t you? That I can feel your presence, Master. At first, we began moving toward the city, but as soon as I felt your presence somewhere else, we changed direction.”

According to Ariella.

It seemed they had not returned to the city and wasted a trip, but had headed straight toward me.

Then that was a relief, at least.

It meant I had not made them go through pointless hardship.

If we just returned to the Legion together like this.......

'.......'

That should be...... all there was to it.

And yet, for some reason.

The very moment I learned that she had not stopped by the city.

'Why is this uneasy feeling back again?'

The uneasiness that had seemed to disappear.

Once again came pressing into my head.

“You all.......”

An uneasiness with no basis.

Only a simple instinctive feeling.

And yet, for some reason.

“Why did you come back so urgently?”

That simple intuition.

Was ringing an enormous alarm bell in my head.

“Yes, I was just about to tell you that.”

Ariella and the unit members had left the city with their own purpose.

If it had been for a trivial reason.

There would have been no need to come back this urgently.

“We must not return to the Legion, Commander.”

And.

My prediction......

Unfortunately proved correct.

“Rather, it must be the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

The person who had left the city together with Ariella.

[Demon Hunter] Choi Wonjun stepped forward and spoke.

His face was pale, and cold sweat was running down it.

“I know there are many zombies gathered near the barrier.”

“......?”

“But no matter what, even if we end up suffering great damage.”

When we headed north.

There were two things we wanted to investigate there.

One was about those zombies.

And one other thing besides that.

“We must break through that horde of zombies and move the Legion members north.”

“North?”

“No. The forces under the Legion’s influence...... even if by force, we must mobilize every force that can be mobilized.”

Yes.

His profession was hunter.

“The target we should have focused on from the beginning was wrong. The true threat we should have worried about in this land...... was not those zombies.”

“.......”

“There is a greater threat. The ones who placed those zombies on the surface and hid behind their shadow, acting in secret!”

And.

If there was something we had tried to find out by mobilizing a guy like that.

“Naturally, there was only one answer.”

“What did you see......?”

As expected, demons......

And.

Just as I was about to put that name into my mouth.

FWAAAAASH!

“......!?”

From far away.

A chilling energy exploded.

***

BOOOOOM!!!

The moment that energy exploded.

I felt goosebumps rise all over my body.

'This is.'

I had met many frightening enemies so far.

The power they displayed.

It had not been only once or twice that I felt fear from it.

But.

This...... was fundamentally different from that.

It was not fear felt because that power was enormous, because I thought I could not overcome it.

This was......

'An instinctive...... revulsion.'

The genes of humans...... no.

Some instinct engraved into the souls of all living beings.

Revulsion and fear originating from that.

Stunned by that fact, I turned my head in confusion.

And I had no choice but to be shaken by the scenery unfolding before my eyes.

'That place is.'

BOOOOOM.

An absurdly enormous energy.

An impossibly gigantic pillar, dozens of kilometers in diameter.

Was shooting up toward the sky.

A black, wavering, unbelievably ominous energy.

“......Why.”

If that had been all.

I would not have been this shaken.

But the problem was.

“From there......?”

The location.

The place that pillar was erupting from was none other than.

The city where the king of this land had once lived.

The city we had been in until only a short while ago.

The very city where the prince who had promised cooperation with us had settled.

'There’s no way the prince did this.'

And.

While I was shaken by that fact.

“......Sergeant Shin.”

“Huh?”

I heard the voices of the soldiers calling me.

When I turned my head toward them.

“......Above.”

“Look above.”

As if possessed by something.

I saw the soldiers staring blankly up at the sky with their heads raised.

'Above?'

And.

When I looked there.

“......Uh.”

Pathetically.

I ended up letting out that sound.

Naturally.

Because what was visible there was nothing else.

'Space.'

The sky we knew.

In a world where the lights on the ground had gone out, the stars in the sky had looked even more brilliant than they had in the past.

But now.

CRAAAAACK......

That space.

Was splitting apart.

'The world is......'

That enormous energy shooting up from the ground.

Starting from the point where that energy touched.

'Opening.'

The ceiling of the sky was splitting in half and beginning to open.

And beyond it.

Another space, a little different from the space we knew...... revealed itself.

Yes.

What appeared beyond the ceiling of the sky that had opened was another space.

Another world we did not know.

That energy shooting up from the ground was far too ominous.

It was certain that the one that had called that world here was that ominous energy.

Even so.

'......It’s beautiful.'

The world on the other side was the exact opposite.

A world so overflowing with life force that merely looking at it filled the heart.

A space so beautiful that, even though I was only looking at it from this far away, it stole my heart.

'Ah...... it is so beautiful.'

Yes.

So beautiful that.

'If only I could go there too.'

I wanted to abandon this collapsing world I was in.

'Anything......'

And join that place......

A world like that.

Right before my heart was completely stolen by it.

“......Assis.......”

“Ch-Chef......!”

POP! And.

A single blade sprang out from inside my shadow.

***

Stab!

“Ghk......!”

The kitchen knife that flew out from inside my shadow.

The blade controlled by the [Assistant Chef] that helped me stabbed into its master’s thigh without the slightest hesitation.

“Kahk, kh.......”

I grabbed the handle of that kitchen knife.

And instead of pulling the knife out.

Stab, stab, stab......!

“Ghhhh......!”

I swung it even more violently and hacked up my thigh.

Burning pain surged backward along my spine and soon filled my head.

Only after that.

'I almost got taken!'

The longing for that beauty.

Which had been filling my head.

Began to recede little by little.

'My mind almost got stolen......!'

I could not even remember the last time I had experienced something like this.

After obtaining the title [King Slayer].

I had gained perfect immunity against mental interference from beings whose class was similar to mine or lower.

And yet, just now.

My mind had been exposed defenselessly.

If I had failed to call the [Assistant Chef].

'I would have crossed over......!'

That pull from beyond, drawing in my soul.

Unable to resist it, I would have crossed over to the other side.

And.

The moment my thoughts reached that point.

Feeling chills run through me, I shouted.

“Everyone!”

The muscles of my thigh had been hacked apart, and I could not move it.

But I forced my other leg to move and turned my body around.

“Lower your hea.......”

But.

I had no choice but to swallow the words that were about to continue.

“Sergeant Shin.......”

“Look.......”

“At the sky, that sky.......”

Among all awakened, only those who could be counted among the best belonged to the Legion.

And among that Legion, these were the ones assigned to the important mission of escorting the Commander on this expedition north.

Those people.

“Ah...... we too, to that place.......”

“Let us go together.......”

Were staring blankly at the sky.

And murmuring like that.

[Soul Cooking Mastery]

I could see it.

They were not merely looking at the sky.

'Their souls.'

The world that had appeared on the other side held life far greater and more powerful than our world.

Attraction occurred from the smaller side toward the stronger side.

'They’re being pulled away.'

Unable to resist that powerful attraction.

The souls of the unit members were being dragged to the other side.