Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 186

The Mihail Army commander screamed until his throat was raw.

“We must hold out until the Count returns! Do not let the rebels enter the castle under any circumstances!”

However, the soldier in charge of the gate had a strange expression.

His eyes had lost focus, as if he were possessed by something.

“I must open the gate… Open the gate…”

“What, is this bastard completely insane! What are you doing all of a sudden! Kkeuaaaak!”

An arrow flew from somewhere and pierced the commander’s shoulder.

He was wearing thick armor, but the arrow carried an even stronger force.

Hundreds of such arrows covered the sky. It was impossible to see where they were coming from.

As if deliberately aimed, they didn’t even graze the soldiers opening the gate.

“Block them! Block them! Don’t let them open the gate!”

However, dealing with the arrows alone was overwhelming.

Grrrrk-!

Eventually, the firmly closed gate opened, and a bridge was created over the moat.

In a siege, the defending side has an overwhelming advantage. Even with a difference of several times the number of troops, they can hold out as long as supplies continue.

However, that advantage disappeared because of a few insane soldiers.

The commander, furious, drew his sword and beheaded the soldier.

In the end, he didn’t realize that there was a bite mark on the soldier’s neck.

As soon as the gate opened, Phihidle Army soldiers rushed in like a dam had burst.

The commander roared, his face turning red.

“This body is also a Sword Knight! I will never die alone!”

Crimson aura bloomed on the sword he was holding. He swung it to cut off the arm of a knight crossing the moat.

Deeeeeeng-!

However, he couldn’t. The commander’s sword bounced off as if it had hit a solid wall.

“O-oh, you can’t cut it even with an aura sword?! This is ridiculous!”

Knight Andrei smiled with satisfaction and thrust the spear he was holding.

Pook!

“Shoulder! My shoulder!”

“As long as Chinim [likely a regional term for ‘God’ or a revered figure] is with us, we will not fall!”

“Uwoooooooo!”

“Capture them alive if possible! Our enemy is not humans, but Tartaros [monstrous creatures]!”

“Chimen! Chimen!” [likely a battle cry or expression of faith]

The archery captain, who was waiting on the wall, shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Calmly shoot the arrows! We have the advantage in numbers! Fire!”

Piyoong! Ping! Piiiiing!

The arrows fired by the Mihail Army archers covered the Phihidle Army.

However, there was no need to raise shields to block them. The arrows that hit their bodies didn’t even leave a scratch and bounced off.

Unless you’re a Sword Master, you can’t block arrows like that.

The archery captain screamed with a look as if he had seen a ghost.

“W-what! The arrows, they’re not working?!”

“They made eye contact! But how can they do that!”

“Block them, don’t let them climb the walls!”

“Captain! Dodge! Arrows are flying from somewhere! Kkeuaaaak!”

The archery captain’s face contorted.

Outside the wall, there was only a wide plain. There were no enemy archers anywhere.

“The only place to hide nearby is a small forest about 1km away. But how on earth…”

No matter how skilled an archer is, the range of a bow is limited to about 200m [approximately 656 feet].

Beyond that, the power decreases and it loses its meaning as a weapon.

“…Could it be elves?!”

Among elves, there are often spiritists who can control the spirits of the wind. Using that, they can dramatically increase the range of the bow.

However, it only increases the range of the bow.

Hitting someone 1km away was impossible with ordinary senses.

How can you hit a target that you can’t even see in the first place?

“C-captain! D-dodg… !”

“Antoooooon!”

In the end, the archery captain didn’t figure anything out until dozens of arrows pierced his entire body.

@

Apple Mint, who was watching the situation through the intermediate wind spirit Sylphir, raised her hand and signaled.

“…The annihilation of the enemy archers has been confirmed.”

Eating mandrake skewers greatly increased the communion rate with spirits. Even intermediate spirits could be used without difficulty.

Following Clover’s instructions, when the elven archers shot arrows, they added wind to them.

Then the range of the bow increases nearly tenfold.

It becomes possible to snipe from an absurd distance.

Queen Eirene nodded with a satisfied face.

“Good job, Apple Mint. Continue to intercept the enemy with Clover.”

“Your Majesty. Peppermint has encountered enemy soldiers.”

“Then we must help! From now on, we have to hit the enemies inside the castle, so we’ll have to shoot a curved trajectory. Provide support to the extent that it doesn’t harm our allies as much as possible.”

Maintaining an intermediate spirit requires enormous mana. However, Eirene had a branch of the World Tree that she had brought for times like these.

When she planted it in the ground and dropped Mimir’s spring water on it, it took root in an instant.

“Blessing of the World Tree!”

Then she began to supply the infinite mana contained in the earth to the elves around her.

Horizon, the captain of Eirene’s guard, began to tremble with excitement.

An enormous power was pouring out of her body.

“Your Majesty! What is this power!”

“This is the ability of the High Elves, which has now disappeared. It is the power to become one with nature itself by being perfectly assimilated with the World Tree.”

Before she knew it, the branch of the World Tree began to wrap around Eirene’s body.

She had become the World Tree itself.

“…Keinchel, is there no limit to the dishes that man makes?”

Those who commune with spirits and wield the power of the World Tree are called High Elves.

However, eating mandrake skewers gives them the same abilities, even temporarily.

“Horizon, it’s okay, so go and help the humans. As long as this power is maintained, I will not die!”

“…Are you really okay?”

Horizon looked at Eirene with worried eyes. However, she was firm.

“Then Clover. Please provide cover so that Horizon can safely enter!”

“Understood, Your Majesty. Then fire from the prepared shooters!”

The arrows that left the hands of the elven archers were strengthened by the power of the intermediate spirit Sylphir.

And as if drawn in a picture, it flew and pierced the shoulder of a Mihail Army soldier.

Horizon was able to cross the wall safely with fifty Elven Knights.

Then she saw Andrei fighting with the Mihail Army.

“Sir Horizon?!”

“Let’s join forces, human.”

“It’s as reassuring as if we’ve gained a thousand troops!”

“Hmph.”

When a large number of troops collide, command often determines victory or defeat more than individual abilities.

However, that was only the case when the abilities of both sides were similar.

Soldiers armed with the indestructible power of Vajra [a mythical weapon or substance] that even aura swords bounce off.

Elven Knights who cut off the necks of enemies like the wind while being protected by them.

In the end, despite a difference of nearly twice the number of troops, the Mihail Army had to give up the castle.

Fluttering—.

The flag with the emblem of the Deutschland royal family fluttered. Seeing that, Phihidle realized that he had taken the Mihail territory with an overwhelming difference.

“Erhie.”

“Yes, Your Highness Phihidle.”

“I understand why the soldiers are shouting Chinim so much. I also feel like shouting Chimen.”

Following Phihidle’s instructions, the soldiers bound the bodies of the captured prisoners.

The commander-in-chief of the Mihail Army muttered with a possessed expression.

“W-why! Why isn’t Count Mihail coming! Tartaros! If only those monsters were here, things wouldn’t be like this…”

Phihidle pointed to a place hidden by the wall.

“If you’re talking about Tartaros, are you perhaps referring to that?”

“Ugh, Ughaaaaaak!”

Then something hidden by the black mist revealed its appearance.

There were more than ten Tartaros corpses piled up there.

The commander-in-chief’s face was filled with terror.

“T-to defeat all those terrifying monsters!”

The fog completely cleared, and a beautiful woman with blue hair down to her waist walked out.

Elizabeth licked her unusually red lips and muttered.

“What, why are they so weak? There are so many, but not a single boss-level one?”

@

Keinchel headed to the bridge leading to Weimar at the same time as the gate opened.

An enormous hostility was felt from beyond that.

Sword Master Adolf had the power of a dragon. But Merlin is much more dangerous than that.

As long as he is alive, chimeras will be created endlessly.

Geuooooo-!

Keinchel, feeling the enormous hostility approaching, drew Durandal [likely a legendary sword].

What appeared was a Tartaros whose entire body was dyed red.

“My territory! My precious territory!”

“What, did you create another variant Tartaros? But you speak quite fluently. This is definitely a boss.”

“This body is not Tartaros! I am, I am Erebus!”

“Erebus? What’s that?”

Jiiing-!

Suddenly, Bishop, who was connected to the neural network, warned.

“— Be careful, partner. That guy is on a different level than the Tartaros we’ve fought so far.”

“I’m, I’m hungry. Hungry… !”

Erebus ignored Keinchel and flew towards the houses. Then, with a sharp scream, blood splattered.

A large building was instantly smashed and turned to dust.

The mangled remains of humans, unrecognizable, dyed the earth crimson.

It was power and speed that could not be believed to have come from the body of a chimera.

Crunch-! Munch, slurrrp-!

A chillingly eerie sound echoed.

You could tell what was happening inside without having to check.

Keinchel did not miss the aura surrounding Erebus’s body.

“A chimera that uses aura?! Could it be…”

“— Merlin, that means he’s finally using Sword Knights as materials.”

Ossaak.

Goosebumps rose on Keinchel’s neck.

There was not just one Erebus. Three more popped out of the ground.

“Tsk, if it’s a new menu tasting, one serving is enough!”

Erebus was a formidable enemy on a different level than the Tartaros he had fought so far.

‘If I bind their movements with jelly and then face them one by one… No. With that much power, they’ll break free from the restraints quickly.’

Keinchel first took out Asura, which he had put in the dimensional pocket.

“Asura. What should we do if there are customers causing a ruckus?”

“I have sincerely thought about customers this week who will be more wonderful.”

“That’s right. We have to kick them out. Just hold them back for a moment. Just a little bit.”

“We will be going to the exact time, Chef.”

It was still difficult to understand what Asura was saying.

However, potato peeling knives popped out of both of his arms.

It seemed that he recognized Erebus as the enemy.

As the potato peeling blades began to spin violently, Asura flew.

“Help!”

However, Asura’s attack did not work on Erebus.

He couldn’t penetrate the aura surrounding their bodies.

Ppak-!

In the end, Asura was completely smashed by the tail swung by Erebus.

“This, this is very painful for me…”

“Asura?!”

However, as long as the head remains, it can be fixed as much as possible.

Keinchel bit his lip. He couldn’t waste the short time that Asura had bought him.

He took out Dracula’s blood, which he had kept carefully. If you drink a sip of this, your body turns into a vampire.

The moon is in the sky.

It is the time when the power of the vampire is strongest.

“…Then shall we try tasting what a thousand-year-old vampire’s blood tastes like?”

He opens the lid of the cola bottle and drinks the liquid inside.

Gulp, gulp-!

[Vampire Transformation has been activated.]

Black mist poured out of Keinchel’s body. At the same time, Erebus’s arm crushed Keinchel’s body.