Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 263

The 72 Demon Dukes could be considered the de facto rulers of the Demon Realm. They desperately collect human souls to elevate their ranks, even slightly.

That’s because it was the fastest way for demons to gain power.

However, there were many oddballs among the Top Ten. The Sword Demon Bassago reached the pinnacle by merely training his body.

Sitri simply enjoyed various amusements such as drinking, singing, and theater.

The reason she could maintain her position in the Top Ten was very simple.

She was the only daughter of Belphegor, the Slothful King, and inherited tremendous power.

Caw-.

Sitri did not create separate apostles. Rather than directly interfering in the human realm, she merely watched through the eyes of a crow.

“Ex’s Aura Blade is very strong. If you, who can’t even handle your skills properly, will find it very difficult to deal with. So, if you survive, I will give you a very nice gift. Hehehe…”

* * *

Keinzel was not at all flustered by the sudden attack of the Azure Sky Knights.

As if he had expected it, he gave instructions to Apple Mint.

“Apple Mint, please create the Wall of Wind as we practiced.”

“…Okay. Sylphir!”

Then, a storm began to rage around Apple Mint’s body.

Eating monster jerky before battle can temporarily increase the amount of Aura.

Keinzel took out smoked meat from his dimensional pouch and chewed on it.

‘Hmm, smoked meat with applewood is the best. It doesn’t increase several times like in the Tower of Trials, where the absolute amount was low, but with this, I can use Fish and Chips one more time.’

Ex, leading his subordinates at the head of the Azure Sky Knights, shouted.

“Be careful, it’s an Elven Spiritist! Increase your altitude! And scatter as much as possible!”

At Ex’s shout, the Griffin Riders began to move in unison.

Their skillful movements showed they had done this more than once or twice.

He is the head of the El Acard Intelligence Agency.

The most important information they handle is the military strength of other countries.

Among them, the core is the Sword Masters. That means he knows the abilities of the Seven Virtues.

That also included the fact that Keinzel had no means to attack opponents far away.

“Keinzel van Zistad has defeated strong opponents one after another by using unconventional techniques. But he doesn’t have a large-scale skill to annihilate a wide range in one blow. Scatter and form an encirclement to easily subdue him. It’s His Majesty Gottfried’s order! Do not inflict fatal wounds and capture him alive!”

Moreover, the opponents were flying dozens of meters above the ground.

In the past, he would have had to watch them until they came down close to the ground.

But Keinzel had a new cooking skill he obtained from the Tower of Trials.

“Where do you think you’re going! Come out, Fettuccine…!”

Aura resembling pasta noodles sprang from Keinzel’s hand. It is never easy to catch an opponent flying in the sky. So, he had planned a strategy with Apple Mint in advance.

“Now!”

At the signal, the wind that had gathered around Apple Mint instantly turned into an updraft.

Keinzel did not miss it and sent the Fettuccine towards the enemies.

However, Ex was also a Sword Master whose senses were sharpened like a blade.

He noticed the Aura flying towards them and twisted his lips.

“Haha, a Sword Master of a nation using such a slow attack? Did you think that Gottfried’s Royal Guard Captain Ex would be hit by such an attack?! All flying troops, listen! Turn around right now!”

“Understood!”

Certainly, the speed at which the Fettuccine flew was slow. But it was not used to hit the opponent in the first place.

Keinzel’s vision captured the sight of hundreds of strands of Fettuccine spreading out like a net.

‘About that position should be fine.’

“…Flambé!”

Then, the left hand holding one end of the Fettuccine began to burn.

It rode the storm summoned by Apple Mint and instantly spread to the Fettuccine.

Whirr-!

Ex’s eyes widened. The fire was spreading at an incredible speed, as if oil had been poured on it.

In an instant, a huge burning net was created.

As Keinzel moved his fingers, the Fettuccine, which had painted the sky red, began to dance.

A Griffin is a monster with the body of a lion and the head, wings, and forelegs of an eagle. They are intelligent, and if raised from a young age by feeding them meat, they can be ridden.

However, unlike Wyverns, Griffins have feathers on their wings.

Keinzel aimed for that and created a burning net.

“Don’t worry too much. I’m just going to scorch the outside and burn the feathers a little.”

He didn’t know how Gottfried had made the Azure Sky Knights his subordinates.

But after resolving that, they would have to become valuable forces to fight the Orc Flying Troops. He had to capture them without inflicting as little injury as possible.

The Azure Sky Knights screamed as they saw the fire on the Griffin’s wings.

“Ugh! Susanna’s wings are on fire!”

“Damn it! We’re falling!”

Ex gritted his teeth as he saw the flaming whip flying towards him.

“To dare use such childish tricks…! But it won’t work on me!”

As he reached out his hand, a giant spear of wind was already created in front of him.

“Stormbringer…!”

Ex threw it without hesitation.

Kugugugugung-!

With the sound of tearing through space, the Fettuccine nearby disappeared.

But already more than 80% of the flying troops had fallen to the ground.

“Tch.”

The information Ex had on Keinzel was only up to when he fought Gran Karack.

After that, he disappeared for a while, so he could no longer obtain combat data.

“…Damn it. To think he would master a technique comparable to my Aura Blade in just half a year.”

The information about Keinzel ended up hindering him.

Eventually, Ex, judging that he could not defeat the opponent while flying in the sky, came down to the ground.

And as he took off the cloak he was wearing, hair that shone like gold dust appeared.

It was clear why he was smaller than the other knights.

Standing there was a female knight wearing leather armor that clung tightly to her body.

The slightly exposed belly was full of solid muscles without any flab.

Her figure was slender, but she did not feel delicate at all.

“Gottfried’s shadow. Siana von Schleicher!”

Giving her real name meant that she recognized Keinzel as a knight. Keinzel also lightly bowed his head to show knightly courtesy.

“Keinzel van Zistad.”

“Aren’t you going to ask why we attacked?”

“I can guess roughly.”

“Then there’s no need to explain separately. But how could you become so strong in less than half a year?”

“I wonder.”

There was no reason to expose his strength to the opponent he was about to fight. Keinzel held Durendal with both hands.

At the same time, two streaks of light sprang from the scabbard that Siana was wearing.

She is the owner of Aura Blades with completely different properties: wind and fire.

That’s why she was using dual swords.

“Hmph!”

With a small groan, Siana appeared in front of Keinzel. It was a speed that he would have missed if he hadn’t concentrated.

At the same time, light emanating from above, below, left, and right poured in from all directions around Keinzel.

Clang! Clang-!

Clang clang clang! Clang!

If he hadn’t experienced a thousand deaths in the Tower of Trials, he certainly wouldn’t have been able to react properly.

It felt like he was wielding twelve swords at the same time with such quick swordsmanship.

But Keinzel had a skill to counter it.

“Fish and Chips…!”

Clatter clatter clatter!

Seven Durendals and Fragarachs began to offset Siana’s chain attacks.

The knights, who were groaning from injuries sustained from falling from dozens of meters above, screamed.

“…What the hell?! He’s completely overwhelming the Captain in speed…!”

“Oh my god, how can he block such attacks…”

Even the Demon Duke Sitri, who was watching the battle through the eyes of a crow, exclaimed in admiration.

“Amazing. He’s keeping up with the speed of the Wind Aura Blade.”

Eventually, Siana could not withstand the raging storm of swords and took a step back.

“…Tch.”

As Durendal spewed out terrifying cold air towards Siana, who was trying to reorganize in a hurry.

“Is this the power of the Divine Sword Durendal? This is as expected. Then I’ll deal with you with Ignis Hammer this time.”

Siana stretched out the sword she was holding in her left hand. Then, in an instant, it turned into a huge, blazing iron hammer.

Keinzel’s eyes widened. As expected, Siana’s Aura Blade was not just one.

A sly smile appeared on Siana’s lips.

“I’ll take back what I said earlier. This will be a little hot, you brat.”

At the same time, a tremendous blaze covered Keinzel.

* * *

“……?!”

Siana’s face, which had been full of confidence, froze coldly. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

The opponent she was fighting had been hit head-on by the Fire Aura Blade and didn’t even have a speck of soot on him.

The only achievement was that the cloak he was wearing turned to ashes.

Keinzel shrugged his shoulders and said.

“I guess I’ll have to buy a new cloak.”

“Tch, you bastard…”

Currently, Keinzel’s fire resistance was well over 90.

Unless he was hit by Hellfire, an absolute magic that summons the fire of hell, he would not be injured by fire.

“…I didn’t expect you to be so resistant to fire. But my attack is not over yet!”

Siana was very impatient as her confident attacks continued to be blocked. Her breathing was already quite rough.

Her Aura Blade, Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain (a reference to Sun Tzu’s *Art of War*, representing different combat approaches), has four completely different abilities.

Create a spear of wind to push the body’s speed to the limit. Create a hammer of fire to burn fiercely.

There were still two abilities left unused, but it seemed that she was already at her physical limit.

“But everything is for His Majesty Gottfried…! Try to block this too, Earthquake…!”

Siana was about to strike the ground with the sword she was holding.

But she couldn’t.

Already, dozens of strands of pasta were tangled around her arm.

Siana, flustered, tried to create an Ignis Hammer to break free.

At that moment, a sticky, slimy tentacle blocked her mouth.

The only disadvantage of Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain is that it requires incantation to switch to another attribute.

Blurring the opponent’s attention by speaking during a life-or-death battle was to buy time.

Siana’s face turned white. She sensed her death.

She’s going to die. If she stays like this, she will die without being able to do anything.

But her limbs were tied by pasta, and her mouth was sealed with jelly.

A desperate crisis where she could do nothing.

“Oop, ooooop…!”

“Then let’s go from this side this time.”

Keinzel took out something big and beautiful from his dimensional pouch and shoved it into Siana’s mouth.