Free Web NovelThe underground maze was vast and dark.
Many people were moving through that darkness, searching it.
And.
“How.......”
One of them.
Collapsed with those words.
“......Hoo!”
And.
The one who had dealt with the fallen awakened being.
I wiped away cold sweat and checked my surroundings.
'No sign of anyone coming...... I think.'
After moving the fallen awakened being’s body into one corner.
I took out one canteen from my pocket.
Then poured the liquid inside it over him.
Only after finishing that work did I barely manage to rise.
Even then, I had no choice but to frown.
'......Feels like I’ve been soaked through with water.'
My body was heavy.
Sweat was running down my entire body.
And I lowered my head and looked at the awakened being I had taken down.
Then I muttered in a small voice inside my head.
“......Ingredient Appraisal.”
And a brief silence passed.
Despite my words.
No window appeared in response.
I smiled bitterly inside and thought,
'I didn’t know when I had it, but now that it’s gone, this is damn suffocating.'
I still had no idea exactly what they had done.
But after that suspicious power covering this entire space had spread out.
The power of the [system] that had dwelled in my body.
All the power I had possessed as an awakened being had vanished.
Honestly, I had been extremely flustered at first.
'Interfering with the system.'
I knew they were an organization that worshiped the system itself.
But I had never imagined they would be able to interfere with that power.
The number of times I had seen something like this...... this was.
'The second time, maybe?'
But.
At that very moment.
“Over there.......”
Step.......
“Is someone there?”
At the sound coming from somewhere.
'......Damn it, already?'
I hurriedly reached out.
And pulled one item from my pocket.
***
'When I first realized I had lost my abilities as an awakened being...... honestly, it was pretty despairing.'
When I thought back to my abilities when I was a level 1 awakened being.
Even if dozens of non-awakened versions of me gathered together, I probably would have barely been able to defeat myself at level 1.
......Still.
Of course.
Even so.
It’s not like I can just give up.
I couldn’t simply sink into despair forever, could I?
'The support of the [system] is gone, but.......'
Even after that.
I had continued escaping while subduing quite a few Church members.
Because I was strong enough to defeat enemies even with the body of an ordinary human.......
Was obviously not the reason.
There were separate reasons I could continue fighting even like this.
The first was.
This.
Gulp.
I tossed the item I had taken out into my mouth.
Then quickly chewed and swallowed it.
And then.
Srrrrrk......
The color of my body began to assimilate with the surrounding environment.
'......It wasn’t an item.'
My profession was chef.
The first reason I could fight like this was naturally cooking as well.
More precisely, the equipment made for me by the Legion members, and my cooking.
The abilities of already-made items, not power of my own, were still effective.
'The special abilities of cooking work on non-awakened people too.'
I thought of the deserters I had met in the past.
The monsters drawn in by the gunshots they fired.
Normally, they would have failed to escape those monsters and all died.
But through the food I gave them, they strengthened their leg power and managed to run away with us.
It was the same now.
The only difference was.
'The effects of my cooking are on a completely different level from back then.'
My body had perfectly melted into the surrounding environment.
My stealth, hidden in the darkness, would be difficult for even a high-level awakened being to find.
Like that.
Beyond one corner of the corridor.
I hid myself in that darkness, held my breath, and waited.
After a little while.
“......Good heavens!”
The presence that had discovered something rushed over in panic.
“Sir Mingi! Are you all right!”
The awakened being I had taken down just before.
The person who had discovered him approached the fallen man.
Tap.......
The moment I heard the sound of him touching that body.
Paaaaak!!!
I burst out of the corner.
And swung my knife toward the place where I felt that presence.
“......!!!”
Even though I had eaten the [Environmental Assimilation] cooking.
The effect of [Absolute Taste] was not active.
It was not enough to hide even the signs of my movement.
When I revealed myself, the opponent sensed my presence and reacted, but.
“......My body, is heavy......!?”
When he realized his physical condition was different from usual.
He looked deeply shaken.
'Of course he would.'
His physical condition was perfectly normal.
But what he was feeling was not an illusion.
To be precise.
'Whose cooking do you think it is?'
It was the effect of my cooking.
......The liquid I had poured over the bodies of the enemies I had taken down.
The identity of the thing he had just touched was none other than.
[Heroic-Grade Chef’s Junk Food of Fainting Fatigue]
[This is a dish liquefied from an existing completed dish through “Elemental Cooking.”]
Cooking.
[The effect of “Force-Feeding” is currently being applied to this dish.]
I could not use my power as an awakened being now.
But this was not food I had made beforehand for no reason.
And separate from this incident.
I normally made and carried around dishes with a variety of effects.
That was one of them.
'Originally, it was a dish I meant to use by splashing it directly on enemies.'
By pouring it over another awakened being’s clothes.
I could also adjust it so that when someone touched that awakened being, it would be “force-fed” to them.
“What did you...... do to me......!”
And.
The effect of that dish was something I had made with all my strength back when I had not yet lost my power as an awakened being.
“I do not know...... what you did......!”
Most awakened beings would faint just from touching it.
And even if they endured it, they would be unable to block my following attack, but.
“Do not think I will fall so easily!”
“......!?”
This enemy.
Was a little different.
Kaaang!
Even in the middle of his confusion.
He swung his sword and blocked my attack.
The sight left me shocked.
'He’s maintaining consciousness even after eating my cooking?'
As if that was not enough.
He had even blocked my sudden attack.
'He isn’t an ordinary enemy!'
It was almost impossible to believe.
Paaak!
Of course.
Surprising was surprising.
'I can’t give him time to recover!'
I used the recoil from my knife being knocked back in reverse.
Spun my body once in midair, and launched a kick at him.
“Kuhk......!”
Equipment made personally by Team Leader Lee Sanga.
When the hoof of my combat boot grazed his jaw, I saw blood spill from his mouth.
But.
Crunch!
“......!”
Even though the blow to his jaw should have shaken his brain.
He glared and reached out, grabbing the foot that had just struck his jaw.
And then.
Kwaaaaaaaang!!!
Holding that foot like a handle.
He slammed my body violently into the floor.
'Kuhhk......!'
It was a hard floor with no mat of any kind.
And on top of that, just how high-level an awakened being was he?
The force with which he slammed me down with all his strength was anything but ordinary.
It was an attack that would have blown apart the whole body of even a fairly strong monster.
If I were an ordinary human, the moment he swung my leg with that force, my leg would have been torn off and every organ in my body would have burst.
'It hurts.......'
But.
'So bad I’m gonna...... die......!'
Click.
Despite that impact.
I did not let go of the kitchen knife and handgun in my hands.
Bang!
I aimed the handgun at the hand gripping my foot and fired.
***
“Kuh......!”
When a bullet flew toward his hand.
The opponent, too.
Had no choice but to let go of the foot he had been holding in order to dodge the bullet.
'If I were an ordinary human, I would have died from that attack just now.'
I moved my freed foot and thought.
After that suspicious power had spread out.
I had definitely stopped being an awakened being.
'Even if I’m no longer an awakened being.'
But.
'The me right now still isn’t an ordinary human......!'
No matter how much I could rely on my cooking.
The most important part among the effects of cooking.
'Stat increases did not work on non-awakened people.'
Stat increases were, from the beginning, a power that only worked on those who possessed “stats.”
Because of that, in the unit’s early days, we had not been able to benefit from stat increases either.
No matter how much I could use the effects of cooking.
If I had the body of a completely ordinary person from before I awakened.
There was no way I, who had only been an ordinary person, could fight awakened beings over level 20.
This was precisely.
The second reason I had been able to continue escaping underground.
'Ariella’s blood.'
The noble blood flowing inside my body.
Even if nobles were fundamentally a species specialized for leading forces.
Their physical abilities were incomparable to those of ordinary humans.
When I had drunk Ariella’s blood.
The system had expressed absorbing the power contained in that blood as a “stat increase,” but.
'Essentially speaking, that was not power the system had granted me.'
The power Ariella had accumulated was stored in my body.
Naturally.
Even now that all power granted by the system had disappeared, the power born from that blood still remained.
And also.
'Luca’s surgery too.'
It was not only blood.
As damage accumulated in my body through all the battles I had fought.
The “doctor” I had met in Seoul, Luca, judged that all those wounds could not be healed naturally.
Instead, what it chose in order to treat my body was.
'Replacing damaged parts with the bodies of powerful monsters......!'
I feel very sorry to my parents for saying this, but.
Most of my current body was not something I had inherited from them.
Avaros’s tendons.
The Wandering Clown’s mana holes.
And more.
Most of my body had been replaced with parts from powerful monsters that could not even be compared to ordinary humans.
Even excluding my abilities as an awakened being.
Durability, strength, flexibility, agility, reflexes, muscular endurance, resistance, explosive power.......
Every part of me had reached a level incomparable to an ordinary human.
By my own judgment.
My current physical ability was probably.
'About that of a warrior-type awakened being in the late level 10s.'
Most of the enemies I had met so far were awakened beings in the level 20s.
Since quite a few awakened beings in the mid-to-late level 20s were mixed in, my own physical ability was still inferior.
But if I used the power of cooking too, they were not beyond my ability to take down.
Paaang!
The man who had let go of my foot in order to dodge the bullet.
I did not miss that opening and kicked off the ground with all my strength, raising my body.
Tak.
My body shot upward and reached the ceiling.
Planting my feet against the ceiling, I drove my lower body with all my strength.
Kwaang!!!
A powerful sword strike came down from above and struck him.
Even if my physical ability was a little inferior.
It was a blow that had also borrowed the help of my weight and gravity to make up for it.
“Kup......!”
He hurriedly raised his sword and blocked the attack.
And.
“You are.......”
The moment our weapons clashed.
He and I were able to see each other’s faces.
“Brother Shin Youngjun......!”
When he saw my face.
His eyes began to shake violently.
“How......!”
His face was filled with shock and confusion.
“Without the system’s power, how can you......!”
And.
......I was just as badly startled when I saw his face.
'......A face I saw in the conference hall.'
One of the officers of this Church.
An awakened being in the mid-30s.
'I’m pretty sure his name was...... Jang Woohyuk.'
One of the people I least wanted to encounter while escaping this underground place.
......And.
What that meant was simple.
Kakakakak......
A strike I had brought down with the help of gravity and my own weight.
And an opponent whose physical ability had been weakened by my cooking.
......Even with the strongest attack I could produce.
Against an enemy weakened as much as I could possibly make him.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
With my current abilities alone.
He was not someone I could defeat.
“Kuhhk......!”
The sword he swung.
Sent my body flying violently.
