Book 5: Chapter 26

A line that curled around two blocks had formed outside the academy as soldiers huddled in between shifts on the wall to get themselves a warm meal.

Impromptu seating arrangements had gone up, and just about the entire street outside the academy was now filled with diners, and several stalls selling beverages had popped up to accommodate them.

“You heard about the beach on the eastern wall?” One soldier said as he ate. “It seemed like a total suicide mission. Thousands of them just charging the wall all at once. It makes no sense. They basically all grouped up, and attacked as one. Made killing them too easy. Like fish in a barrel. Not that I’m complaining. Those were the fastest levels I’ve gotten since the Integration first happened.”

“Yeah, I did hear about that. But I heard they broke through. Hundreds of them stormed through the gate and into the streets. It gave the people a real fright.”

“You’re right, they did. But it didn’t mean anything. So what, they got a few meters deep into the walls. We lined up on the walls and shot down at them from all directions. If anything, breaking through made it worse for them. Heck, we killed them all before reinforcements on the ground could even reach their position. Honestly, it all seemed kind of stupid. Dunno what undead commanders are thinking. But who knows, though. Maybe it was just a Hail Mary, since they’re losing so badly anyway. But I can’t help thinking that surely they would have done better spreading out more. You know, not making themselves one giant target to be shot at.”

“Yeah, that is odd. Oh well, they’re dead now, and soon the rest of them will be too. And to think, before those rankers came, I was thinking about getting my shit and fleeing this place.”

“Me too. Me too—”

The soldiers went quiet as Aaron walked out from the kitchen and into the street, their gazes shifting over to him.

“That’s him,” one of them whispered.

“Damn, he can get it,” one of the female soldiers said, biting her lip.

Aaron paid the soldiers little attention. He had heard the council was dropping by, and had come out to greet them.

Aaron didn’t care too much about hierarchy, but he wanted to thank them. He had quickly exhausted his original food stocks with so many customers lined up, and he heard that the council had personally made sure that food donations would keep flowing into his kitchen. And without them, he’d have run dry days ago.

Also, it had proven great for his Profession leveling, pushing him from Deathly Spirit Chef level 101 to level 113, and securing him a Skill point to spend once he had a moment to himself.

“People dining in the street?” One council member said. “I don’t remember any permits for this.”

“And they’re cooking straight out of the academy. Do they even have a food safety permit?”

“These tables are not up to code. And we need a head count!”

“Oh hey!” Aaron said, waving at the councillors as he made his way over. “I heard you were coming to visit. How do you like the setup? I gotta thank you for keeping us stocked.”

“What is all this?” A pruny female councilor said as if she were about to faint. “I count over a dozen code violations already!”

“Um, oh, right. Maybe you should come see where the magic happens?” Aaron offered, guiding the shocked bureaucrats into his kitchen.

“You call this a professional kitchen? It lacks ventilation. And I don’t see any safety codes anywhere!”

“Do you have a fire and emergency plan?”

“Who is the medical officer in here?”

“I ah…” Aaron searched for words.

“Excuse me, sensei!” A student said, bowing before Aaron. “We need you to use your feet to grind some herbs.”

“Feet?”

“What is the meaning of this, Aaron?”

“It’s just a euphemism,” Aaron said.

“Did you get the master?” Another student called out. “Without the spiritual power from his toes mixed into the dish, it won’t have the same attributes!”

The councilors started to bicker and argue, pointing out all the violations.

“None of this is up to code! And I'm fairly certain cooking with feet breaks every health code!”

“Yea, but let’s be reasonable. This food here provides buffs to the defenders. Surely we can make an exception?”

“An exception to cooking with one’s toes? Do you hear yourself?”

“Indeed! Rules are rules for a reason!”

“They’ve got a point. If we allow Aaron to cook with his feet, who knows what will be next?”

Aaron grimaced. Luckily, they didn’t know about his Foul Ichor.

“Oh, you lot are just being silly,” an old, white haired man said. “Without Aaron here, our walls might be collapsing already. If anything, we should be thanking him. What’s a little toe fungus in your soup compared to that?”

Stolen from NovelPhoenix, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Are you serious?”

“Damn right I am! We can’t go wrapping red tape around everything—”

Aaron backstepped away as the council members argued with each other, shifting back and forth between condemnation for unsanitary cooking and admiration for the help he had provided.

I think I might get some errands done, Aaron thought as he snuck out.

There were dozens of academy students helping him in the kitchen, and several of them had already unlocked their own cooking Professions and could easily man the fort for a bit without him.

Having been stuck in the kitchen ever since the siege began, Aaron was kind of looking forward for an excuse to go check out the defenses anyway.

Reaching the walls, he was honestly surprised by how little damage had been done. It seemed that between their new armor, and his cooking, the defenders were doing more than just a good job.

As he walked, he stopped to talk to a few defenders.

“Yeah, we had a few wounded. But nothing serious and our healers have already patched them up.”

“There was a hole in that all too. But our geomancers patched it up in no time. Heck, I still have my potions.”

Good news was more than welcome, however, as he looked over the wall, he noticed that the massive construct was still out there, lingering beyond the range of the defenders.

“Yeah, too far for anyone to hit from here. There’s been a little talk about going out and taking it down. But since everything is running smoothly, I don’t think any of the commanders want to risk an offensive.”

“Make sense,” Aaron said.

He could no doubt go deal with it himself, but he thought it best to let the others do it. Besides, they were doing fine so far, and he doubted the undead would break through unless something major changed, especially with Ernest helping out. Also, Aaron didn’t want to kill any more weak undead unless he had to. He was already a little worried about diluting his levels with how many of Darius’ warriors he had slaughtered.

Walking around the walls, he spotted Ernest parched up atop a tower with several rifles poking out, and flew up to greet him.

Ernest was looking down the scope of a rifle. He picked a target that was at least several dozen miles away, and pulled the trigger. “Hmph, not bad. Still room for improvement.”

The bang of the gun had sounded several seconds ago, and Aaron spotted undead explode into bone fragments far on the horizon.

“Good shot.”

“Eh, not bad I suppose.”

“How’s it going, anyway, mate? Still testing out your guns, I see.”

“Yeah, my gunsmith has improved a lot. But skill can only take him so far. At some point, I’m going to need to source some better metal for him.”

“I see. Well, it looks like the defenses are holding up nicely. What about the big one? You can’t hit him from here.”

“I can. But I’m more curious about other things.”

“Oh?” Aaron raised a brow. “Such as?”

“This all feels too easy. Something is off. There’s no way that scheming necromancer doesn’t realize you’re here. You’ve been taking over and cleansing all of those obelisks. He’s sure to have seen that. Even if his dumb undead don’t tell him much, the System map would make it pretty obvious. So, why does he send an army obviously incapable of beating us? I mean, maybe he just fucked up and thought you’d be gone already, but even if you weren’t here, we’d be able to handle this much. I don’t buy it. It all seems too incompetent for someone who conquered half the damn world in a few months.”

“That… that makes too much sense,” Aaron sighed. “But if he’s not trying to defeat us, why waste an army against our defenses?”

“Beats me. But if I had to guess, it has something to do with that big construct out there.”

“But you don’t want to shoot it?”

“I never said that,” Ernest said. “I only said that I’m curious. And I am. I’m thinking things through. Taking my time. That’s all. I can blast that thing away from here any time I choose.”

“Fair enough, I suppose—”

“Hello?” Came an old voice winding up the stairs. “Anyone up here?”

Ernest and Aaron turned to the door, and a moment later, the old man from the council stepped through.

“Ah! Here is where our two champions got off to. Wow, isn’t that a view. Good lookout you two have up here.”

“Councilor, what are you doing here?” Ernest said with a puff of smoke.

“Me? Oh, I just thought I’d check on our heroes. And, perhaps more importantly, Aaron, I wanted to let you know that I got the rest of the council off your back. You won’t be hearing any more complaints about cooking with your feet, or missing permits. I can assure you of that.”

“You cook with your feet?” Ernest said with an uncomfortable look. “Remind me to never eat your food.”

“Hey, c’mon, mate. It’s all part of the process. Besides, it adds to the flavor. Don’t knock it until you try it.”

“Yeah, no. That’s not happening. I’ll stick to foot free food.”

“Hehe, you two sound like a couple of old friends. Well, I’ll be leaving you to it then. It seems like you have everything all sorted up here. Just thought I’d let you know how things are going. Oh, and, one more thing. If either of you two ever need help with anything, come see me. The other council members can be a little finicky. But I understand the practicalities of everything. I won't try and slow you down with red tape.”

Almost as soon as the old man left them, both turned to the horizon as the massive construct creaked forward.

“Oh, so you’re finally moving now, are you?” Ernest said.

“That’s odd,” Aaron said, surveying the battlefield. “Looks like most, if not all, of their troops are dead. Think it’s retreating?”

“Going the wrong way if it’s trying to retreat.”

“Good point.”

Aaron was almost about to leave the wall, and head back to the kitchen when he felt a powerful pulse of energy from within the construct.

“What was that?”

“Hehe, it seems things are going to be funner than we thought.”

From within the construct, energy pulsed again, and then a ripple traveled through it.

“That’s not the construct. That power is coming from inside of it.”

Aaron’s gaze narrowed, and suddenly an explosion burst out from its side, sending debris raining down, and stepping out from the side of the construct was a simple, but large man?

No… what is that?

Patchwork Monstrosity [ Level 220 ]

Titles: [ Amalgam ] [ Devourer ]

It looked like a huge, bald man, but with stitched-on limbs, and when it jumped down from the collapsing construct, it started to absorb the undead corpses around it.

Aaron’s brow furrowed as he watched it, and a moment later, he felt another pulse of energy ripple out from the monstrosity.

It was getting stronger.

Agatha

Agatha watched as Patches made his move, growing in power with every step. A moment later, a blonde figure shot out from the wall to meet him, with another group of people not far behind.

Perfect, she thought. It’s time.