The Cook of a Perished World - Chapter 357
Episode 357: Useless pride.
Pistol.
If you take out this weapon in a world before destruction.
Ninety-nine out of one hundred ordinary people will immediately lose the will to resist.
Although the size of the hole that a pistol could make in the human body was never large.
Because humans were creatures that would die just from that small hole.
But unfortunately.
“That’s a lot of fun.”
In a world after destruction.
The position of handguns was considerably reduced.
“Well, for some reason it seems like you can’t utilize your combat skills. “It would be nice to have a long-distance attack tool like a pistol like that.”
A large old man wearing armor approaches me with a strangely angry expression.
I pointed the muzzle of the pistol at the president of the association.
Taang!
Without hesitation.
I pulled the trigger.
“but!”
And about such shootings.
The president of the association simply held out his gauntlet in the path of the bullet.
Teeing!
OK.
The bullet that touches the gauntlet bounces off helplessly.
“I wouldn’t know if it were an ordinary awakened person. “An awakened person of your level would know.”
“….”
“We are now able to sufficiently resist even modern firearms.”
“…Well, it looks like that.”
As the saying goes.
In the past, even if you were an awakened person, it was basic that you couldn’t defeat a gun.
When you become an awakened person over level 30, things get a little different.
‘It’s not the gun that [the shooter] fired, and it’s not a rifle but a pistol.’
It doesn’t have to be at the same level as me or that old man.
Park Jung-gu… no, even if he becomes an awakened person like Yun-seong.
You don’t have to be afraid of small firearms the size of a pistol.
“The movements you showed were beautiful. Since you never give up, I expected to show you something more interesting! however.”
In the corner of the old man’s eyes.
There is a deep sense of disappointment.
“Does that mean it’s just a pistol?”
surely.
A pistol is not a very useful weapon in today’s world.
“It’s not okay for people to only look at the shortcomings too much.”
“what?”
but.
There were some advantages as well.
‘It’s definitely a disadvantage that the firepower is so weak.’
You can’t do any damage to enemies with slightly better defense.
but.
There are benefits to that as well.
I have a pistol in one hand.
He said as he took a stance while holding a kitchen knife in one hand.
“Because it is an attack with such low firepower… there are times when it is hit even though it is an attack that can be easily avoided.”
“…?”
okay.
Even though the president of the association was looking at the muzzle of my pistol.
It’s as if he didn’t avoid it and instead threw it away.
“…for a moment.”
That moment.
“What the hell is this…”
Deflecting bullets with a human body.
An old man who showed an unbelievable feat.
“You…what have you done to me?”
“Well, well? “What did you do?”
“Don’t act like a fool!”
The old man’s expression…
suddenly frowns.
“Victory is so certain…”
The old man swayed as if he was embarrassed.
He looked down at his hands and said.
“This.”
The face of an old man who raised his head.
An emotion on that face that does not suit the current situation.
“This sense of defeat that dominates my mind… What the hell!”
[A deep sense of defeat].
It was cold.
“So, I told you so. “I have prepared a lot.”
“…!”
In those words.
A large old man mutters in an angry voice.
“You really haven’t meant it up until now…!”
“Let me declare something in advance. Old man, you…”
I said, aiming the pistol at the old man’s face.
“You’ll be begging me to kill you.”
* * *
There were three abilities I used in battle.
[Martial Arts – Food]
[Field Cooking]
and [Berserk Fire]
These three things alone were definitely strong.
It wasn’t enough to take down that old man.
And…
if I don’t have enough buffs on myself.
There is one way to think about it next.
‘It’s a debuff.’
Crash.
We were fighting for a while.
Let me point the gun at the old man.
“…Tsk!”
The armor rushed towards me with tremendous force.
The armor moves to avoid the gun’s path.
However, the running momentum was difficult to disappear.
Let’s say you move with that kind of momentum to avoid the muzzle.
The route of movement is bound to become obvious.
[Advanced Dagger Mastery (Enhancement)]
Kaang!
“What a bother…!”
All I have to do is bring a knife to its path.
That armor becomes capable of delivering attacks that cannot be avoided.
‘No matter how strong an awakened person is, it is difficult to avoid a gun.’
of course.
It’s just that it’s difficult to avoid, but it’s separate from whether you’re afraid of guns.
As the level of awakened people increases, there are many cases where they can withstand being shot.
Especially if you are wearing special-looking armor like that old man.
It would also be possible to perform ridiculous stunts such as releasing bullets using the sides of the armor.
but.
‘In the first place, these bullets were not fired to cause damage.’
past.
An entity targeted to supply magical power to [Vimana].
[Morzan]
I once asked engineers to build a huge cannon to deal with this guy.
The purpose of the cannon was simple.
Not for attacking the enemy.
‘Letting the contents of the bullet touch the enemy’s body.’
So, if the shell hits the enemy.
The contents of the bullet are pouring out.
[Forced feeding]
The contents flow directly into the target.
It means that it is treated as if you ate my own cooking.
and.
‘This… could easily be used in battle, right?’
Huge cannons and shells made to deal with Morzan.
In fact, the most important thing among them was the artillery shell.
and.
Taang!
The shell was miniaturized to the size of a pistol bullet.
This bullet.
lately.
It was one of the weapons delivered to me by the Legion, who had succeeded in creating a small bag with fire resistance.
[Order-made handgun for special purposes in the Legion]
[This is a special-purpose handgun that focuses on correcting speed and accuracy at the expense of receiving a large penalty in the firepower of the bullet!]
[When worn, the attribute – ‘Minimum Marksmanship (Deterioration)’ is acquired. .]
The handgun side.
It was just an item that helped me, not being a shooter, have decent shooting skills.
The real thing is this. [Order-made bullet
for special purposes
in the Legion] [It is a special-purpose bullet that loses most of its lethality, but is specialized for special purposes.]
[When the bullet hits the enemy, the contents inside the bullet rapidly fly out and stick to the body of the victim.]
This bullet contains not only gunpowder.
When you open the front cover of the bullet, there is a small space.
There….
[A set of junk food with a deep sense of defeat filled with the care of an intermediate chef and a war chef]
You can put dishes there.
okay.
[Forced feeding] is in effect.
A dish that you can’t help but eat once it touches your body!
‘The amount of food that can be placed inside a bullet is small.’
that much.
Even though it was a carefully prepared dish, the amount of debuff it could inflict was not enormous.
‘Only one cooking effect applies per person.’
This small amount of cooking gives a debuff.
In some ways, it could be a loss.
But…
‘It’s not about emotions.’
The emotions caused by [Special Sauce] overlap to some extent.
Last time, under General Cho Beom-seok, there was so little combat rations that it was impossible to layer enough dishes to properly calm him down.
This time, I prepared to deal with that old man from the beginning.
Even if the amount is small, if those small emotions overlap.
No matter how strong you are, you have no choice but to lay down your weapons!
Taang!
and.
The effect was clear.
“…It’s definitely annoying!”
The old man seemed to have noticed that too.
I was somehow trying to avoid the bullets from my pistol.
Kaang!
Let’s make it possible to restrict the elderly’s movement path to some extent through a handgun.
It became easier to predict where the sword attack would hit.
I hold the dagger backwards and block the expected path.
I kept my distance from the old man who was running towards me and aimed the pistol again.
‘Well, I guess I can’t win with just this.’
The difference made by this pistol is certainly significant.
However, if you were to ask whether it was capable of defeating such a strong person, it was not even that level.
‘Once you become alert, it becomes difficult to overlap emotions.’
I should have considered myself lucky that I got the first shot right.
It’s a big deal that I’ve come to regard this pistol as a burden, but the situation is still against me.
but.
This wasn’t all the means I had hidden.
Kaang!
The old man’s great sword swung towards me.
Let me somehow succeed in blocking that great sword.
A large movement of swinging a great sword.
As a result, a gap was created.
there.
[Assistant Chef]
Sreuk….
“What!?”
The kitchen knives that were in my shadow come out.
It lunges at the gap in the armor.
“Do something bizarre!” The old man
‘s posture was clearly broken, but
he strongly swung the pauldrons on his shoulders to deflect incoming kitchen knives aimed at gaps in his armor.
Whereby.
My kitchen knives could not pierce that armor.
Farsi style….
“…there were more than one number hidden.”
Even the transparent liquid on the dagger could not be expelled.
A huge old man whose face I haven’t even seen yet.
The armor protecting the body melts away.
[Poison that melts the soul – Nepenthes]
No matter how powerful the armor is.
The production workers in Gyeonggi-do were lagging behind compared to the production workers in our unit.
‘The production workers in our unit only recently succeeded in gaining resistance to poison.’
even.
Even our unit does not yet have resistance to poison at the level of [Nepenthes].
Chiiik….
“Are you going to be okay? “Young man?”
Due to the poison flowing from the dagger.
The pauldrons that protected the old man’s shoulders completely melted away.
“You really could have a bullet hole now?”
If the armor melts.
Even if the power is somewhat lowered, I can still cause damage with my pistol.
That old man will have to keep my pistol in check a little longer.
‘good. At this level, I can fight while saving the next move…’
That’s what I thought.
The dagger in my hand was also smeared with [Nepenthes]…
right then.
“…uh?”
Armor that melts due to [Nepenthes].
The contents inside began to become visible.
And…
“What are you?”
I saw the inside.
I couldn’t help but frown.
Of course.
Inside the armor that has been revealed.
“….”
Inside is the body of an ordinary old man.
Not even a strong warrior’s body.
“Are you sure you’re alive?”
In a miserable state.
The body of an old man who has turned pale and is trapped in ice.
“…Did you see it?”
Rather than a living human being.
Because it looked like the frozen corpse of a long time ago was moving.
* * *
‘What is that?’
A body trapped in ice with its entire body mangled.
Just like those monsters, it was moving freely even though it was in the ice.
The pale figure did not look like a living human being.
“Have you seen it?”
When he noticed that I was looking inside his armor.
The old man sounded strangely sad.
“Then there’s no need to hide it anymore.”
He said as he took off his helmet.
Then what appeared.
‘…What is that?’
Just like the body.
Torn, burned and pierced here and there.
A face like an extremely ugly corpse.
“Wow.”
The image I loathed and feared so much.
The dead human body was there.
“You seem very surprised.”
“….”
“You don’t have to be that surprised. “Even though he looks like this, he’s pretty fine.”
The sight of him speaking normally while looking like a corpse.
I felt a great sense of alienation.
“How…did it end up like that?”
“It’s pretty recent.”
With a face without confidence.
The old man continued speaking while putting his helmet on his head again.
“You said you heard a lot about me. “What did you hear?”
“Something like a great person who brought the people of the association together. “He’s incredibly strong.”
“okay. I also thought that assessment was correct. “I thought I was strong enough to rule even in this destroyed world.”
Although it was difficult to recognize the expression on his face as he put his helmet back on.
I could roughly imagine what kind of expression he would be making with that torn and torn face.
“It was a mistake.”
“….”
The president of the association, speaking from the mouths of the people of Gyeonggi-do, was almost like living proof of a myth.
Cut down all powerful enemies with that great sword.
A person who surrendered any hardship and adversity at his feet.
“The first time the illusion was broken was when I went to see that demon.”
The first downfall of the ‘association president myth’.
It came from a story about conquering the demonic realm.
“I met a monster that looked like a huge lion. We thought we could easily defeat it because it resembles a familiar beast. But… while the lion disappeared with three of his men in one mouth. “All my knife did was scratch the leather.”
“….”
“I approached the water with the tired crew. I was planning to take a break near the water… but a huge snake came out of the water, ate my men in one bite, and disappeared. “It was so fast that I only realized there had been an attack after the big guy disappeared.”
“….”
“There was also a huge, strange-looking bird flying in the sky. The wing was torn in half, so I thought that if I ripped off the wing with my knife, I would be able to send the bird crashing to the ground… Can you believe it? Not claws, not teeth. “That feather cut through my armor like a piece of paper.”
The president of the association is clearly a strong man.
He is one of the most powerful men among humans.
but.
“Still, I didn’t want to give up. “I saw a black-furred beast roaring at us from the depths of the demon world.”
“….”
“I felt the magic contained within it… and all I could do was run away.”
Not in this world.
There were plenty of monsters that even such strong men could easily deal with.
‘That’s true even if you just consider the monsters our unit encountered.’
The monster steel-eating tapir that forced our unit to abandon combat for the first time.
A nobleman of the night who raised an army of hundreds of vampires despite being restricted from moving outside.
When her power was restored, Alraune, the Queen of the Forest, created a monster of green magic on her own.
The Pope of the Deep, who pushed hundreds of awakened people to their feet even when he was severely punished by Minjae in the water.
The Green Mane Daejeon, a warrior of the grasslands who overwhelmed our troops even though he was unable to exert his full strength due to the aftermath of the sealing.
Even Seohwan, a prisoner who was trapped inside the gate but possessed enough martial arts that he could have slaughtered our unit members on his own if Kamangi and Ariela were not there.
When viewed using the [combat power meter].
Monsters whose magic glows blue.
‘The reason we were able to defeat them was because they were weakened for some reason or unable to use their full power.’
If they could unleash their full power.
Nana, Corporal Jeon Gwang-il, Corporal Seo Soo-hyuk, and Sergeant Lee Min-jae.
As of now, no matter what awakened person I know.
I couldn’t defeat those beings alone.
And when you look at it from that perspective.
‘The environment of Gyeonggi-do was favorable to humans. ‘It’s incomparable to Gangwon-do.’
Those powerful monsters.
Because they all flocked to the demonic world.
Unlike us, who had to attack them in order to somehow survive.
In this Gyeonggi-do, all monsters that did not meet the standards were flocking to the demonic area.
The president of the association was able to increase his power without even knowing that such monsters existed.
But if you ask me, is that just an advantage?
Not really.
“When I first met such a being… the pride I had built up over the years was completely shattered.”
The power I encountered too late.
Because I would have had no choice but to despair.
“After that we headed southwest. “The reason was to solve the cause of this cold since we failed to conquer the Demonic Realm… but in fact, it was an excuse.”
“What an excuse?”
“Actually, I wasn’t interested in solving the cause itself. Rather, I needed a suitable prey to restore my shattered pride.”
A human being in despair.
Such people sometimes go to great lengths to escape despair.
I thought that if I could solve this cold that hit Gyeonggi-do, the failure I experienced in Magyeong would be resolved. But… I was mistaken.”
But in most cases.
People like that realize it too late.
“My thinking was wrong in the first place. The monsters in that Demon World headed to the Demon World to avoid this cold… Why did they think that the source of this cold was less than that Demon World?”
“…what?”
The despair of falling into oneself.
That despair takes the form of a swamp.
“I saw inside that tent. “I saw the beings lurking inside….”
The more I struggled to get out of that despair.
That body is falling deeper into the swamp faster.
There is deep fear in his eyes through the helmet.
A fear that was not visible even when I thought of the monsters in the Demon World.
“….”
I looked behind the old man.
The black curtain he guards like a gatekeeper.
‘…Fragments of a destroyed world.’
gate.
Kang San encountered its contents.
“And only then did it become clear to me.”
“what?”
“Humanity will never be able to overcome this destruction… and the monsters that have covered this world!”
In those words.
I asked, frowning.
“The wounds on that body. “Did those guys in there make you like that?”
“huh? Oh, you mean these scars?”
It was as if the old man had no idea that I would point out the wound.
He said, a little surprised.
“ah. okay. I guess the reason I was surprised was because of this wound. okay. That could be possible….”
“…?”
“Did you ask about the injuries caused by those inside there? Not really. After seeing that… I was so scared that I could never enter that tent again. “This wound is… what should I say?”
An old man with a bitter smile.
“I tried somehow to restore my pride that had been broken twice… but I guess that was the result of failure.”
“…?”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. “Because it’s shameful.”
He shook his head.
He looked at me again and said.
“You probably want to defeat me and get into that tent behind me.”
“…for now.”
“I have a duty to stop you, but apart from that duty, I want to stop you from going in there.”
“Why?”
“Because you too will end up in despair like me.”
The face, like a corpse trapped in ice, is strangely frowning.
He’s probably smiling bitterly.
“I thought I was strong. “After my pride was broken over and over again… I ended up thinking that the strength I had built up as a human being was useless.”
From the black curtain behind his back.
A tremendous chill hits you.
“Actually, you were the fourth.”
“fourth?”
“The fourth time that completely shattered my pride as the strongest awakened person!”
The fourth time.
Demonic spirit and cold energy.
‘If I am the fourth, what about the third?’
There was no time to wonder about that fact.
Strange phenomena began to occur before my eyes.
“I tried to rebuild my pride until the end… but I wish I had been like this four times. “It was time to give up.”
A gap in the shattered armor.
It is filled with pure white ice.
“Now I will decide not to show any more vain pride.”
“You bastard…no way.”
Until just before, as an awakened person.
Kang San used only his human strength.
“Did you decide to become a monster?”
“I decided to let go of my useless pride.”
From that body.
A bone-chilling chill began to radiate out.