by Road Warrior
“…”
As Kha’nes didn’t seem to take any further actions, Sungchul took a mouthful of ramen to his lips.
SLURP.
The chewy noodles steeped in the salty soup was sucked in through Sungchul’s lips. It wasn’t all that bad by Sungchul’s standards. Accompanied by hunger, which was the greatest side dish, at the top of a mountain with biting wind, it worked his appetite to a degree he had never felt before.
[The Score of this Recipe is… 57 points!]
Even this mysterious person that had judged Korean cuisine so harshly decided to give a relatively decent score for Sungchul’s homemade ramen.
Of course. It was stock made from the highest grade of chicken fit for serving the emperor and mixed with 32 different spices to make the soup.
Sungchul continued his meal regardless of whether Kha’nes observed him or not.
“Over a hundred thousand demons are watching, but I guess food still crawls down your gullet just fine?” Bertelgia mocked him, but Sungchul didn’t hear any of it. This ramen that he had prepared after so long was truly an exquisite dish. If there was a single flaw, it was that there was no Kimchi to accompany it. It goes without saying that Kha’nes who was watching secretly was starting to drool.
Gulp. Her stomach began to rumble as she watched Sungchul eat this strange dish that she had never seen before with such enthusiasm.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t eaten a proper meal since I took on Dragon form.
She had eaten two warhorses in her state as a Dragon, but Kha’nes didn’t remember this fact. As she was drawn by this strange aroma from this foreign food, she unknowingly took a step closer to Sungchul.
“I know you’re there.”
When Kha’nes approached within ten meters, Sungchul stopped his chopsticks and looked toward her to let out a sharp remark.
He saw through my Dragon-tongue magic?! How can that be? He must have good instincts! Kha’nes wore a bitter smile as she pulled off the magical veil that covered her body. The young woman with the eyes of a dragon wearing a thick robe appeared before Sungchul. Bertelgia, who had been complaining, quickly retreated into Sungchul’s pocket at the sudden appearance of this monstrous person.
“Hey there, human.” Kha’nes held up her palm as she threw out a friendly greeting.
“They call you the Enemy of the World?”
***
“What’s your business with me?”
Sungchul spoke out abruptly while continuing to slurp down his noodles.
“I just came to see what you looked like. I was curious as to how the most infamous person in the world would look.”
Kha’nes walked up casually and sat down across from him. Sungchul did not mind her at all. He didn’t feel any hostility from her, and she would need to transform before she could do any meaningful harm to him.
Kha’nes continued to observe him from close by.
He looks like an average human on the outside. Even his clothes are pretty ragged. I thought the thing in his pocket was a person, but I guess her outer form is a book. His stats also… I guess he’s wearing the Deceiver’s Veil?
She couldn’t know his exact strength, but it was clear that Sungchul was not someone to take lightly.
I might have to fight against the Avian King, so it might not be a good idea to waste my strength on someone of this caliber.
Kha’nes decided not to engage Sungchul in her mind. Sungchul continued to eat as Kha’nes watched.
Her voice could be heard in the midst of his meal. “You don’t have to eat so fast. I didn’t come here to fight.”
Kha’nes’ attention shifted away from Sungchul to his food. “What kind of recipe is this? This aroma is foreign to me.”
“It’s just normal food.” Sungchul gulped down the rest of his noodles and began eating the soup with a spoon.
“Mm.” He judged that the taste was decent, and began to slurp down the soup from the helmet.
Kha’nes who was watching this felt drool unwittingly gather in her mouth. “Hey,” she called out to Sungchul.
“What?”
When Sungchul responded curtly, Kha’nes didn’t hesitate and asked her question in a lively voice, “Can I have a taste?”
“…”
Sungchul silently downed the rest of the soup.
“That’s going too far!” Kha’nes pouted out of annoyance, but as she did, Sungchul held something out toward her. On closer inspection, it was some fried noodles and a glass bottle filled with an unknown powder.
“If you want some, cook it yourself. It’s not my hobby to cook ramen for women I don’t know.”
He said as such before quietly opening up his coat. A golden gleam hidden within the coat blinded Kha’nes’ eyes. Her jaw dropped.
No way… that’s the Insignia of a High-class Chef?! And isn’t that a Gold Class as well?!
It had been three hundred years since she had last met a High-class Chef that managed to reach the Gold class. It was already hard enough in this world to meet a High-class Chef, not to mention one of Gold class, so to meet a chef of this caliber was something of a miracle. Kha’nes could feel her apathetic dragon heart beginning to pound with excitement as she looked back and forth between the instant fried noodles and the soup powder.
This looks like a type of military rations. But I haven’t seen this preservation method before. Taking noodles, an ingredient not usually found in preserved food, and frying it in oil to make it last longer is very innovative.
She broke off an end of the instant fried noodles and placed it in her mouth. She could taste the crunchiness and the flavor of oil combined with the savory flour-based noodles in her mouth.
“This is fried with bean oil?” Kha’nes directed her comment toward Sungchul.
“That’s correct.”
Impressive, Sungchul thought, as he paid close attention to Kha’nes’s behavior. Kha’nes was investigating the soup powder inside the glass bottle at this moment. She dabbed an end of a finger onto the powder and made complicated expressions as she fell into deep thought while tasting it.
“Hmm, this is stock made from ground chicken bones with red pepper, garlic, ginger, among other things and made into a powder.”
It was incredibly accurate if not for a few missing ingredients. Sungchul acknowledged that the half-dragon in front of him possessed an incredibly sensitive palate.
“Wait.” When Kha’nes was about to begin cooking, he added the proper amount of water into the helmet himself. “I’ll do it. It’s not hard.”
Everything changed as he realized the person in front of him knew proper food. It also appeared that Kha’nes knew the implications of the broach that Sungchul wore on him. Even though it was a simple dish, Sungchul did not want others to poorly judge the taste of his food.
“Oh my, how friendly.” Kha’nes smiled lightly with her eyes as she observed him cooking. Ramen cooking couldn’t really be improved upon, and there wasn’t much work involved. He waited for the water to boil, dropped in the noodle and soup powder, and gave it a few swirls in between. Sungchul held out the finished dish to Kha’nes after four minutes.
“Try it.”
Kha’nes revealed a huge smile as she pulled out the fork from within her clothes before digging in. Firm noodles that had been properly boiled were slurped through her lips. A flash of interest passed through her lizard-like eyes. “This dish is tasty!”
“Of course.” Sungchul turned his back toward her with his arms crossed. Kha’nes gulped down the entire bowl of ramen in a frenzy while carefully blowing on it.
“That was a great meal, Enemy of the World!” Kha’nes patted her belly while expressing her gratitude.
Sungchul peeked at her through the corner of his eyes, and he could see that she was extremely satisfied. He could feel his pride soaking into his heart as he turned back toward her. “If you have no further business, I would appreciate it if you left this place.”
“I got i
t. I was about to leave anyways.”
“…”
“Aren’t you curious about my business?” Kha’nes spoke subtly while looking at his back.
What a talkative dragon, thought Sungchul.
Some dragons would not open their mouth once in a thousand years, but there are those who would blather on throughout the same thousand years. Kha’nes appeared to be of the latter type.
“In truth, I was planning on heading north. There is a root of Calamity that isn’t well known yet,” continued Kha’nes.
“A root of Calamity?” Sungchul showed interest.
“That’s right. A new Calamity was recorded within the Scripture of Calamity before it disappeared.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Not normally, but if humans keep trying to forcefully stop the progression of Calamity like now, there is bound to be background noise from time to time. The calamity that had appeared momentarily might have been a consequence of that”
“May I know which Calamity that was?” asked Sungchul.
Kha’nes briefly considered Sungchul’s request before she opened her mouth to speak in a serious manner that was unlike her.
“The Final King. It is a Calamity regarding the Avian King with black wings.”
“Ah, that one.”
Her revelation took the wind out of his sails as the Calamity had already been resolved by his own hands. Sungchul’s disappointment was soon revealed on his face. Kha’nes felt perplexed at his reaction and hastily threw out a retort.
“Eh? Why are you making that face? Aren’t you interested? It’s the Calamity of the Avian King!”
“Sorry, but it wasn’t something I wanted to hear about. It seems like I’ve taken away too much of your time, so shouldn’t you get going already?” Sungchul coldly chased her away.
Kha’nes revealed more information with a hurt expression on her face, but none of it could evoke Sungchul’s interest.
The half-dragon Kha’nes had to climb down from the hill after being treated to a bowl of ramen. “Visit the Tower of Recluse some time. I’ll give you a good surprise if you cook some good food for me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He had been planning on visiting the Tower of Recluse in a day or two regardless. He wanted to see the change on the Scripture of Calamity himself after eliminating the Devil King Hesthnius.
After the noisy Kha’nes had departed, silence returned to the peak of Harupaya Ridge. Sungchul let the time pass while sitting by the fire.
–
It was the fourth day since Sungchul had situated himself on Harupaya Ridge. He could sense an unusual number of Observer’s Eyes on him since very late last night. As morning approached, a group of mages had moved to someplace not far away through Teleportation. Sungchul watched the approach of these unfamiliar magicians with an indifferent gaze from his seat.
The mages were wary of Sungchul and approached him carefully. When they finally reached him, they showed him proper respect by speaking in a lower register. “Lord of Heracles, I greet the Demolisher.”
Sungchul could immediately sense that the mages had approached him with ill intentions.
“What do you want?” he urged the mages with a voice mixed with revulsion.
“It might be more appropriate to introduce ourselves before we get down to business. We are a part of the Followers of Calamity, who you detest so much.”
The Demonic Weapon Cassandra appeared in Sungchul’s hand. “Get lost.”
The mages trembled slightly at the sight of the fiery whip in Sungchul’s grip, but they pressed on despite their fears. “We have only come here to deliver a message from a certain person.”
“What? A certain person? Speak plainly.”
Cassandra moved about like an angry snake and struck a nearby boulder. The entire boulder shattered at the moment of impact and rolled off the hill in pieces.
One of the mages visibly wavered as though the tension had overwhelmed him. Among them a person who appeared to be the eldest broke the silence with his head still bowed.
“Our master, The One Who Guides the Calamity, wishes to meet you personally.”
The One Who Guides the Calamity. It was a title Sungchul had never heard before, but he had heard from Elijah earlier that the Followers of Calamity now had a leader.
The person mentioned by Elijah and this guy, are they one and the same?
The face of a single woman passed by Sungchul’s memories. It was the face of a blonde woman with a pale skin as white as snow and dreamlike eyes that appeared and faded like smoke.
Vestiare.
Sungchul glared at the mages with eyes filled with hostility. The mages didn’t dare to meet his gaze.
“Why is that woman looking to meet me?”
“W-we cannot dare to pretend that we understand that one’s intentions. We only wish to say that that one wishes to help you. We only hope that you don’t attack her on sight…” The mage didn’t even manage to finish his thoughts when the Demonic Weapon Cassandra had split them all in half.
SRRKT.
The halves of every corpse rolled off the hill. He felt the metallic stench of blood brush past his nose as he turned around.
“Why don’t you start revealing yourself?”
The One that Guides the Calamity was already here. A blonde woman in a white robe appeared from behind a boulder like a mirage. The Seventh Hero, Vestiare.
The Calamity-to-come revealed a cruel smile as she stepped toward Sungchul.
“As expected, you have good senses.” Vestiare spoke with a soft smile on her face.
“Looking for an early grave?”
“You could see it that way.” A magical formation appeared at the tip of her finger, and a single scroll appeared. This unusual scroll had a mixture of crimson and dark coloration. The scroll lifted itself into the air and floated toward Sungchul.
“I’ve heard you have been having much difficulty getting rid of the Demon King. You will be able to rid yourself of that problem much more quickly with this.”
Sungchul grabbed the scroll Vestiare had handed over, and when he did, information about the scroll appeared in his eyes.
[Scroll of Harmageddon]
Grade: Epic
Type: Scroll
Effect: Casts the Destructive Magic “Harmageddon”
Note: It immediately unleashes the most powerful destructive magic, “Harmageddon .”
Sungchul’s eyes twitched. Harmageddon? Isn’t that an 8th circle magic? I’ve heard of its name, but I never got to see it in person.
It was unprecedented territory unexplored by any School of Magic. This kind of fortune was so simply handed to Sungchul.
“One receives greater harm from magical attacks in ethereal form. This means that it’s not strictly necessary to use Harmageddon, but isn’t there nothing better to make sure the job is done right?” Vestiare spoke in a dream-like voice.
Sungchul’s hand that held the scroll trembled slightly as he asked, “Why are you giving me this?”
Vestiare held a faint smile at Sungchul’s question. “Because we can only step up when the Demon King falls.”
***
The Floating Palace. It was the dwelling of the Emperor and the heart of the most powerful nation within the continent, the Human Empire. A special guest had been invited to the Floating Palace by the Emperor and been granted audience.
“Speak, Regressor.”
The Emperor who sat on a throne made of gold spoke in a low voice, and the young woman who was prostrated before him finally raised her head. Her identity was none other than Sujin Lee. She took care in speaking to the first among the Champions of the Continent and the one most deserving of the title of “The most powerful man in the Continent.”
“That’s right, your highness. Sungchul will take care of the Demon King all by himself after revealing himself to the world. This is the future I have seen with my own eyes.”
“How did Sungc
hul kill the Demon King?” asked the Emperor.
It was rare for the Emperor to inquire about the details. For a man who was the head of an imperial hegemony which was in control of the continent, he was only given vague reports on the situation. But he asked about such a seemingly negligible detail nonetheless.
Sujin felt the Emperor’s curiosity weighing on her body like countless tons of weight, but she calmly proceeded to answer him. “I do not know, as I wasn’t able to see it myself.”
“Is that so?” A brief look of disappointment flashed across his eyes.
Sujin spoke again. “However, according to my companions, an explosion on a scale never witnessed before took place. They say a massive explosion comparable to the atomic explosion in the world of the Summoned enveloped the surrounding area.”
“Is it magic? I can’t imagine that Sungchul brought a nuke with him. Well… more importantly, that kind of intricate device would become unusable due to the curse.”
“It becomes recorded historically as magic, but the important part is the aftermath.”
“Isn’t the result that the Demon King is killed?”
Sujin firmly shook her head at the Emperor’s question. “The Enemy of the World also becomes swept up in the explosion and is left in a critical state.”
“Hoh.” A strange light flashed across the Emperor’s eyes. Sujin nodded and spoke in a stern voice as though she had understood his thoughts.
“If we had pushed back against the Enemy of the World a little harder, the future I have seen might have been avoided.”
Sujin hadn’t seen it directly, but every one of her period spoke of the same thing; that moment was the final opportunity to kill the Enemy of the World. If they had a few more soldiers with a few more talented fighters, they might have been able to squeeze the life out of Sungchul’s throat.
The Emperor looked at Sujin. There wasn’t a single mark of deceit in her eyes.
The first priority is to keep the Demon King breathing, but if that becomes impossible, it might not be a bad option to eliminate the guy who might become a threat.