The Cook of a Perished World - Chapter 238
Episode 239: Underground Mine (2)
Kuung….
After a continuous battle, finally.
-…Guuuhuh.
A monster named Ougar.
begins to fall to the floor.
A sound coming from the mouth of a dying monster.
It’s a voice that should originally be filled with terrible pain.
What can I say?
‘Relief?’
Rather than pain, yes.
I even felt like I was happy
about the death that came to me .
‘…I guess it’s an illusion.’
Although I was a little surprised in the middle.
It was not an enemy that our unit could not defeat.
That’s not the problem.
“…I’ll check it out in a moment.”
Did the unit’s healers also feel something strange?
The guys carefully approach the corpse of the fallen monster.
“yes. “As expected, our thoughts are correct.”
The guys who had been looking for a while nodded their heads.
He opened his mouth with a heavy mood.
“This guy. “It was a half-dead monster to begin with.”
“….”
“I think the cause of death was this miasma. “It appears that all of his internal organs had rotted away and he was unable to function properly.”
I nodded at those words.
There was just one question I had.
That too was resolved with those words.
‘When judging the food ingredients, there was no resistance to poisons.’
This guy in the first place.
This was not the kind of monster that could survive in the miasma of this mine.
“It’s probably not like a zombie or something.”
“yes. “More than that.”
A monster that should have been declared dead long ago.
The reason why such a guy was able to keep moving.
“Keu…!”
A bizarre-looking mechanical device that was embedded in the monster’s body.
Several medics clung to the device.
I start pulling hard.
Pop!
at last.
A mechanical device that comes out.
“Whoosh whoosh…!”
“This might be the cause.”
Blood is splattering.
Although there is still a lot of flesh on it.
The end part…
the part that would have been digging into the flesh.
It had what looked like a very elaborate tentacle-shaped device attached to it.
“These devices. “It was lodged in vital organs of the body.”
“We are not engineers, so we do not know the identity of this machine. “It’s probably some kind of life support device… a machine that allows you to move normally even after death.”
A medic with the profession of [Therapist].
They looked at the mechanism in cold sweat.
“I wonder how amazing the technology is….”
“I’m just asking because I’m curious. “Is it possible that it is an ordinary medical device?”
“no. That certainly won’t be the case.”
“How can you be sure?”
“We also have some free time, right?”
The medics looked at the places where the machines were inserted into the corpse and spoke.
“Machines were plugged into every key part of the nervous system that moves the body. “Maybe this monster… was moving as the machine told it to, not because it wanted to.”
“….”
“Even though all the functions of the body have collapsed to the point where it is normal only after death. “Only the parts necessary for movement were forcibly saved.”
The medic who spoke up to that point.
He frowns and continues speaking.
“It appears that the senses also remained, perhaps in order to perceive external stimuli.”
“….”
“Because he was not immune to the poison, he would have continued to suffer from the poison. I don’t know, but… I’ve probably thought about dying countless times. “This guy.”
I recall the phrase that appeared when [identifying] the miasma in this dungeon.
[Reading of those who could not die properly]
[Those who could not die properly for some reason repeated endless corruption and resentment.]
The monsters inside… Even if they died, they could not die properly.
He suffered endless pain and had to follow the orders of the machine that forced him to live.
They are similar to zombies in that they move even when they are dead.
It occurred to me that there is a different word that is appropriate to call these beings.
[Ingredients Identification (Enhancement)]
[Dwemorjan Slave Restraint]
“Slave…”
[Dweven had excellent technical skills but poor physical ability.]
[A great invention they created to make up for their shortcomings. ]
[The Dwarven who succeeded in putting an entire world under their feet thought.]
[The hard work can be left to others!]
[Not only can they control other living things, but they also force their lives to prevent the loss of precious labor. It is a great invention that even includes the function of maintaining it.]
[By forcibly maintaining the reason and senses of the dominated individual even after death, permanent and efficient labor that cannot even prevent death becomes possible.]
[The feeling of a slave on the verge of death . Although it was once pointed out that the pain was at a somewhat serious level… What is the importance of the suffering of slaves?] [
With this groundbreaking invention, the Dwarven were freed from all the hard labor that had tormented them.]
[Feel free to participate in the development of magic engineering. We are now able to sell out.]
The message that appears in the status window.
When I read that, I couldn’t help but be shocked.
“….”
It was said that this world called Dwemorzan was definitely destroyed.
We too are on the verge of destruction.
Just like us.
Because there were no traces of the intervention of a being called God in their world.
I felt a strange sense of comradeship.
“…I regret this a little bit.”
Of course.
These guys.
“It means that they were cheap to destroy…”
“Yes. “This is my first time seeing something this cruel.”
They say he ruled the world.
I thought it would be an image of people getting along well with other races like the Dasmurians.
It wasn’t.
A magic stone found by digging in this mine.
Conquer the world through the technology developed using it.
‘All other races were treated as slaves.’
Not just a slave.
It forces you to move even when you would normally be dead.
‘Even… they only take control of the body while keeping reason and senses alive.’
Even after death, reason continues to remain.
It means that the pain that will come at the moment of death continues endlessly.
Even though they suffer so much…
slaves can never be liberated.
Me too.
Even though I’m in a position where I’ve been struggling to avoid death…
things like this.
It’s a completely different kind of thing
than the ‘how to avoid death’ I want .
no.
In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Crack.
“That’s terrible.”
Monsters that could not die completely.
That means.
‘It’s the same as continuously experiencing the process of death.’
I wish I could die so everything could end.
Without even reaching its completion.
It means that we continue to experience only death on the verge of completion.
To me…
it was a plan that went beyond disgust and even aroused hatred.
“Sergeant Shin. According to the text of the system, all those Dwarven people were destroyed.”
“okay. “Probably all the beings at this gate are like this.”
maybe.
There is a high probability that all living creatures remaining in this underground mine are slaves like this guy.
Even though the owner who abused them has disappeared.
Forcibly controlled by that mechanical device.
They fought against intruders entering this underground mine.
Tsk.
“When it seems like the attack is going to be difficult. “I was planning on putting it off until later as possible.”
That thought.
It has changed a little.
All life in this mine must be suffering in similar ways.
It’s not like they’re guys I know in particular.
There would be no reason to take responsibility.
“Let’s add one more goal.”
“yes.”
“Get rid of the monsters in this mine as quickly as possible.”
But…
this only goes so far.
This is just my personal impression.
‘Something like this. ‘You’re annoying.’
I made a decision.
He looked back at the soldiers and opened his mouth.
“I have to kill them all.”
“….”
It was a command that may sound cruel.
The soldiers looked at me with strange eyes.
“yes.”
“I will follow the commander’s orders.”
He quickly nodded.
They each carried their own weapons.
* * *
Even after that.
The attack continued.
-Keeeeeeeeeeee!
Inside, monsters similar to ‘Ougar’ continued to appear.
Being similar doesn’t mean they have the same characteristics as monsters, but whatever.
“There are a variety of monsters that are treated as slaves.”
“That’s right.”
This is enough.
It makes one wonder if they have enslaved all kinds of living creatures except themselves.
Meanwhile.
I also discovered something a little strange.
“Sergeant Shin?”
“huh?”
“Here… there’s some kind of room.”
Continuing down the spiral passageway.
There was a space in the smooth wall.
“…Let’s go in.”
Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any locking device or anything.
We were able to get in there easily.
Let’s go inside.
What unfolded there was…
“…a dwarf?”
It seems like he’s been dead for a long time.
It looked like dried corpses.
What is different from the others found in this underground mine?
Unlike the monsters that attacked us.
These guys didn’t see any mechanical devices or anything.
[Identification of food ingredients (reinforcement)]
I got closer just in case.
I looked at it closely.
“…Oh, as expected.”
“Did you find out something?”
“These are the guys.”
“yes?”
[Primates – Lilliputians – Dwarven]
[Freshness: Lowest]
“The owner of that civilization that was destroyed. “These guys.”
“ah…!”
Well…
it seems like you’ve become a corpse now.
Let the soldiers install the lights.
The surroundings also began to appear in more detail.
“Hmm. “I’m not sure.”
“laboratory…? “It feels the same.”
As the saying goes.
Surrounding the dwarfs’ corpses were bookshelves filled with books written in an unknown language.
And there were a lot of unidentifiable mechanical devices gathered together.
“Why are they so dead here…?”
“Hmm. well.”
I had a rough guess…
there wasn’t anything missing.
“They said they studied the magic stone that comes from here.”
There must have been some guys living normally outside.
Some of them.
This means that research was conducted within this mine.
Those who lived so well will one day.
Stirring something too deep in the mine.
‘Those in the mine… He died like this without even being able to escape.’
I guess that’s what it means.
On the other hand.
There was a seal outside that seemed to be trying to block the aftermath of something.
‘The guys outside didn’t die right away…?’
Considering that it was eventually destroyed.
It seems like that seal was useless too.
‘Anyway, hmm.’
If the guess is true.
The books stored here are probably related to the technology they were researching.
the problem is.
“Well, I can’t read it at all.”
“That’s right… it’s not just a foreign language, it’s an alien language.”
The same goes for the machines that controlled those monsters.
These people seemed to have strangely excellent technical skills.
If only we could read those books…
I thought it would be of great help to us.
“ah. Come to think of it.”
“yes? “Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
“There’s something that bothers me for a moment.”
I looked closely at the decomposed corpses.
There seemed to be many aspects that subtly resembled humans.
‘It is also the case that grooming methods are not additionally shown because they are included in [primates].’
A creature very similar to humans.
Various materials here.
It must have been worth a lot of money, but no one had the ability to read it.
okay.
There were no ‘people’.
‘hey.’
-Eh… Master…?
Let’s quietly talk to the monster in the shadows.
Even though I didn’t say anything.
The guy who freaks out.
‘You know what I want you to do.’
-That’s it. master.
past.
Of course, by sucking human blood, he gained a rough understanding of human language and civilization.
The result of sucking the blood of the Green Mane tribe.
I was able to understand its own language…
-This… it all looks like rotten blood…?
‘So what, man.’
-Ugh.
A monster that can read memories and language through blood.
Ariella.
‘Could it be that this fatigue can’t absorb memories… or something like that?’
-It’s not like that. Because the magical power contained in the blood has not evaporated. If you eat it, you may be able to obtain the information contained in that magic power.
‘Maybe there is?’
-This stuff doesn’t taste good… and it’s not good for your health…
This guy had a great appetite even before he met me.
I paid a lot of attention to things like the freshness of the blood.
As he came from a great noble family.
The idea of eating rotten blood seemed really unpleasant.
A person who cannot bear to lie due to the coercion of his position as a member of a household.
‘Don’t worry about that part.’
-yes?
‘I’ll cook it somehow and make it edible.’
-…Even if you say you cook with rotten ingredients.
This bastard.
I still don’t trust my cooking.
“I will take care of the bodies and books here.”
“yes.”
So in the end.
The dwarven corpses and several books ended up in my shadow.
Except that didn’t happen.
The strategy went smoothly.
Continuing to delve into the spiral passage.
Heading deeper underground….
“…Huh?”
A soldier who was at the forefront.
Stop your steps.
grasp!
Sensing something was wrong, I immediately grabbed the soldier by the back of his neck.
I threw it behind me.
“Kuhhh…kkkkk….”
“Private Park! Are you okay!”
“It’s okay. It’s not serious… the poison slightly penetrated the protective clothing…”
The reason the soldier stopped…
was actually simple.
“Is this the end?…”
“Yes. “I guess so.”
Protective clothing made by production workers.
The performance was clearly outstanding, but
there were limitations.
‘As expected… this miasma was getting stronger the further underground it went.’
The result of continued digging underground.
There has come a point where even this protective clothing cannot completely block the poison.
The protective clothing will probably mask the poison to some extent.
It was clear that the poison was quite serious, but the soldier only chuckled for a moment.
‘If you use my cooking, it will be possible to go deeper.’
But…
the moment you go in like that and the effect of cooking stops.
‘On the way back here, I will have no choice but to be exposed to a miasma that even my protective clothing can’t block.’
at last.
I sighed and opened my mouth to the soldiers.
“…I’m returning.”
“Loyal loyalty!”
Going up the passage with the soldiers.
I thought as I looked at the hole all the way down.
‘How deep is it?’
How deep is this hole?
And in the deepest depths…
how strong a poison awaits us.
I couldn’t even guess.
‘Should I give up?’
If it was original.
Since I had failed at this point in my attempts, I would have had no choice but to give up.
Of course, even though we used most of the available means, we failed.
Because it wasn’t an urgent place that needed to be attacked right away.
but.
-Keeeeeeek….
I can hear it coming from down there.
Sounds bizarre.
When I tried to figure out this place on my own.
When I heard that sound, I calmly backed away… but…
‘Is it the opposite now?’
Beings who did not die properly.
That sound of howling in pain…
was making me not give up on my strategy.