Fwaaaaash!
A massive surge of indigo mana ca pouring toward my body.
The density of that mana was so extre that even though I was viewing it through the [Combat Power ter], I could barely see straight in front of .
'...Impressive.'
As that enormous mana ca crashing down on , for a mont, I wondered if, like Karhin, maybe this one had changed from before because its power as a vampire had grown stronger.
But—
[Trait]
[Taste Bud Enhancent]
through the sensation at the tip of my tongue, I was able to understand the aning behind this action.
'Protection.'
The Grand Duke’s retainers around us were all strong and versatile.
No matter how good my [Environntal Assimilation] was, there was no telling when I might be discovered.
So by wrapping inside its own mana, it was shielding from their surveillance.
-What in the world are you thinking...?!
And then.
Inside that, a flustered voice stabbed into my mind.
-After everything I went through to help you escape, are you saying you still haven’t returned to the Legion?
Maybe it thought speaking out loud would cause problems.
The voice reached only inside my head, through [ntal Speech].
-And instead of simply hiding sowhere quietly... you actually had the nerve to co back here!
Listening to that, I thought to myself.
The presence I could feel beyond this mana was overwhelmingly powerful and savage.
This was probably... sothing closer to the true essence of that vampire species.
It felt a little unfamiliar, because its presence was so completely different from back when it used to do nothing but mooch als off .
-I went through all that trouble just to send you away...!
Still.
'The sa as ever.'
The "taste" I sensed from that voice was the sa as before.
Whatever level it had risen to aside—
-At least it’s a relief. It seems the others still haven’t noticed yet. Even now, you should withdraw.
its essence was still exactly the one I knew.
-I’ll speak to them and draw their attention...
-Thanks, but—
But.
I was grateful its essence hadn’t changed, sure.
-There’s sothing I ca to tell you.
-...!
Still, so things had to be said.
-You need to run from here.
-What are you...?
-I found out what the Grand Duke wants. That bastard’s goal is to raise you up enough, then eat you.
There wasn’t enough ti to explain in detail.
-Its goal is to devour all the heads of the bloodlines except itself. What it’s doing now—raising you—is just stuffing feed into a goose before slaughter so it can fatten you up as much as possible.
That was why I tried to explain it as quickly as I could, but—
-...I see.
Ariella’s response to that was—
-So that is why you forced your way back here. To take with you.
-...?
—not quite what I had expected.
***
-I understand. It could not have been easy for you to give up a fighting force like ... Even so, this is not sothing worth risking your life over.
At that, I frowned and said,
-You don’t believe .
-I already know that you do not wish to give up a fighting force like . In that state, even if you suddenly say sothing like that... it is not sothing I can easily believe.
At that, I forced down my frustration and said,
-...You knew the rumors about the Grand Duke were bad too. Do you really think a bastard like that would help you grow stronger for absolutely no reason?
-Well. It may have so other purpose it has not revealed to .
-Then—!
-Even so, it is still too much. To say that purpose is to devour ... is that not rather extre?
I had thought about that part too.
But there was sothing I could infer.
-I t a vampire nad Karhin. He said the blood of other monsters couldn’t properly restore his strength, but strangely enough, noble blood alone could replenish it fully. I don’t know the exact reason either, but it ans cannibalizing your own kind is effective for increasing your power. The reason that bastard tried to eat the other Grand Dukes ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) must definitely be related to that—
-Karhin, you say.
But.
At those words, Ariella tilted her head and said,
-Who is that?
-A marquis of the Neferat Bloodline...!
-I have... never heard that na before.
And then.
Only after hearing that did I finally realize it.
-Grand Duke Kirchhoff was suspicious by nature. That suspicion extended even to bloodlines that had received its blood. That is why it was famous for keeping very few around it.
Karhin was definitely an old noble.
But Ariella was a vampire who had been sealed away in an era that would qualify as "ancient" to vampires of the present age.
-A marquis is no minor noble. If it was soone acknowledged by that suspicious Grand Duke, there is no way I would not have heard the na even once.
No matter how long Karhin had survived and how high a rank it had risen to,
it could still belong to a later generation than Ariella.
The reason I had been able to infer the Grand Duke’s purpose was because of what Karhin had told .
Which ant, conversely—
'There’s no proof.'
Saying, Karhin told —
would sound completely unconvincing to soone who didn’t even know Karhin existed.
And besides.
I had inferred the Grand Duke’s purpose from what I heard from Karhin, yes, but in truth—
'It’s not a one-hundred-percent certainty.'
At most, based on what Karhin said, it was highly likely.
Even if Grand Duke Valarak’s objective really was to devour all the other Grand Dukes,
by the ti it actually began putting that plan into action, the Isabella and Karshtein Bloodlines had already been annihilated.
aning the plan was impossible from the start.
Unless it was a complete idiot,
the odds were low that it had blindly carried out a plan that was dood to fail from the outset.
So maybe there had been so other reason it had gone around devouring the other Grand Dukes, and maybe there was so other reason it was raising Ariella too.
-I cannot... believe such words so easily.
-...
Talking about the Grand Duke’s objective or whatever—
wasn’t going to persuade this one.
{My lady Marquis?}
Right then.
{Your aura has grown a little rough. Has sothing happened...}
A noble, apparently having sensed that sothing was off, spoke to Ariella.
“Nothing. Just continue what you were doing.”
{...Yes.}
It nodded after hearing Ariella speak.
But even then, as if sothing still bothered it, it kept glancing this way with its head tilted.
-...They are not ordinary guards.
Ariella spoke as though conscious of that noble’s gaze.
-Helping another grow is considered a lowly task, so it cannot be entrusted to high-ranking nobles. That is why those with relatively low titles were selected... but title is not everything. They are rely young, and thus have had fewer chances to grow. Even so, they are talented young nobles personally acknowledged by the Grand Duke, among the most capable in the bloodline.
-...
-And the weakness lower-ranked nobles normally have—the quality of their troops—does not matter here, because the ones under their command are direct retainers bestowed by the Grand Duke. I have seen it myself. Their abilities are genuine. No matter how capable you are, you will not be able to hide from their eyes for long.
And then.
Looking at with worried eyes, it said,
-It is not too late, even now. Withdraw at once...
-More importantly, there are a few things I want to ask.
I—
spoke evenly.
-Why do you want the Grand Duke’s help?
-What...? Why ask that now?
-It’s fine. Just answer.
When I said it like the noble in front of us didn’t even matter, Ariella hesitated, looking like it couldn’t understand , then finally answered.
-...You already know. It is because I am certain this is the way for to beco stronger. In truth, even now, I have obtained power beyond comparison to what I had when I was with you.
-Stronger... Is that all?
-You. What in the world have you been talking about this whole ti?
-If you get stronger like that, what do you want to do with it?
At those words,
Ariella seed to sense that sothing was off.
Frowning, it said,
-Have I not told you more than once? I will amass power like this... and one day create a kingdom of my own.
A kingdom, huh.
-It sounds impressive when you put it that way. But why the hell do you want to make sothing like that?
-...You. Are you trying to interrogate ? I have been overlooking this until now out of personal feeling... but I would like you to understand that any further than this is becoming rather unpleasant.
-Even so. I’m curious.
At that mont.
{...Forgive the interruption, my lady Marquis.}
A noble pushed through the curtain of mana Ariella had created around .
Its eyes were flashing, as if so kind of power was working through them.
-Do you not understand this is no ti to indulge your curiosity? Why are you not fleeing already...!
-I’m asking—
Even if it had beco certain sothing was there, its footsteps ca in without hesitation.
-Why?
-...Why, you ask?!
Ignoring those approaching footsteps, I asked it.
{...Just as I thought.}
As if it had found sothing, the noble raised its fist, its eyes sharp.
That grotesque, monstrous strength gathered in its arm, and—
-Because I don’t want to be abandoned ever again!
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
That fist
slamd into the spot where I had just been standing.
Kwaaaang!!!
{An intruder!}
The noble’s punch left a massive crater in the ground.
At the sa ti—
{An intruder?}
{Viscount— no, the Marquis is under attack!}
{Brothers, all of you, fall back to the rear!}
The forces of the nobles and the Grand Duke’s retainers, who had been fully absorbed in exterminating Ariella’s prey, swiftly wheeled around.
'They should’ve stayed focused on the hunt.'
They were impressively competent in the most unnecessary way.
Elite nobles of the bloodline acknowledged by the Grand Duke, and even the Grand Duke’s direct retainers.
Every last one of them was strong enough that even a full-effort fight against a single one would be rough.
'...No helping it.'
The doctor had told to avoid doing this, but—
...Well!
It’s not like patients are famous for listening to doctors.
[Hero-Class Chef’s Sincere—]
[Trait: Berserk]
The blood inside my body began to whirl rapidly, and my physical abilities, already beyond the reach of other awakened, were pushed even further.
[Hero-Class Chef’s Sincere—]
[Trait: Combat Sense]
To support a body strengthened to the point that even I could barely handle it, keen senses were carved throughout my entire being.
[Hero-Class Chef’s Sincere—]
[Trait: Divine Enhancent]
From that body, a faint light began to spill.
[Absolute Taste]
[Applied Cooking Effects: 3]
After receiving treatnt from the doctor, I had almost never stacked cooking effects through Absolute Taste.
Maybe once or twice at most.
And for good reason.
Stacking cooking effects wrecked my health.
I had always known it was better not to do it, but back then I had been forced to, to make up for what my abilities lacked.
But after mowing down countless bosses in an instant at the royal castle of Belsnickel, while everyone else was stuck at level 29, I had broken past level 40.
And with levels, the higher the number got, the wider the gap in growth beca.
So ordinarily, there was no reason for to lack combat power.
{Die, intruder!!!}
...This was not one of those tis.
I looked at the countless fists pouring in before .
Sharp things like beast scales had sprouted across them, hardening them, and the absurdly swollen muscles held enough raw power to shatter mountains.
But—
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
[Chef’s Eye]
even so.
To a chef’s eyes, they were nothing more than ingredients.
Following the "recipe" that rose before my eyes—
[Dokkogu Style (Consecrated)]
[Blessed by priests of exceptional skill, it temporarily gains the attributes of “Sun” and “Holy”!]
I raised the kitchen knife blazing hot in my hand,
[Martial Art - Cut]
and, moving in a motion that had now beco completely natural to my body, I swung it smoothly.
Slice—
The ti it took to swing the blade was short.
But—
Shkshkshkshkshk...!
{...!}
{Our brothers...!?}
even that brief mont was enough to reduce those powerful vampires into neatly butchered at.
{All units, fall back one step!!!}
Then,
the monsters that had rushed in to kill in an instant all retreated from by a single step at the sa ti.
And then—
{Species, unknown!}
{Affiliation, unknown!}
{Identity, unknown!}
The noble whose flashing eyes had first discovered studied closely, then shouted in a loud voice.
{Strength... at minimum, count level!}
At the sa ti, the red-eyed host began moving in perfect unison.
{Viscount Liuros, I will command the left flank.}
{Viscount Larok, I’ll take the right.}
{Viscount Valin, I’ll handle the rear.}
As if their minds were linked, that mass of troops intermingled organically and shifted into place in an instant.
And then, a mont later—
{Then I, Vice Count Valeri, will take the front!}
Vice Count.
According to Ariella, a title held by soone who could beco a count the mont those above gave permission.
Around that bastard, a massive encirclent took shape around .
'...Impressive.'
Each one of them was on the sa level as Ariella had been back in the days when I treated her like my trump card.
And that Vice Count bastard, I figured, was about on par with Ariella after she had succeeded in taking the monsters of Gyeonggi Province as her retainers.
{Absolutely do not let that intruder bastard so much as leave a scratch on the body of my lady Marquis!!!}
And the one standing behind bastards like that was—
the one who used to do nothing but listen to my orders.
Hell.
There was really only one thing to call it.
Quite the promotion.
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