Chapter 766: Authority

Four beastkin were coming up from below the mountain.

A gigantic tiger, a black ox, a bear containing mighty power, and a rabbit holding a sharp sword.

But.

There was something slightly strange about their appearance.

‘That energy.’

Their bodies were wrapped in a strange black energy.

And their eyes were dark, without light.

The sharp air of martial artists shown by the other beastkin they had seen was nowhere to be found.

“Rather than martial artists...... they look closer to zombies.”

A grotesque feeling, as though watching sleeping people move while sleepwalking.

They were not conscious.

They were merely being forcibly moved by the black energy surrounding their bodies.

“Zombies, huh.”

But even so.

“I’ve never seen zombies that made my skin tingle just by looking at them.”

The pressure felt from them.

The danger of those beings, which could be understood through that pressure, was still terrifying beyond measure.

The Legion members instinctively realized that they were beings ordinary humans could not handle.

If all the Legion members had been gathered, they might at least have crushed them through numbers.

But there were only four Legion members here.

And the number of beastkin who had climbed the mountain was also four.

Of all things, a pure tie without even an advantage in numbers.

To be told to stop those four, who were clearly beings of a different caliber.......

It was an order no different from impossible.

“Sigh, it can’t be helped.”

“What can we do when this is the kind of Legion we’re in?”

Unfortunately.

They were soldiers.

And to them, whether it was possible or impossible was not particularly important.

Even if this truly was impossible.

“If the higher-ups tell us to do it...... we have no choice but to do it.”

If it cannot be done, make it happen.

That was all there was to it.

***

BOOOOOOOM.......

A hole opened in the sky.

An enormous vibration began to be felt from beyond that hole.

The disciples who had been fighting against [sword control] flinched upon feeling that vibration.

“Eldest Senior Brother......!”

But.

I shouted at them.

“Ignore it!”

“You say to ignore it.......”

The enemies approaching from far away.

They were surely beings the disciples of that martial hall had every reason to fear.

They seemed to fear only the existence called Eldest Senior Brother, but the number of beastkin sleeping in the martial hall was four.

The remaining three as well, though merely inferior compared to the one called Eldest Senior Brother, would clearly be tremendous experts.

But.

“They can stop them.”

I said so with certainty.

“......How can you be so certain?”

“Because.”

At Gyeonsul’s words.

I smiled lightly and thought.

I was not a baseless optimist either.

Rather, when it came to situations like this, I was someone who thought quite realistically.

If there had been no way to stop those four beings now approaching, I would surely have searched for another method.

Calling back Ariella, whom I had left with the Legion to stop the forces in the north.......

None of them would have been easy paths, but I would have tried to find some way regardless.

“Who do you think raised that Legion?”

But I did not do that.

Others might be different.

But those people were my Legion, raised by me.

Whether calling Ariella back.

Or using some other method.

While those carried far too great a risk.

“They’ll talk as though they’re dying, but they’ll definitely pull it off.”

“.......”

“Because it’s an order I gave.”

Trusting them and leaving it to them.

“An order from a superior is absolute, after all.”

That was the best possible choice.

And it was not without basis.

‘They’re people who even brought me down.’

After the battle with that Church.

I was not the only one who had grown.

The achievement of defeating me and the achievement of collapsing the Church.

All of that would have applied not only to my growth, but to the growth of the Legion members as well.

I had faith that those who had even defeated me would not fail to stop other enemies.

And just as I believed.

“......Really?”

The martial artists swinging their swords.

They too seemed to notice something and muttered blankly.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM.......

The vibration felt from beyond that hole.

The sound of battle coming from outside.

It was clear that some enormous battle was taking place.

‘The noise...... isn’t ending.’

That battle did not end quickly.

Amazingly.

The battle they had thought would end in an instant continued far longer than imagined.

***

The Legion members guarding the mountain gate of Dragon Heaven Pavilion.

They were desperately stopping the intruders.

‘Impossible.’

The beastkin had no choice but to be astonished.

Those who had been forcibly awakened by the energy of those stars.

Of course, they were not in a complete state like their original Eldest Senior Brother or fellow disciples.

Even so, that person had once been their Eldest Senior Brother.

Even if only that shell moved, it was certain to be an indescribable disaster.

Against that Eldest Senior Brother and three other fellow disciples.

Those who had been ordinary civilians until only a few years ago were continuing the battle for this long.

‘......This is.’

‘What Senior Sister Miho and Hwan were talking about.’

Miho had been in despair just like them.

Yet, for some reason, she had quickly changed her mind.

Only then did the fellow disciples clearly understand the reason.

Their tremendous growth.

Because she had seen a new possibility there, she had found hope rather than despair.

“......Damn it. We’ve come this far anyway, so there’s no other choice.”

“We have no choice but to trust them......!”

And so.

Believing that the Legion members would stop the threat outside and excluding it.

While the beastkin blocked the sword control before me.

I became able to focus completely on the cooking.

Then.

FWAAAAASH.......

Inside the dark space.

The dishes trapped inside my cooking tools came out and began gathering together.

[The cooking has been completed!]

[Prepared Soul of One Whose Cold Reason Was Eaten, Infused with the Care of a Demigod-Rank Chef]

[Prepared Soul of One Whose Calm Reason Was Devoured, Infused with the Care of a Demigod-Rank Chef]

[Prepared Soul of One Who Had Been an Immortal with Composed Reason, Infused with the Care of a Demigod-Rank Chef]

Each soul that had been cooked by me.

After each individual dish, even sprinkled with [Special Sauce], was completed.

They entered plating in order to become one course meal.

Each soul gathered in one place.

And began to form one gigantic sphere.

“......Senior Brothers.”

“Yeah. We can see it too.”

The disciples looked at those souls and noticed one fact.

“The dark energy entwined around those souls.”

When they had only just forced their way into this place.

The souls being cooked had been steeped in dark energy.

The malice accumulated through suffering while devouring other beings over a long period of time.

The wounds that had created the evil dragon called Mirinae.

“That energy.......”

“Disappeared.”

That energy was now gone.

The disciples found it strange.

But from the standpoint of a chef, it was only natural.

‘This is cooking.’

The unnecessary parts in cooking.

The rotten or inedible parts are trimmed and removed.

It was an entirely natural process of cooking.

{No.......}

{I hate this.}

{It cannot, it cannot end like this.......}

Now that the black energy that had distorted the souls had disappeared.

Those souls had become forms closer to their original essence.

{We must not become one with this.}

{We have our own, our own......!}

Even so, most of those essences had belonged to invaders.

Countless souls of the stars could be seen resisting.

Even if they were sealed and reduced to remnants left after being eaten.

Their essence was that of stars.

THUUUUUUD.......

Mirinae’s body continued to struggle.

The chains of the seal shook greatly.

Thanks to [Legatus’s Dagger], they were somehow holding on, but if the body struggled only a little more, even this final seal seemed as though it would break.

Separate from the intruders outside, the time originally given for this cooking was not long.

And.

CLINK.......

A crack was engraved in that chain.

Those who kept trying to escape in order to reject integration.

Even though the power of my [Soul Cooking] had gathered them in one place.

Though only remnants remained, they began to resist my cooking.

CRRRRACK.......

The tremendous power of the seal could not endure that struggle.

It began to stretch and split apart.

‘Right...... Of course they wouldn’t let themselves be cooked easily.’

I too.

Had not thought I would be able to cook them this easily.

After all, among all the ingredients I had handled until now, they were unquestionably the most troublesome.

If the cooking ended this easily, I would have been disappointed as well.

That was why.

‘......It’s fortunate I saved it until the very end.’

I too.

Had made a special preparation for this cooking.

In the battle with Sarin.

I had lost to the poison Sarin released at the very end.

I had no intention of denying that defeat.

......But, what if.

The conditions of that battle had been slightly different.

If my goal had not been to resolve the matter of Mirinae.

But to bring Sarin down on the spot.

‘Then...... the course of the battle would have been somewhat different too.’

[Lv.62]

[Class : Demigod-Rank War Chef]

Not long ago.

I had gained an enormous amount of experience while resolving the matter of the Church.

It was probably the result of the fragment of the System that the leech had occupied being included in the System, making it possible to give enormous support to the awakened.

[By reaching level 60, you have entered the rank of demigod!]

And thanks to that.

[You have achieved a feat worthy of being recorded as a single volume of myth.]

[A reward for the great achievement shall be given.]

I had been able to undergo a somewhat extraordinary level-up.

According to my experience until now.

‘This System is not stingy at all when it comes to rewards from leveling up......!’

CRRRRRAAAAAASH!!!

Because of the gigantic dragon’s struggle.

The chains of the seal that had been sealing that dragon shook.

And before long.

CRASH!!!

The gigantic chain was destroyed, and the fragments that had formed the chain scattered in every direction at tremendous speed.

[Warning!]

[The seal has been destroyed!]

The warning message that appeared before my eyes.

And.

Just as I felt this land freed from the seal trying to move its body.......

At that very moment.

[Activating ‘Authority.’]

From my body.

A brilliant light burst forth.

FWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

An absurdly gigantic light filled the space that had only been dark in an instant.......

[Imposing your law upon the world.]

......That was enough.

***

The brilliant light manifested from my body.

That light gathered and embraced the countless souls.

The countless souls that had been struggling.

The voices of those souls were swallowed in an instant.

And they began to be completed as a single dish.

And then.

{Impressive.}

What was heard then was the voice of an old man.

“......Celestial Emperor.”

{Do not call me by that name. I too am nothing more than remnants left after being digested by another dragon.}

While all the other souls had already been integrated inside the sphere.

{......I somehow accomplished what you asked me to do. With this, perhaps our sins have been reduced a little as well.}

Only the body of the largest old man remained.

Waiting to seep into it last.

{......There was no [cooking] in my world.}

Looking down at his own body melting into that sphere.

The old man opened his mouth calmly.

{My world was originally a world of beasts. That is why the concept of cooking could not take root either.}

“That’s unfortunate.”

{Yes...... truly unfortunate. Because there was no cooking in my world, I too did not properly understand it until now.}

He smiled faintly and said.

{That cooking could be this dangerous...... and this great.}

And.

Even the old man’s body completely melted into the sphere.

With only his face remaining at the end, the old man shouted.

{Congratulations! Young chef.}

A being that had created one world and fully ruled over its laws.

{You have cooked us very splendidly!}

Even that gigantic soul.

Blended into the sphere.

[The cooking has been completed!]

What was completed before long.

Was a [Soul Cooking] containing an absurdly enormous power.

[Course Meal - Mirinae]

[Countless specks of dust in the universe.]

[When those specks of dust gather, they become stars, and when countless stars gather, they become star clusters. When an immense number of star clusters and dust gather in one place...... only then does it become a galaxy.]

[A being in which countless stars have gathered as one.]

[That soul would surely be more than worthy of being called the Milky Way.]

Its appearance.

Was that of one small microcosm, with countless stars gathered together and glowing faintly.

But.

No matter how gigantic and beautiful it was.

‘This is cooking.’

There are occasionally people who try to cherish something because it looks beautiful.

But as a rule.

The role of cooking has only one purpose.

“Please eat.”

Cooking exists to be fed to someone.

The target to whom that gigantic soul would be fed had already been decided.

THUUUUUUD.......

“You have helped me well all this time, so this is my repayment.”

The energy shaped like a small universe began to descend.

What was there was the land beneath my feet.

“Please enjoy it.”

No.......

Into the ‘body of someone’ I had been standing on.

That soul seeped.

THUUUUUUUUUUD.......

Then.

The land beneath my feet began to shake violently.