Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 164

Adolf was taken aback.

The search that had lasted nearly a month had yielded no results.

The White Dragon had vanished as if it had melted away.

Moreover, he was concerned about the Sword Master who had fought Walter Keitel.

It had become difficult to roam the North freely as before.

In the end, would he have to return to his homeland, bearing all these failures?

For Adolf, who had lived at the top his entire life, it was a humiliation worse than death.

At that moment, the ‘Eye of Graeae’ reacted.

The ability to detect the target when nearby was activated.

The White Dragon, which had disappeared without a trace, must have unleashed its true power.

“The White Dragon is very close! One mistake is enough! Heinrich, lead the Tartarus unit and block its escape route!”

Merlin had provided Adolf with ten land-based Chimeras, as he was struggling to find the dragon’s trail.

Loyal subordinates who would follow any order.

However, their abilities were only at the Sword Knight level, likely because they were made from ordinary humans.

“Moving on too large a scale might alert the Virtue [referring to a powerful, potentially interfering force].”

“Do not worry about that. Walter Keitel will stop him.”

Walter’s face showed a hint of embarrassment.

Walter’s Aura Blade was specialized in infiltration and escort rather than direct combat.

He had been protecting Adolf using that ability until now.

“Your Highness, please reconsider. Your safety could be at risk.”

His words showed loyalty to his lord.

However, Adolf heard it as if he was being doubted.

In the end, his lips twisted grotesquely, and harsh words poured out.

“What are you saying, Walter? Do you doubt my skills?”

“N, no, that’s not it…”

“What right do you have to say that! Isn’t it all because of your mistakes that the situation has become so bad!”

“…”

Thanks to Cainchel’s invulnerability to poison, he had missed capturing the enemy’s Sword Master.

Moreover, he had been caught crossing the border.

He had no excuse, even if he had ten mouths.

Adolf had shown great restraint by not drawing his sword immediately.

“But I am merciful. If you succeed in capturing the White Dragon, I will erase all your past mistakes.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. I will complete the mission with my life. All for the glory of the Akard Empire.”

“For the glory of the Akard Empire.”

Thus, the Sword Master belonging to the Pentagram [likely a high-ranking military unit], the strongest military group in Deutschland [German name for Germany, used here for stylistic effect], crossed the pure white snowfield.

And when they arrived at the place where the Eye of Graeae had detected the presence of the White Dragon.

A strange man was eating meat.

After a moment of bewilderment.

Cainchel, having finished his meal, drew Durandal [likely a legendary sword].

Only then did Adolf realize that he had been deceived.

“…I don’t know what you did, but I will kill you right here. No, the crime of mocking me is severe. I can’t kill you easily. I will peel off all the skin from your body, then dry you very slowly to death!”

“Well, wipe the drool from your mouth before you talk.”

Adolf’s mouth was wet with the saliva he had drooled.

To think that he would want to eat just by watching someone else eat!

It was the most humiliating feeling he had ever experienced.

“Y, you insolent bastard! How dare you insult me like that!”

Adolf drew his sword as if he couldn’t bear it any longer.

Swish-!

At the same time, Aura exploded like a storm.

The sound disappeared, and the darkness that had been lying low on the snowfield receded. Replacing it was Adolf’s brilliantly shining Aura.

It was a sacred light that did not suit his violent personality, which claimed to be a tyrant.

It looked as if he was holding a sun in the shape of a sword.

“I was going to kill you slowly and painfully, but I am merciful. Die by my Aura Blade Licht [Light in German]!”

The moment Adolf spoke the name, a giant sword of light covered Cainchel.

An overwhelming explosion of power that was impossible to defend against!

That was Adolf’s Aura Blade Licht.

@

Elizabeth, who was facing Walter with her sword a short distance away, screamed.

“K, kiddo!”

Then Lohengrin was startled and widened his eyes.

“To be distracted during a fight… Get a grip, Elizabeth!”

“B, but Cainchel hasn’t even manifested his Aura Blade yet! It’s impossible for him to fight Adolf alone! We have to help him!”

“Dealing with the enemy in front of us comes first!”

“Sorry, kiddo… I’ll finish this as quickly as possible and come to help you, so just hang in there a little longer!”

Elizabeth sighed softly and glared at Walter Keitel.

Lohengrin was right. Defeating the enemy in front of her was the priority.

A heretic who used poison as a weapon.

The memory of being poisoned by him and hovering on the brink of death was still vivid.

“Hello, long time no see?”

“…You’re still alive. Elizabeth, the Sword Master of Philanthropy.”

“The kiddo made me a very fragrant tomato soup. After drinking it, I felt like a tiger.”

“Kuh…”

Walter took out a bag of poison from his pocket. Fortunately, the man with unprecedented poison resistance was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you going to use poison again? But surely, knowing your opponent’s abilities, you wouldn’t come unprepared, would you?”

At Elizabeth’s signal, everyone around her took out their canteens.

Inside was cold tomato soup.

“Everyone, remember. One sip every 3 minutes. If more time passes, you have to drink the soup again.”

Walter Keitel’s eyes turned red.

Keitel was a famous family of poisoners in Deutschland.

The number of people who had lost their lives to the poison they created was nearly a thousand.

The Keitel family’s poison was made by mixing several poisons according to a set ratio.

Therefore, it could not be detoxified with existing medicines.

It was already surprising that there was someone who was immune to the poison, but they even had an antidote.

“How dare you use such an obvious trick… !”

This was clearly a bluff to make him give up on the poison.

Judging so, Walter Keitel sprayed poison into the fog.

If they inhaled even a mouthful of this, they would be poisoned and collapse, vomiting blood.

But an unbelievable thing happened.

Elizabeth and Lohengrin, as well as the knights of the Grand Cross, were all perfectly fine.

Slice-!

“Kuaaaaak!”

Elizabeth’s sword cut off one of Walter Keitel’s arms. He was so focused on spreading the poison that he couldn’t even block it properly.

“I told you, poison doesn’t work.”

“H, how, how did you get the antidote…”

“As I said, this is just tomato soup? Oh, do you want to try some? It’s really delicious.”

“T, tomato soup…?”

Elizabeth shouted at the knights who were drinking tomato soup in the poisonous fog.

“You bastards! One sip every 3 minutes! Don’t gulp it down just because it’s delicious!”

In the end, the deadly poison created by the Keitel family, the pride of Deutschland’s poison-makers, did not play any role.

While Elizabeth was fighting Walter.

The knights of the Grand Cross, led by Lohengrin, were putting up a good fight against Tartarus.

“Kuh, where did such a monster come from!”

Originally, Elizabeth and Lohengrin were supposed to join forces as soon as Adolf appeared.

But they were held back by the land-based Chimera Tartarus, which suddenly appeared.

“Why is their skin so tough?!”

“They’re not ordinary monsters! Use Aura Swords!”

Compared to the Tartarus that Cainchel had fought in Krolltra Castle, they were inferior in terms of power and speed.

But there were as many as 10 of them.

The knights of the Grand Cross activated their Aura Swords all at once. Only by wielding them could they barely inflict wounds on Tartarus’s body.

But then an unbelievable thing happened.

“What, they’re regenerating!?”

“N, no way, a Chimera made from T, Trolls?”

“Geooooooo-!”

Tartarus, having finished regenerating, swung the axe it was holding. A knight who failed to block it properly had his arm blown away.

“K, kuaaaaak!”

A land-based Chimera created by gathering only the strengths of numerous monsters. Even a Sword Knight was no match for it.

Lohengrin gritted his teeth. The old knight Heinrich, who was fighting him, was stronger than he had expected.

“I’m sorry, Sir Lohengrin. I wanted to fight you on a more proper stage.”

“You’re talking too much for someone who commands monsters that look like they crawled out of hell.”

“I am only following my lord’s orders.”

The old knight Heinrich, with his white beard hanging down.

However, his body was as robust as that of a young knight in his 30s.

Heinrich used a mass of Aura to create clones of himself.

Dealing with all of them was a difficult task even for Lohengrin.

“Lord Walter is in danger. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to send a few clones to support him.”

“I won’t allow it. Wings of Light!”

Six wings unfolded from Lohengrin’s back. He had to use the Wings of Light to deal with Heinrich’s clones, which were made of pure Aura.

With a single skill activation, nearly 60,000 Aura was consumed.

The high-density Aura distorted the surrounding air like a mirage.

“Those are the Wings of Light that annihilated countless undead in the Seven Sins War. But my illusions are not weak either.”

And countless feathers made of light poured out from the Wings of Light.

Elizabeth and Walter.

Lohengrin and Heinrich.

And Tartarus and the Grand Cross Knights.

An unprecedented great battle unfolded in the snowfields of northern Britannia.

@

“H, how…”

Adolf stared at Cainchel with wide eyes. Licht, which turned Aura into a mass of light and caused a wide-range explosion.

Cainchel, who had dodged it by a hair’s breadth, was holding his sword to his neck.

Cainchel narrowed his eyes as he looked at the ground where a huge pit had formed.

If Walter’s Aura was darkness, this was light.

Cainchel had a premonition of death the moment Licht was activated. No matter which way he dodged, he could not escape the range of the explosion.

Moreover, it was an attack that could not be blocked even with the resistance that had saved his life several times.

In the end, Cainchel bet everything on Brilliant Road.

A skill that shows the optimal sword path to reach the enemy if the probability is not zero.

Strengthen the muscles of the legs and waist with Double Booster, then step on Jingak [likely a martial arts technique]!

It was as if he heard such an exclamation.

Not retreat, but charge.

That was the only way to survive Adolf’s Licht.

“H, how dare you avoid Licht!”

Adolf raised his sword and deflected Durandal. And he quickly created distance.

“I heard you became a Sword Master by absorbing a Dragon Heart fragment, so you must have been a Gold Dragon [referring to dragon lineage].”

Did that touch Adolf’s reverse scale [a sensitive point]?

Adolf’s eyes were bloodshot as he let out a rough breath.

“I became a Sword Master because I had the skills to do so! The Dragon Heart is just a medium to help me!”

“No, I didn’t particularly say it was because of the Dragon Heart.”

In the first place, hadn’t Cainchel also become stronger by eating Dragon meat?

It seemed impossible for Adolf to use Licht continuously.

He coated his sword with Aura Sword and swung it to attack.

Cainchel activated Onion Swordsmanship to block Adolf’s attacks and said.

“By the way, do you like jelly?”

“W, what…”

“It’s because you’re going to hate it a lot from now on that I’m asking.”

At the same time, sticky tentacles popped out of Cainchel’s body.

Cainchel was not the only one fighting Adolf.

Bishop, who had been clinging to his body, became a third arm and joined the attack.

Whirlick-!

And the jelly that flew at an incredible speed stuck to one of Adolf’s shoulders.

“Kuh!”

Adolf groaned at the completely unexpected attack.

Light and Shadow #3