Chapter 28

Descending the Mountain (4)

“Kaaaaaagh…”

The monsters that had been charging at me while spewing murderous intent.

The fervor vanished from their eyes, and their bodies went limp. They were only clinging to the running vehicles, carried along by the momentum of their own charge.

I stared at those monsters closely.

『You have obtained ‘Low-Grade Cooking Secret – Enlightenment of the Method for Processing Light-Footed Sleipha.’』

Following the enlightenment that surfaced in my mind,

I swung my kitchen knife at the one clinging closest.

『You have obtained experience points.』

“Wh-what was that?”

The soldiers running alongside the vehicle and watching the scene shouted.

“Just now. Was that something Sergeant Shin did?”

The monster that had been charging in to kill suddenly became docile and died helplessly, so of course they were confused. But there was no time to explain things one by one.

“I’ll explain later, let’s put out the urgent fire first. That guy’s weak point is—”

I told the soldiers the ‘processing method’ I had seen.

The remaining two monsters that had made it into the formation were dealt with by the soldiers like that.

I didn’t stop there and moved into the trailer.

Inside the trailer, there was a heap of processed meat stacked high.

I grabbed as much as I could with both hands and then,

“Hyah!”

Threw it in all directions.

“Grrk?”

Then, the monsters that had been charging toward us, especially the ones that were closest, bit down on the chunks of meat flying toward them.

“As expected!”

Only after seeing that did I become certain.

‘The monsters aren’t attacking us because they specifically want to kill humans.’

When I first heard that there were various kinds of monsters roaming the surface, there was one question that bothered me the most.

Why exactly were the monsters attacking humans?

What I had just seen was the answer.

‘They’re hunting prey.’

The lizards we fought in the mountain range might be different. They were the ones who formed strategies and kept attacking the base in the mountains. But even those bastards didn’t just stop at killing our soldiers, they tried to eat them.

Grotesque forms, strength that couldn’t even be compared to ordinary animals. That’s why they felt like some kind of extraordinary beings. But their behavioral principles were basically similar to wild animals.

I recalled a documentary about wild animals. A documentary that dealt with the behavioral principles of starving beasts. A starving beast becomes so aggressive that it won’t hesitate to take on dangerous prey.

But what if safe food were to fall right in front of such a beast?

‘Naturally, it chooses the safe food.’

The monsters in front of me were the same.

‘Well, these guys seem more aggressive than most beasts, though.’

Most of the monsters, even with the meat I threw clamped in their mouths, were still clinging to the running vehicles.

Aggressive enough to keep hunting even after securing food. For ordinary humans, once they were selected as prey, there would be no way to shake them off.

But, the moment they bit into the raw meat I threw any other worries became meaningless.

『Low-Grade Chef’s Very Crudely Made Raw Meat Seasoned with Languid Emotion』

The raw meat I threw at them, that too was one kind of dish.

『This is a dish with not even a shred of sincerity put into it.』

『It is food so poor that it is embarrassing to even call it a dish!』

『As a chef, you should be ashamed of this dish.』

Of course, it wasn’t anything great. Going beyond that, it was so bad it was embarrassing to even call it cooking.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen messages this savage, I think?’

『There is no stat increase effect.』

『Experience points are slightly decreased.』

It even reduced my experience points. So experience points could go down too, huh.

I could understand it. All I did was process the meat, pound it to soften the texture, and sprinkle 『Chef’s Special Sauce』 on it.

Even I could tell it was hard to call this cooking. It would be more accurate to see it as processed ingredients.

Naturally, there were no buff effects as a dish.

『Upon consumption, a languid emotion is felt』

Even so, the effect from the special sauce still activated.

“The lower the quality of the dish, the weaker the effect!”

I threw more of the meat I had taken out at the monsters trying to cling on.

『Chef’s Special Sauce』

‘I already confirmed that this skill works on monsters!’

What I tested didn’t stop there. The higher the quality of the dish, the more the effect is multiplied.

‘This is the most important part. Even crudely made dishes still have their effect for sure!’

No matter how roughly made the dish was, the effect of 『Special Sauce』 never became zero.

At the very least, an effect of 1 would always activate. The terrifying part of this skill wasn’t when its effect was maximized.

It was precisely this minimum guaranteed modifier, the most broken part of this skill!

“Kyaaak… ack?”

I threw raw meat at another monster charging in with murderous intent.

Then the monster’s momentum clearly weakened.

After calmly observing the monster whose momentum had dropped,

『Skill – ‘Chef’s Eye’ has been activated.』

『Analyzing ingredients.』

“That guy’s weak point is its legs!”

After grasping the processing method for that monster through Chef’s Eye, in other words, identifying its weak point and informing the warriors…

“Die!”

“Everyone, stab the weak point Sergeant Shin told us about!”

The rest was taken care of by the other Awakened.

After throwing meat around like that for a while, the number of monsters clinging on greatly decreased.

“Those with free hands, consume your combat rations now!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Lieutenant Kim, why aren’t you giving buffs!”

“Ah, ah! Everyone, full sprint!”

As they grew languid, the monsters’ momentum was greatly dampened, and thanks to my eyes, their weak points were being revealed one after another.

Meanwhile, our allies were strengthened through the dishes infused with 『Courage』 and Lieutenant Kim’s buffs.

『Those who were treated to your meal have distinguished themselves in battle.』

『The chef’s reputation spreads! Experience points increase.』

The tide of battle became overwhelmingly favorable in an instant.

Of course, there weren’t no problems.

‘I don’t have that much 『Languid』 meat prepared. This state won’t last long.’

Most of the lizard meat hunted in the mountains had been made into combat rations.

The meat I was throwing now was from the monsters we hunted today, processed on the spot. The quantity wasn’t small, but it couldn’t really be called large either.

‘We need to escape the mountain range before the dishes run out.’

The entire unit advanced at the fastest speed possible while avoiding the monsters.

The battle was not easy.

“There’s a monster blocking the road straight ahead!”

“Why the hell is that thing so huge…!”

A gigantic monster that looked like an elephant blocked the road.

『You have obtained ‘Low-Grade Cooking Secret – Enlightenment of the Method for Processing the Scent-Sniffing Alatur.’』

“Attack its trunk! Its organs are more concentrated there than in its body!”

“Yes, sir!”

Boom!

Corporal Jeon Gwang-il, our unit’s top warrior, rushed forward and brutally smashed the giant elephant’s trunk. The gigantic monster collapsed and rolled off the road to the side.

“There’s an insect-like monster approaching from the flank!”

“That one, Sergeant Shin’s meat doesn’t work on it!”

A huge centipede-like monster latched onto our formation from the side.

Unlike the other monsters, it showed no interest in the meat thrown at it and seemed focused solely on hunting.

『You have obtained ‘Low-Grade Cooking Secret – Enlightenment of the Method for Processing the Venomous Insect Kron.’』

“The red segment in the middle of its body is the weak point! Unlike how it looks, it’s soft there, so aim only at that!”

Bang—!

A bullet from Squad Leader Seo Su-hyeok pierced straight through the giant centipede’s heart. The massive body that had been about to tear into our allies collapsed onto the ground.

And besides that, Eavesdropping Alaur, Great-Armed Metus.

All kinds of monsters kept swarming in.

“Damn it, we’ve only ever fought lizards…!”

“This isn’t a zoo, what’s with this variety!”

Our unit had awakened and trained through battles with lizards. Monsters completely different from lizards in every aspect.

Naturally, the way to deal with them had to change too.

There was no way for us to know how to deal with them, so originally, they should have been enemies that would give us a hard time.

“If it weren’t for Sergeant Shin’s eyes…”

“It’s not just the weak points. The cooking too.”

I could feel the soldiers who were killing monsters looking at me with strange eyes. It was certainly fortunate that I could identify their weak points.

Honestly, from my perspective, it was hell.

『Chef’s Eye.』

『Chef’s Eye…』

‘Urgh…’

Chef’s Eye was, strictly speaking, a skill. The more I used it, the more it felt like some kind of power was being drained from inside my body. It was probably that thing called mana sitting in the status window. Likewise, after producing a large amount of dishes with Chef’s Special Sauce, which was also a skill, and since I didn’t have much mana left to begin with.

『Chef’s…』

Each time a new message rose in the status window, it felt like needles were stabbing into my eyes. Waves of ‘processing method enlightenment’ surged into my head, bringing pounding headaches and muddling my mind. But the moment my information stopped flowing, our unit’s advance would slow down due to having to deal with monsters whose methods of engagement we didn’t know.

Then the monsters that caught up with us would also be ones we didn’t know how to deal with. The battle would only grow more and more difficult in a vicious cycle.

“That guy’s weak point is!”

Knowing that, I continued shouting while enduring the pain.

All the while throwing meat with both hands.

Thus, a time that felt like it would last forever passed.

When the number of pursuing monsters decreased and it felt like we had shaken them off to some extent.

“Look ahead!”

I heard one of the soldiers shout, what appeared before us was a mountain.

‘But it’s a familiar sight.’

As the vehicles advanced a little further and passed that mountain.

‘Finally.’

Instead of the damn mountain range and trees, we saw traces of civilization.

A long, straight road stretched out before us.

The mountain escape operation that had begun at dawn, together with the morning fog. What greeted us after descending from the mountains was the sunset-tinted scenery of the surface.

By then, there was no meat left to throw.

“Haha… damn it. I’ve missed this like hell.”

Thud!

“Sergeant Shin!?”

While gazing at the welcome sight of the surface,

I collapsed inside the trailer.

* * *

A mountain range that stretches across Gangwon Province. Based on that mountain range, the western side where large cities like Chuncheon and Wonju are located is called the Yeongseo region.

The eastern side, where large cities like Gangneung and Sokcho are located, is called the Yeongdong region. And if you go down westward along a small road cut through the mountains.

There, you’ll find an old farmhouse, that was where I opened my eyes.

‘Ugh, a headache.’

Perhaps because my mana was depleted, a headache surged over me.

As I grabbed my head and sat up, a nearby soldier noticed and shouted.

“C-Sergeant Shin has woken up!”

“Sorry, but could you keep your voice down a bit? My head is pounding from the headache.”

“Ah. S-sorry!”

At the soldier’s shout, other soldiers came rushing in.

“Young-jun! Are you okay?”

“No. I feel like I’m going to die.”

“You look fine. That’s a relief.”

So whining doesn’t work on you, huh.

“Minjae hyung. What happened after I passed out?”

“Thanks to you, we had already shaken off most of the monsters’ pursuit. After that, we went back out into a wider area and dealt with the additional monsters that followed.”

“There must have been a ton of them.”

“Compared to the fights in the mountains, it was easy.”

Minjae hyung’s report continued after that. How many were injured, how many vehicles overturned, and so on. Fortunately, it seemed the damage wasn’t that severe.

“It’s all thanks to you.”

“I was passed out cold, what thanks.”

“That’s all for the report. For now, it’s safe, so rest comfortably.”

“Yes, sir.”

After finishing the report like that, Minjae hyung opened the door and left.

But, the soldiers who had entered the room with Minjae hyung didn’t leave and instead huddled in the corner of the room.

‘What is it?’

Just as I was wondering what they were doing, one of the soldiers stepped out from among them and fidgeted with his lips.

“Do you have something to say?”

“Th-that is…”

The soldier hesitated as if he had something to say.

“I’m sorry!”

He shouted loudly and bowed his head deeply.