Chapter 34

If You Fry It, Everything Tastes Good (2)

『Mixed-Mana Animal Fat』

Oil…In modern kitchens, what we mainly use is vegetable oil. But in the past, animal fat was actually used more often. Especially pork fat, called lard, which is still one of the most important ingredients in Chinese cuisine. And the method of making that animal fat is simple.

You just melt down the fatty trimmings and extract the oil drip by drip.

‘To be honest, even I didn’t know the details all that well. I wasn’t sure whether it would turn out properly or not.’

Looking at the result, it seems like it turned out well. They say that if you fry it in oil, even a shoe would taste good. That’s how much of a cheat key this ingredient is considered to be in cooking.

My job is a cook.

When something goes wrong, I have to find a solution through cooking. And when you need to find an answer through cooking, having oil on hand is pretty reassuring.

“This is about as much preparation as I can manage.”

The other soldiers who had finished eating would each be making their own preparations.

Once those preparations were done, the mission to secure materials would begin.

* * *

“Th-then. We’ll begin.”

During the meeting…Corporal Lee Gong-woo, squeezed in among the squad leaders, timidly pointed to one corner of the military map.

“Here. Do you see it?”

“Oh. That’s close to the officers’ quarters too.”

“Yes. There’s a fairly large hardware warehouse here.”

“Oh ho.”

It seemed he hadn’t insisted on gathering materials without a plan. It looked like Corporal Lee Gong-woo had already identified locations where materials could be secured.

“How did you know about a place like this?”

“Yeah. Even I, as a local, didn’t know there was a warehouse here.”

“Ahem. Sometimes the unit urgently needs materials, you know. When that happens, we go down to the ground and buy them. This place is closer than the small hardware shop on base, so we used it quite often.”

‘I see.’

Even as a cook, when I was short on seasonings, I sometimes asked the drivers to go buy them.

The engineers must have had similar situations.

“It’s a pretty spacious warehouse, so we should be able to find most of the materials we need. And since the day the monsters appeared was a weekend, there’s a low chance there’ll be zombies inside.”

Close to the officers’ quarters. Far from the downtown area, so the number of zombies should be low as well, all in all, an optimal environment to raid.

“You really put a lot of thought into this, huh.”

“H-ha ha.”

Corporal Lee Gong-woo laughed awkwardly.

You could feel that he had seriously thought this through.

“All squads, ready.”

For this operation, it was decided that the same members who had participated in the raid on the officers’ quarters would take part.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

“Got it.”

The difference this time was that one engineer was assigned to each squad.

Vroom…!

An additional vehicle, with one engineer aboard, was added.

“A vehicle, huh.”

“Yeah, it’s worrying.”

“It worries me too. But we don’t have a choice.”

Vehicles that get torn apart helplessly when facing monsters. And yet their engine noise is loud enough to draw aggro perfectly.

Normally, we wouldn’t have used one until the roads were somewhat stabilized, but.

“We’re transporting materials.”

Unless every squad member was going to carry materials with both hands full.

To transport the secured materials, a vehicle was essential, so we had no choice.

“We can’t do much about the vehicle noise, but move as carefully as possible.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.”

The squad members began moving. They each tried to muffle their sounds and erase their presence as much as they could, but.

Moving together with a large vehicle.

“Seventy degrees, incoming.”

Monsters overflowing everywhere, it was impossible to avoid their gazes.

“We don’t have a choice. Keep combat noise to a minimum as well. Lieutenant Kim.”

“Got it. Everyone, battle stance.”

『Command Order — Battle stance resounds.』

Several short skirmishes with monsters followed.

“Urgh…!”

“Injured, fall back!”

“I’ll fill the gap in the formation.”

Thanks to keeping the combat noise to a minimum, we weren’t surrounded by large hordes.

‘Even this side has to refrain from using loud magic.’

There were bound to be some injured.

As I watched the battle unfold, a slightly odd thought crossed my mind.

‘Do zombies and monsters not attack each other?’

Even though monsters often attacked each other, for some reason, zombies were not attacked by monsters…

‘Like avoiding poisoned prey.’

* * *

“There! I can see the warehouse!”

One of the soldiers said while looking straight ahead. At those words, when I looked forward, I couldn’t help but be genuinely surprised.

“It’s really huge.”

Enormous warehouse buildings. They said it was the largest hardware warehouse around. True to that claim, its scale was on a completely different level from a neighborhood hardware store.

“Since the incident happened on a weekend, there shouldn’t have been any employees at work. There’s a high chance the inside will be empty.”

In that case….We could worry a little less about zombies popping out.

“Engineers, tell the soldiers what materials you need. The rest, follow the engineers’ instructions and load only the necessary materials onto the vehicle.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s go in!”

Rumble!

The warrior-type Awakened approached the warehouse doors and opened the massive doors. Whether they had been locked or not, the heavy doors opened with a deep rumble.

“…?”

“What is this?”

The warehouse that opened.

The scene inside was a little strange.

In a normal hardware store, you’d expect to see countless shelves with hardware piled on them.

“Did an earthquake hit or something…?”

The shelves were toppled over here and there, and the hardware materials we had come to find were scattered chaotically across the floor.

Literally, it looked like an earthquake had struck.

“I don’t know what happened, but…”

There was no need to know, really. It would be a bit more troublesome since things weren’t organized, but that was all.

As long as we grabbed the materials and left, that was enough.

“Engineers, just tell us the materials you need. The rest, follow the engineers’ directions and load the materials onto the vehicle.”

“Yes!”

At my command, the soldiers began to move.

It was when we were picking up a few steel plates according to the engineers’ directions.

Goooooooong…!

“…?”

Suddenly, a strange sound echoed inside the warehouse.

“What was that sound?”

“Everyone, stay alert!”

An abrupt phenomenon. The soldiers stopped gathering materials and assumed a guarded stance and a moment later…

Clatter…!

The hardware materials scattered across the floor, they began to move.

“Wh-what is this?”

“Everyone, be careful!”

Some of the soldiers muttered in confusion.

In the center of the warehouse, black energy wavered, and the metal touched by that energy floated into the air and gathered in one place.

Seeing that, I muttered in a small voice.

“What else would it be?”

The metals soon formed a single shape.

“It’s a monster.”

I thought things were going too smoothly.

Of course that wouldn’t be the case.

‘Steel… a bear, maybe?’

Goooo!

The form created by black shadows and metal resembled a gigantic bear, a beast of steel with black haze wavering around it, with an enormous size. The oppressive presence coming from that bulk was no joke either.

But, we’d been through our fair share of ups and downs too.

“Lieutenant Kim!”

“Everyone, battle stance!”

『Command Order — Battle stance resounds.』

At my call, Lieutenant Kim, who had been on standby, immediately spread his buffs.

All soldiers took on our guild’s unique battle formation. Each soldier pulled a piece of jerky from their pouch and bit into it.

『You have consumed food.』

『All stats.』

『This is mana-infused cooking. All resistances.』

The driving force that had allowed us to endure even the monsters pouring down from the mountain range. Multiple buffs synergized, bringing about an even greater amplification effect.

“Hahaha! Just a cute lump of scrap metal!”

With stats explosively increased. By eating food imbued with ‘courage,’ the soldiers’ morale soared sky-high.

“I don’t know how you ended up settling here, but.”

“You’ll have to step aside for a moment! Kiiyaaah!”

A soldier wrapped in buffs charged boldly at the monster. A warrior-type Awakened wielding a massive sledgehammer. He brought down a blow strong enough to easily shatter rocks onto the gigantic monster.

Clang!

But then the sound that rang out was different from what we expected. Rather than the sound of something breaking, it sounded like it had bounced off.

“Huh?”

The attack that was expected to crush the monster had no effect.

Instead, the sledgehammer, swung with full force, rebounded just as powerfully.

“What the—guh!”

Goooooo!!!

The giant steel forepaw swung and struck the soldier who was muttering in confusion.

Boom!

“Han-il!”

The soldier was flung into the warehouse wall, slammed into it with tremendous force.

Meanwhile, the monster showed no sign of having taken any damage.

“Han-il’s down!”

“Everyone, be careful! It’s stronger than we thought!”

The first attacker was taken out immediately. The remaining soldiers calmly shifted into a defensive formation. Rather than launching preemptive attacks, they formed up to defend and look for openings.

The soldiers surrounding the monster engaged it.

“Graaaargh!”

Boom!

“Ugh!”

The massive forepaw grazed past me. Just the wind pressure almost lifted my body off the ground.

‘Crazy.’

This monster…It’s way stronger than I imagined.

“That said, it’s not like there’s no way to deal with it.”

While the shield-bearing soldiers took the lead and stalled the monster,

I stepped back slightly and opened the combat rations pouch I was carrying.

『Low-Grade Cook’s Drowsy Crimson Kangal Jerky』

The combat ration I pulled out, what it contained was ‘drowsiness.’

‘I got plenty of mileage out of this effect while coming down from the mountains.’

The ferocity that had filled the monsters with killing intent dulled in an instant…No matter how strong the monster is, if it loses its edge, it shouldn’t be hard to deal with!

With that expectation, I threw the jerky.

If things went as I expected. That thing would focus on the tastier prey right in front of it,

Thud!

‘Huh?’

For a moment, I doubted my eyes, as if it had no interest in my cooking, the creature swung its forepaw and knocked the food away.

Goooooo!!!

The monster clad in steel paid no mind to my cooking, continuing to swing its paws at the soldiers.

Meanwhile, the jerky I had made was left abandoned in a corner of the warehouse, getting covered in dust kicked up by the battle.

“…What?”

The monster had knocked away my cooking. And what I felt at that moment wasn’t just confusion. Looking at the jerky that had fallen to the floor, what I felt was….A slightly different emotion.

‘Yeah, if I had to put it into words.’

‘You… threw away the food I made?’

It was anger…My pride was hurt.

“You bastard…”

Crackle!

I could feel the blood rushing to my head.

If it were up to me, I wanted to draw my knife and turn that thing into fresh sashimi right then and there, but.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the time for that.

“Sergeant Shin!”

“That thing’s too tough!”

“Ah.”

Coming to my senses.

I saw the unit members struggling in a fierce battle against the giant steel bear. We were equipped with our gear, food, and Lieutenant Kim’s buffs.

After forming a proper defensive formation, it didn’t seem like anyone had taken serious injuries.

However…

Gwooooaaargh!!!

“Tsk.”

The monster roaring ferociously was the same. There were only a few scratches on the steel plating that covered its body.

You could say there was virtually no real damage.

‘If we keep fighting like this, nothing will change.’

After calming my anger and making a cold judgment,

I shouted toward Lieutenant Kim.

“For now, we retreat! Lieutenant Kim!”

“Fall back little by little, don’t let your backs get exposed!”

『Command Order — Retreat resounds.』

『Bonus is applied to the combat disengagement actions of affected targets.』

“Everyone, retreating!”

“Fall back as safely as possible!”

Once the retreat order was given, the unit members began to withdraw as safely as they could, making sure their backs weren’t exposed. Thanks to Lieutenant Kim’s buff, the retreat proceeded without issue.

If that thing had chased us out of the warehouse, things could have gotten ugly, but.

“…?”

“It doesn’t seem to be chasing us.”

Contrary to our worries. It merely watched us fleeing the warehouse from a distance.

“Why?”

“Who knows. Maybe it’s the type of monster that strictly guards its territory.”

Either way, our safety was secured. But, my heart still felt unsettled.

‘You rejected my cooking. You swatted it away like that.’

I was nothing more than a mess hall cook.

Up until now, I’d never really felt pride in my cooking. Even when soldiers left food on their plates, I just let it go. But…

‘You’ll regret this.’

That was no longer the case.