Chapter 26

Descending the Mountain (2)

The dishes I make as a chef. Their effects are incredible, but there is one fundamental penalty.

‘You have to cook, for starters.’

The indispensable requirement to grant buffs through cooking.

You have to make the food and feed it to people.

When we were still in the base, it wasn’t a big problem.

I do take part in combat pretty actively, but It’s not like I had no time at all to cook in the mess hall. But once we go down to ground level, it becomes more troublesome than expected.

‘There’s a high chance that the environment needed to cook simply won’t be available.’

Field cooking always comes with great risks. Not only can smells and smoke expose our position to the enemy.

In a situation like this, where we never know when we might be attacked, we can’t exactly spread out cooking equipment.

Until we secure a stable base below the mountain…It’s hard to cook with peace of mind.

Then I thought about packing lunches, but boxed meals spoil quickly. And this wasn’t limited to fighting monsters. Since ancient times, how to feed soldiers going into battle has given many rulers headaches…So one thing was created.

‘Combat rations.’

『Skill — Combat Rations (new)』

『You can manufacture preserved rations for combat.』

『Compared to normal meals, combat rations have slightly reduced stat effects. However, they have a long shelf life, and even small portions can provide high calories, making them easy to carry. The taste is guaranteed, of course!』

After dealing with Lieutenant Kim’s issue.

This was the skill I obtained when I reached level 10. Food made with this skill has its basic effects slightly reduced. But the strengths are so great that such penalties are laughable.

The expiration date disappears.

『Low-grade Chef’s Courage-Infused Lizard Jerky』

This was the very first dish I made using this skill.

Jerky, which preserves meat for a long time.

Long ago, before the revolutionary invention of canned food. This was the most traditional form of combat ration, widely used by armies all over the world.

‘Later on, I might even be able to turn boxed meals into combat rations. For now, this is probably my limit.’

Even so, the effect was excellent.

『Upon consumption, all stats increase by 5.』

『Upon consumption, the mana of the ‘Steel Lizard’ infused in the dish seeps into the body. Physical resistance increases greatly.』

Flat stat increases. And thanks to the influence of the lizard used as an ingredient, even physical resistance increased and that’s not all.

“Lieutenant Kim.”

“Ahem. Everyone, combat formation!”

Once I made sure all the soldiers had eaten my food, I signaled to Lieutenant Kim.

He nodded and shouted.

『Command Order — Combat Formation resounds!』

『Allies’ combat power increases by 10%.』

『Temporarily, all allies are granted the trait — Combat Formation.』

『Trait — Combat Formation』

『When engaging in battle while forming ranks with allies above a certain scale, combat efficiency increases, and you gain immunity to confusion caused by combat.』

Lieutenant Kim’s class is ‘Novice Commander’, like me, he’s a rear-line support.

A buffer-type class, his buff increases allies’ stats by a certain percentage and the characteristic of percentage-based buffs.

‘They synergize with flat stat increase buffs.’

My cooking buffs and Lieutenant Kim’s buffs combine to create an even greater effect. On top of that, there’s the effect of the ‘courage’ infused in the food.

“Heh, this should be a fun fight.”

“Come at us, you vermin!”

The monsters charged into our formation, they’d come to the place where they would die.

* * *

And so, the first battle after descending the mountain came to an end.

“There are about ten injured, but they should be treatable.”

“That’s a relief.”

A fight in unfavorable terrain.

Of course, it wasn’t possible to come out completely unscathed. Still, it was within a level that the two healer-type Awakened could manage somehow.

The injured were one thing, but.

“Sergeant Shin’s cooking effect was huge.”

Private First Class Sa Eui-jun, the medic, said.

He pulled out the jerky I had made from his hardtack pouch and looked at it in amazement.

“Honestly, I thought once we left the base, we wouldn’t be able to benefit from Sergeant Shin’s cooking anymore. But to get this level of effect from such a small piece of jerky.”

“I appreciate the compliment, but there’s still a lot to improve. My proficiency isn’t high enough yet, so I’m limited to jerky for now, but I’ll keep refining it.”

The jerky made as combat rations.

In this battle, it performed more than adequately. Being able to receive cooking buffs from something as small and portable as jerky was definitely a game-changing effect.

‘But jerky is just the most primitive form of combat rations.’

A type of ration used before things like canned food existed.

There’s a reason it was replaced later on.

At best, it’s just jerky, so it can’t compare to a properly cooked meal.

As I raise the skill’s proficiency, I’ll have to increase its effectiveness.

“Are you serious?”

“Huh?”

Hearing my answer, Private First Class Sa Eui-jun replied as if he were dumbfounded.

“It’s already incredible as it is. You’re saying there’s room for it to become even more incredible?”

“Ah.”

“At that point, it’s downright scary.”

“Heh.”

Even I’m surprised more and more each day at how efficient the Chef class is. It makes sense that the buff effects are strong as a trade-off for my lack of direct combat power.

‘I also got lucky.’

My cooking’s buffs basically scale with the number of people who eat it.

In other words, it’s a kind of wide-area buff. With over a hundred soldiers receiving the effects, my abilities shine that much brighter.

If it were just me alone, or even if our party were ten to twenty people. It wouldn’t have shone nearly this brightly.

I guess I should be glad I was a mess cook.

Anyway, the soldiers’ injuries were within what the priest and healers could handle. But once my conversation with Private First Class Sa Eui-jun ended, a soldier who had been waiting frowned and spoke.

“These vehicles can’t be salvaged.”

The engineering Awakened who had been inspecting the vehicles.

Corporal Lee Gong-woo.

“I thought they might be of some help.”

“This proves it. Ordinary vehicles don’t mean much against monsters.”

The vehicles we used as barricades were mostly large vans or small trucks. But their outer walls had been ripped and torn apart by the lizards’ claws, reduced to rags. We can’t expect much in terms of protective capability.

“Leaving regular cars aside, what about the military vehicles? Are they similar?”

“The military vehicles are definitely sturdier. They seemed to withstand being completely torn apart by claws.”

Unlike the vans that had been shredded to pieces, the military vehicles still retained their shape to some extent.

“But seeing how the vans ended up like that, we can’t completely trust the military vehicles either.”

“So if stronger monsters appear, even military ones could be destroyed.”

“They’re not armored vehicles, after all. They’re just military Retonas.”

After finishing, Corporal Lee Gong-woo clicked his tongue and muttered.

“If only we had enough materials, we could have done something about it.”

Corporal Lee Gong-woo’s class is ‘Engineer’. True to the name, it’s a class specialized in making or reinforcing things.

If we had the materials, reinforcing the vehicles’ defenses wouldn’t have been difficult

“Well, it can’t be helped. Our base isn’t some massive unit, so it’s not like we’d have a lot of materials prepared for dealing with monsters.”

“I understand the situation, but… haah, it’s still a shame.”

But since our small mountain base didn’t have sufficient materials. The engineers who Awakened were limited to reinforcing the base’s defensive facilities in terms of class-appropriate contributions. For now, they were acting like warrior-types, making use of their ‘Hammer Mastery’ skill.

‘Once we get down to ground level, we should try to secure some usable materials.’

Not just for my cooking. But also for the equipment effects made by Lee Sang-ah, the ‘Tailor’ Awakened. In this ‘game’, production classes are stronger than expected.

If these guys can properly utilize their abilities, won’t they demonstrate tremendous power?

It’s not something we can do anything about right now, though.

* * *

After cleaning up the battlefield to some extent. We reformed our lines and resumed our advance.

“Hold! Stop for a moment!”

“Huh?”

But not long after we started moving, a halt order came from the front. It didn’t seem like a monster attack.

‘What is it?’

“Loyalty, Sergeant Shin?”

“Yeah. What is it?”

“There’s something you need to see.”

The soldiers at the very front came to report to me.

“Did you find something?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Lead the way.”

Following their guidance to the head of the column.

I could see what they had found.

In front of us were the few guardrails laid along the road leading toward the base. And those guardrails…

“They’re torn apart.”

They had been roughly ripped away, as if there had been a major accident.

“They wouldn’t have been like this before, right?”

“Yes. Before the monsters appeared, the guardrails were intact.”

For a moment, I wondered if monsters had torn them apart. But judging by the shape of the broken guardrails. And the fact that monsters would have no reason to attack guardrails.

“…Could it be.”

The shape of the broken guardrails. It looked as if something massive had rolled down and torn them away.

‘Guardrails are only installed in cliff sections where falling would be especially dangerous.’

With a bad feeling, I moved closer to the edge of the cliff.

“Sergeant Shin! Please be careful!”

“I won’t fall, relax.”

A dizzying cliff.

When I leaned over and looked down. Far below, near the bottom, I could see a Retona that had tumbled down. It was a familiar vehicle.

‘Jaemin, Seung-ho…’

Not long after the monsters appeared, the soldiers who had gone to contact the higher command.

The vehicle they had ridden in.

* * *

“It’s the vehicle the drivers took.”

Beyond the guardrail, one of the base’s Retonas lay overturned. The two drivers who had ridden in that vehicle probably didn’t survive unharmed either.

“Corporal Kim Jaemin and Corporal Gwak Seung-ho…”

“They said they were going to contact higher command, but to think they couldn’t even make it down the mountain alive.”

When we realized that all contact with the outside had been cut off.

The other soldiers and I had opposed it. But there was one proposal that Lieutenant Kim had pushed through. Since both wired and wireless communications were down. Send drivers to physically go contact the higher command.

Although they had gone as volunteers. It seemed they died here without even making it down the mountain.

“If they hadn’t left the mountain, they might have been with us until now.”

“…”

Since neither of them was Awakened, they would have been helpless against monster attacks. They probably ran in a panic, only to be hunted down without resistance.

As I looked, there was something that bothered me.

“There are no bodies.”

“What?”

“Jaemin and Seung-ho. If they died, there should be bodies left behind, but I don’t see any.”

The Retona that had fallen below the cliff.

The door of the half-wrecked van had been torn open. But the driver’s seats, where the soldiers should have been sitting, were empty.

“Could they have survived by luck and moved somewhere?”

“From that height? Even for us now that we’re Awakened, falling from there would mean at least severe injuries.”

Among the roads leading back to the base, the places with guardrails are only those sheer cliffs where falling means almost certain death. It’s hard to believe that two drivers who hadn’t even Awakened could survive that fall and move on their own.

“Maybe monsters took them away as food.”

That was the most plausible guess.

The monsters that attacked our base didn’t just kill humans, they tore into and ate them. Meaning they, too, are living creatures that need to eat something to survive.

Another possibility kept surfacing in my mind.

‘It’s terrible to say this about the two of them, but… it might be better to hope they were eaten by monsters.’

Of course, we can’t just pray and leave it at that.

We need to prepare in case of the worst.

“Minjae hyung, Lieutenant Kim. Please take charge of command for a bit.”

“Hm?”

“I’ve got something to take care of.”

After entrusting the two of them with command.

I headed toward the small truck in the rear.

Screeeech…!

Inside the truck were the lizards we had just hunted, their corpses were piled up inside.