Chapter 744: Confrontation

Something had descended through that enormous pillar as a passage.

The moment that something reached the ground.

BOOOOOM......

Starting from that city.

The surrounding environment began to change rapidly.

The soldiers and I watched that sight with frowns on our faces.

“That is.......”

“From that other side earlier.”

The world that had appeared beyond that sky.

The same laws as the ones felt there, completely different from the laws of our world.

Even though we had barely succeeded in pushing that world away.

The existence that had appeared from that side was once again applying those laws to this world.

“Hmph. Even so, it’s a power we’ve already experienced.”

“We just have to break it apart again. Let’s go, Sergeant Shin!”

Despite that intense aura, the soldiers did not seem to lose their will to fight.

Since it was a power we had already succeeded in defeating once, they must have thought bringing it down again would not be difficult.

However.

“......No.”

“Yes?”

“That is a little different.”

There were also soldiers who answered those words with frowns.

The squad-leader-level awakened who had surpassed level 40 through the battle not long ago.

Ariella and the elite vampires under her command, who possessed blue mana.

'The light descending from that world could be pushed back.'

......And me.

'But...... that is different.'

The enormous world that had appeared on the other side.

Its size was certainly tremendous.

If that had crossed over to this side as it was, an incredible disaster would have happened.

However.

Even that gigantic world was not large compared to what had appeared over there.

The aura emitted by that world and the existence over there.

Those two auras were fundamentally the same thing.

And the reason was simple.

'That guy is the origin of that aura.'

It was not that someone with the same aura as the world on the other side had descended.

That guy was the origin.

Even the aura that existed in that enormous world had only flowed out from that guy and filled the world.

Its essence was that guy himself......!

I could instinctively feel it.

Even if I strengthened this world’s influence through my cooking.

We could not resist that existence that had filled an entire world!

“We have to fall back.”

“......!”

Perhaps they sensed the seriousness of the situation from my words.

The soldiers nodded and turned their bodies.

'It’s not that there is no means of resistance...... but not here.'

That thing was the master of one world.

An existence fundamentally equal to the being that became the origin of the System flowing inside our bodies.

It might be different if every existence under the influence of the System gathered together.

But it was impossible to win with only us, who had not even gathered yet.

With the personnel in this place, even resistance would probably be impossible.

However.

'If it is in Bimana.'

They say even a dog gets halfway there in its own house, don’t they?

If we borrowed Bimana’s power.

Perhaps resistance, at least, might be possible.

So.

SPOT!

Not only me.

Even the soldiers instantly turned their bodies and kicked off the ground.

'The fortunate thing is that we’ve already come south to some degree.'

With our current power.

We should be able to arrive near the Legion’s territory in an instant.

If that existence does not directly intervene, that is.

But then.

“Ah, no.......”

“......!?”

At the sound coming from behind.

I, who had been launching my body forward, flinched and looked back.

“Pr, prince...... sir......!”

“You, damn it......!”

The one there was someone who should have been in the position of running away with us.

That goblin chancellor.

Instead of running away, he was starting to run toward that city.

***

'Insane......!'

I understood the reason for his action.

I did not know what had happened, but that guy’s loyalty toward the prince was at a level that did not fall short even compared to my soldiers’ loyalty toward me.

If I thought of how the soldiers had stepped into danger without hesitation when I was in danger.

It meant that guy, too, was the kind of guy who would rush in to save the prince no matter what danger there was.

'......Well, high loyalty is a good thing, sure!'

However.

Whether that worked as an advantage also depended on the situation.

Because rushing inside there right now was nothing more and nothing less than suicide itself.

'......What should I do.'

For some reason, that enormous aura seemed calm for the moment.

But there was no knowing when it might turn its head and try to grab us.

Turning my steps around here was no different from joining in that suicide.

On the other hand.

That guy was, after all, a zombie.

Unlike the prince, who had at least been an awakened.

He was only following that prince’s order, and was not yet even an awakened.

It was not as if I had personally inflicted some harm on him.

It was a situation where he himself was stepping toward death.

If so.

There was no particular reason for me to join in that suicide......

“Ah, damn it.”

There was......

Not......

But still......!

“All troops! Join up with the Legion first!”

“Sergeant Shin!?”

Even so.

I roughly kicked off the ground and reversed the direction in which I had been heading south.

“I don’t know what is going on, but we will come with you too!”

“No!”

As expected of my Legion members.

Just like that chancellor, even though they must have understood it was dangerous, they were trying to jump into that danger anyway.

Fortunately, however.

“You have to join up with the Legion. This is an order!”

“......!”

Unlike that chancellor.

On this side, there was me, who could give orders to those guys.

'I already sent a guild message to the Legion as well.'

The Legion must have already grasped our situation from the moment that “other side” appeared.

The zombies beyond the barrier would certainly be in the way, but they would somehow break through that and move to help us.

Once that enormous aura started moving, stopping it would not be easy.

The Legion’s elites and Ariella’s bloodline.

All of them had to join up with the Legion and respond.

“B, but......!”

“Anyway, if I go all out, I’m faster than you. You know that, right?”

“That’s true, but still......!”

“What still? If I tell you to do it, then do it, you bastards! I’ll take care of this quickly and follow after you, so go ahead first!”

I shouted that and launched my body.

While doing so, I thought.

'The prince is someone who made the decision to stand with us.'

And.

That goblin was, to that prince, no different from one of my Legion members.

If so.

'How can I abandon that guy’s Legion member......!'

With that thought.

[Assistant Chef]

I took out one kitchen knife from inside my shadow and threw it forward.

[Sound Chinese Knife]

[Skill - Mudhorn’s Charge]

BOOM!

“......!”

The kitchen knife containing the skill advanced at an incredible speed.

It stabbed into the ground in front of the running goblin and blocked his advance.

***

“Now, now. Stop for now.”

“You, uh.......”

I reached out toward the guy, who seemed enraged, and spoke.

“Calm down. Listen to what I have to say first.”

“Move, aside.......”

“I know what you’re worried about. But listen.”

Whatever means they used.

And why they had to do that, I did not know.

But judging from the circumstances.

'That demon descended through the prince’s body.'

Well.

I had gone through something a little similar at that Church not long ago.

When I thought of how the Legion members had braved all kinds of danger, rushed over, and beat me up in an instant to restore me to normal, it was not that I could not understand this guy’s action.

However.

“From what I can tell, the situation doesn’t seem to be at the absolute worst yet.”

Fortunately, should I say.

It did not seem to be the absolute worst situation this guy feared.

Because.

[System]

[Species List]

[B-36S Aberrant Mutant Individual]

The new species incorporated into our System.

The list of that minority species, which probably only had that one prince, was still clearly written in the System.

The System had tried to throw me away without mercy the instant I showed even the slightest sign of betrayal.

And yet, the fact that this remained meant.

'The prince’s reason is still there.'

Separate from the demon’s descent.

It meant the individual called the prince still remained as a being belonging to the System.

“If you go like this, it’s suicide. But it’s not as if there is no answer at all.”

“.......”

“We need to take time and examine the situation. If we do that, an opportunity will surely appear. It won’t be too late to throw your life away then.”

The guy had been listening to me relatively quietly.

He had been one of the more rational ones among those zombies.

I thought perhaps my persuasion had worked...... but.

“If it were only, the prince...... then...... perhaps.”

“......?”

SHING.

The guy drew his knife.

“It is not only, the prince.”

“.......”

“Comrades...... those who share the same will, are...... there.”

The guy was not looking at me and obediently listening.

His gaze had been continuously fixed behind me.

“The prince...... may remain. But...... comrades?”

“That is.”

For some reason, the prince seemed to remain.

But there was no guarantee that the other zombies who followed him could do the same.

Even if they were alive until now.

His “comrades,” who were probably offering loyalty to that prince like my Legion members.

Like those who had thrown themselves forward to save me from that Church.

“Move, aside...... I must, go.”

And like this guy.

They were probably throwing themselves into suicide in the end.

This guy believed he could not be excluded from that.

“......Yeah, well. I figured it would be hard to persuade you with words.”

However.

That was his situation.

SHING.

As for me, I could not let someone no different from that prince’s Legion member die.

I scratched my head and drew my knife.

“The prince, ordered...... do not harm humans...... protect, the chef.......”

“Really? Then you should listen to him, shouldn’t you?”

As I said that, I thought.

“But. If you stand, in my way.”

The same weapon as mine.

This was a guy who handled daggers as his main weapon.

Unlike the other monsters I had met so far.

This was the first guy who went beyond simply using the weapon and was no different from a master of that weapon art.

Even among the martial artists of that Thousand Mountain Training Hall.

There had been no one who handled daggers properly, because daggers were the weapons of assassins.

Thanks to that.

[Martial Art - Food]

My martial art, on top of the foundation Miho had built.

My judgment and experience, the direction and choices I thought of.

It had become a martial art I personally piled up and created.

Even as a joke, it would be difficult to say I had talent in martial arts.

But I had never once neglected this martial art.

It was a tower I had painstakingly built up in my own way.

“Do not, worry.......”

And.

“I will not, kill you.......”

“Puhaha!”

I had already been curious.

About where the completion level of that tower objectively stood.

***

CLANG!

Our daggers collided.

That goblin...... the chancellor’s body was small and light.

Capturing those movements, which were far too quick, was extremely difficult.

FWAAAAASH!

And yet.

The sword strikes bursting out from there were very heavy.

Normally, if movement was light, the attacks should also be light, should they not...... I thought.

But it seemed the judgment that guy made while evolving was different.

'A typical hit-and-run.'

Approach through speed.

Unleash a powerful sword strike, then retreat before a counterattack can come.

Training that simple tactic to the extreme degree of completion.

That was that guy’s combat.

In truth.

The response I had prepared for that guy’s combat was already ready as well.

I had already reached a conclusion while studying the previous battle about what food to eat and how to respond.

[Currently Applied Cooking Effects - 3]

'I ended up unable to use the response I had prepared with so much effort.'

In the process of fighting the enemies from that other side, I had already consumed enough cooking.

One of them, in particular, was [Course Meal].

Stacking more cooking than this would put a burden even on my body.

Because of that.

'This fight...... will be decided by swordsmanship skill.'

Just as I had seen that guy’s combat.

That guy must also have seen my combat in the previous battle.

The strongest of my cooking, [Course Meal], was also being applied to that guy.

In the end, this battle was.

A pure contest of [Martial] taking place while both sides had grasped each other’s methods to some degree.

It was hard to call it the best situation for victory.

But.

'This isn’t bad either.'

Even if it was an arrogant thought to have in the middle of this urgent situation.

That pure contest of martial arts.

The fight where dagger clashed against dagger did not feel too bad.

And.

A fight where I could check where the endpoint of my martial art was.

SLASH—

The result of that fight was...... how should I put it.

“Prince, sir.......”

“......You worked hard.”

It seemed the effort I had made until now.

Had not exactly been in vain.

***

The one who had stood at the peak among all zombies.

The existence that had achieved the greatest evolution among the evolutions created by the zombies of this world.

THUD.

The chancellor collapsed.

One knee crumbled, and the guy stabbed his knife into the ground.

Looking at him, I thought.

My specialty was ingredients...... in other words, grasping the enemy’s condition.

And through special cooking made to match that, carrying out the optimal “cooking.”

However, if that kind of optimal battle was impossible.

Since I was basically a non-combat-class awakened.

My level was high, but it was hard for me to display combat power suited to that level.

This was exactly that kind of case.

That was why I had thought this fight would be decided by the level of each other’s swordsmanship.

And.

'Truly, by a hair’s breadth.......'

The result.

Was decided by a hair’s breadth, to the point that it would not have been strange at all if I had lost.

'Wasn’t this bastard effectively born less than two years ago?'

Since I did not really have any combat skills.

I had steadily trained the one technique that at least helped in combat: martial arts.

It was a martial art that had moved on to the next stage each time I experienced many things in this world and accumulated new experiences.

The martial artists of that Thousand Mountain Training Hall had said I was not exactly talented.

But thanks to that consistency and experience, even among the soldiers, I was considered one of the top people in pure martial skill.

Honestly, I had hoped I might be far more superior.

'Just as the prince said, this guy must be a genius.'

That fight was enough to smash that pride of mine.

A baby who had not even been born two years ago.

And most of that time must have been a period when he did not even have proper reason.

So had it even been one year since he effectively started learning dagger arts?

The dagger arts I had trained with all my strength for years had been almost equal to that kind of guy’s.

'If this guy had {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} had even a few more months to polish his swordsmanship.'

At that time, I might have lost.

Producing different results in the same amount of time.

That was what the species called geniuses were.

......But well.

That was only a story if he had been given a few more months!

“Sorry, but you lost.”

In any case.

The winner of this fight was me.

If he had complaints, he could blame himself for not being born a little earlier.

“First, come with me. Then we can aim for the next chance.”

With those words.

I tried to grab the guy’s body and run south.

However.

“Prince, sir...... comrades.......”

“.......”

The guy clenched his teeth and tried to resist.

What state the prince had ended up in.

What would happen to his comrades.

I did not know exactly either...... but I could roughly guess.

Even so, it was not something where I could lose this guy too.

“......Haah, sorry, but.”

I let out a sigh and gripped my knife.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

That guy’s main body was not this flesh, but the parasite inside it.

It would not be easy to knock him unconscious.

'If I aim well at where the parasite is.'

Among the lights shown in [Combat Power Meter], there was an alien light.

Just as I was about to strike down toward that light with the back of my knife.

Flutter......

“......Hm?”

I felt a presence from far away.

A large flapping heading toward this side.

I looked there and could not help but be surprised.

Because.

“......Zombies.”

What appeared while flapping enormous wings.

Was a bat whose body had swollen to a grotesque degree.

When we first entered this North Korea.

It was that very guy who had guided us to that city.