Chapter 795: Golden Land

RUSTLE-RUSTLE-RUSTLE-RUSTLE!!!

Avaritia’s golden light.

The gray-white light burrowing into that golden light.

That light was mine.

The sight of my power burrowing into his light in order to cook it.

He may have noticed the activation of the Authority.

But he would not have known exactly what kind of power that Authority contained.

But...... at this very moment.

=You are trying to cook my light!!!=

Seeing his own light being eroded, he realized what my Authority was.

The enraged Avaritia raised his sword.

The sword wrapped in darklight swung, touching my power as it eroded his light, but.

CLANG!!!

Though it was difficult, I was able to deflect the sword.

My light continued eroding his light as though nothing had happened.

‘That light belongs to Avaritia.’

Therefore.

Ordinarily, even for me, cooking that light should have been impossible.

Because I could not cook someone else’s possession while its owner was still plainly present.

“Now that it has entered my kitchen.”

Not anymore.

That light still belonged to him.

At the same time.

“You should have worried about becoming my ingredient!”

It could be cooked by me.

Because it had become my ingredient.

CRRRRRRRRRRRRACK!!!

I clenched the hand I had extended toward the light.

And tore away exactly as much golden light as I had grasped.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Avaritia’s Golden Radiance]

[A mighty divinity counted among the strongest in the entire universe.]

[The Golden Lord, the Archdemon of Greed.]

[It is Avaritia’s pure power, and the very breath that flows from his soul.]

[At the moment the Golden Lord, Avaritia, was born, the concepts of ‘perfection, glory, gold, and brilliance’ were born within the universe.]

[At the moment he inherited the Throne of Greed, an endless emotion of greed came to dwell behind gold and glory.]

Within this kitchen, it did not matter who had originally owned each ingredient.

No matter what it was.

If I, the owner of the kitchen, designated it as an ingredient, then it became an ingredient.

That was the zeroth law I had imposed upon this world.

The Authority held by the master of this world.

‘In Mirinae’s world, I cooked other divinities with this.’

The divinities that refused to be cooked until the very end.

After fixing their identities as my ingredients, I forcibly cooked them.

Even the remnants of those tremendously powerful divinities, even their last remaining souls, could not escape this law.

‘What should I do this time.’

It was good that I had torn away his gold as an ingredient.

But cooking was fundamentally about harmony.

Combining various ingredients in various ways was what gave cooking its flavor.

Eating this gold as it was would not be bad, but it seemed there would be a way to cook it more deliciously.

In the end, this battle was a contest over whose light could become stronger.

Even if I could tear away Avaritia’s golden light as an ingredient.

He, too, could destroy our light.

In that case...... it was only right to use this light to strengthen our light.

The soldiers were already busy enduring the ‘stat-increasing potion’.

Even if I cooked this gold and fed it to them, they would not be able to gain much power immediately.

In that case.

‘Ah, right.’

Looking down at the ground.

I soon came up with an interesting idea.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Fragments of an Old City]

What lay on the ground were miserably destroyed fragments.

The remnants of what had once been an enormous city, destroyed in the aftermath of the battle between the beastkin and Avaritia.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Fragments of the Mobile Fortress - Bimana]

And.

There was also the fortress that had been destroyed by Morzan and Avaritia and crashed to the ground.

Fragments that had made up that fortress were scattered there as well.

The ground was littered with an absurd number of fragments.

And now.

Everything within my domain was my ingredient.

“Kkamangi!”

As it happened.......

There was also someone on this battlefield who would absolutely love those ingredients.

[Cooking begins!]

FWAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

All the minerals that had composed the enormous city and fortress.

Avaritia’s golden light settled upon those minerals.

The metalwork began to shine beautifully and rose into the sky according to my will.

[The dish has been completed!]

[Golden Fortress City Infused with the Care of a Demigod-Class Chef]

I gathered those countless ingredients into one.

And made them into a single ‘dish’.

[Golden Land]

What rose into the sky was an enormous mass of gold.

The form of a flying city made of golden light.

And while looking at that city.

“A special meal!”

I shouted toward the ground.

Gold was certainly a good ingredient, but it was not suitable for humans to eat.

That was why, when it was used in cooking, it was only used by sprinkling a little powder.

Fragments of a city or fortress went without saying.

Feeding them to the Legion soldiers...... well, it was not that I could not, but they were not suitable ingredients.

But...... there was one.

[The one who ate your cooking achieves miraculous growth!]

No.

[Steel-Eating Maek]

There was one creature.

Who absolutely loved these ingredients.

***

A shape burst out from the ground.

It had the form of an enormous bear with black minerals covering its body.

In terms of seniority, it was one of the oldest members of the Legion.

A creature that had joined the Legion even earlier than most of the soldiers.

And at the same time, a monster that had nearly destroyed the Legion in its earliest days.

[Species : Steel-Eating Maek]

Even its appearance back then had not been the limit of the Maek’s potential.

Because the Legion knew that its potential was far too immense, we had suppressed its growth.

Exactly to the level the Legion could control.

We had limited its food so that it could grow only that much.

But.

[Lv.??? Mythical Beast]

There was no longer any need for that.

What appeared on its status window...... was expressed as ???.

But it was clearly a level indicator.

‘We fed you and let you sleep so diligently all this time, so it would be disappointing if you had not......!’

Perhaps the years we had spent together had not been meaningless.

It had already resolved to remain with the Legion.

“We have never once let you eat without limit.”

And if that was the case.

“Now, eat until you are full!!!”

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

At my shout.

My dish floating in the sky.

The enormous golden city fell toward the ground.

And.

CRUNCH!!!

The enormous bear covered in black steel charged at the city and bit off a mouthful.

But.

‘......The difference in size is too great.’

Kkamangi was already dozens of meters tall.

But even after a creature that large charged at it.

The city it was biting was so enormous that even Kkamangi looked like a dot against it.

It was only natural, since it was the result of cooking together Bimana’s outer walls and the ruined buildings of Pyongyang.

I had given it to him to eat until he was full.

But even considering that.

There was far too much.

Even Kkamangi clearly had a limit to how much it could eat in one meal.

But...... I was not worried that he would leave any food behind.

Because.

‘That light is Avaritia’s gold.’

CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!!!

Kkamangi continued devouring the city.

Its size grew larger and larger as it swallowed the city.

Until the form of the enormous bear changed into something like an even larger elephant.

‘His epithet is the Golden Lord.’

CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!!!

The more it ate, the larger it grew.

And the larger its mouth became.

The creature that had taken the form of an elephant soon became dinosaur-like and swallowed the city even faster.

‘And...... the Archdemon of Greed.’

Even though it had already eaten an enormous amount.

Rather than becoming full, it continued swallowing the city with tremendous force, as though it were still hungry.

Even though it had long since surpassed the amount it could originally handle in a single meal.

It continued eating the city.

[Golden Fortress City Infused with the Care of a Demigod-Class Chef]

The reason it could do so was simple.

[A fortress containing the full concentration of Babylonian technology, and a city created by the humans of old.]

[And a dish created by infusing them with the power of the Archdemon of Greed, Avaritia.]

[Due to the demon’s Authority, it contains powerful greed.]

[For the desire to want something, greed, has no end.]

[Behind this beautiful city dwells an immense greed that makes one want to eat more no matter how much one eats.]

This was a dish made by mixing in Avaritia’s energy.

That greed itself was one of the main ingredients of the dish.

Thanks to that, eating one’s fill of the dish did not make one full.

The more one ate, the hungrier one became.

A dish that stirred greed, making one want to eat even more no matter how much one continued eating.

Well.......

Adding all that talk about greed and such made it sound like quite a bad dish.

‘My profession is chef.’

And.

To a chef, a dish that made someone want to eat more no matter how much they ate.......

‘Is the best kind of dish......!’

It was nothing more than the highest praise.

And soon.

-Grrrr.......

The enormous golden city disappeared without leaving even a trace.

And the enormous beast that had swallowed the city took its place.

The form that had reached the stage of resembling a dinosaur continued swallowing the city and underwent endless growth.

Perhaps merely growing larger had not been enough.

Three pairs of wings appeared upon its back, an enormous horn rose from its head, and its four legs swelled massively.

That was probably the final point of potential that Kkamangi.......

The [Steel-Eating Maek] could reach.

‘......A dragon.’

Its appearance was...... how should I put it.

It resembled the lizard monsters from Western legends.

***

A dragon.

A mythical being with four legs and bat-like wings.

Black energy flowed from its center.

And when that energy touched the fragments of the golden city I had cooked, it attached them to the outer surface of its body.

A dragon shaped as though golden scales covered flesh made of black mist.

‘The shape is somewhat different...... but the immortals of the Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts were similar.’

The immortals I had seen in Mirinae’s memories.

They, [N O V E L I G H T] too, had taken the form of dragons.

Although there was a difference between Western dragons and Eastern dragons.

So the form Kkamangi reached when its potential was pushed to the extreme was also that of a dragon.

‘The form reached by the immortals was a newly created body capable of containing their status.’

Perhaps.

The form of the species called dragons was the most rational shape for those seeking to reach transcendence.

A kind of convergent evolution reached by most beings attempting to reach the limits of mortality.

And.

-Grrrr.......

That enormous dragon.

The golden-scaled dragon made by binding fragments of the golden city together with Kkamangi’s black energy glared at me.

“......No way.”

Sensing the will contained in that gaze, I spoke with a hollow laugh.

“You are still hungry?”

It was absurd to me.

I had fed him that much food, and he was still hungry?

‘Hm, maybe I should not have told him to eat until he was full.’

Avaritia’s energy.

From the moment he ate a dish containing that endless greed, there was no way it could fill his stomach.

I had only meant for him to enjoy it, but he seemed to genuinely want to eat more.

In that case.

“Sorry, but the dish from just now is sold out because the ingredients are exhausted.”

-Grrrr......!

“So.”

I chuckled.

And looked at the being swinging his spear at me in fury.

At that golden giant.

“If you are hungry!”

Had he understood my intent from those words alone?

The golden-scaled dragon woven from darkness.

Its enormous wings flapped...... and the Legion’s gray-white light settled behind its back.

“Go find something to eat yourself!”

-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!

And soon.

It charged toward the enormous prey capable of satisfying that greed.