How the Rank 0 Chef Survives - Chapter 137: Earth-Shattering Roar
“Uwaaaak!”
“Kyaaak!”
“Run away!”
Rumble rumble—
Boom!
Right now, the people were getting a firsthand lesson in what happens when a madman loses it completely.
A plot of land the size of a soccer field was shaking violently, flashing with bursts of motion. And the chunks hurled high into the air came crashing back down with thunderous roars.
Kaboom!!
The ground trembled like there was an earthquake.
“Dodge!”
“That lunatic! Is he trying to flip the whole village upside down?!”
“Uwaaaak!”
It was a natural disaster of biblical proportions.
“Shovel haha! Try dodging this too! Shovel hahahaha!”
The Sap Knight cackled maniacally as he dug furiously into the earth.
In the face of this apocalyptic upheaval, the villagers scattered like ants caught in a storm, tumbling every which way.
Thud thud—
Geum Taeyang and Tteoksoon-i scooped up Hura and Dahyun, darting this way and that to evade the collapsing ground.
Since this was his original body with all the clones recalled, dodging wasn't too hard.
Thud.
Once they touched down, Hura stared blankly at the Sap Knight, who had just flipped an entire village and unleashed a catastrophe.
“Shovel haha!”
“……”
He scratched his cheek and muttered,
“...This is bad.”
Damn it.
He'd only meant to rub defeat in enough to make the Sap Knight accept it, then slip away. But things hadn't gone to plan.
Had he poked too hard? It backfired spectacularly.
From midway through, he'd gotten carried away without realizing, letting his mouth run wild.
Blame that silver tongue of his—it always got extra creative when trolling someone.
Bonk!
“Ow!”
Rubbing his smacked head, Hura glanced aside to see disguised Molrangkau glaring daggers at him.
“What the hell were you thinking, riling him up like that, you idiot?!”
Bonk! Bonk!
“Ah! Ow! That hurts!”
“Good, it should!”
“Aaa! Dahyun-ssi! Help me out here!”
Dahyun narrowed her eyes and spoke up.
“Hit him more! Harder!”
“Eek! Eek!”
After a few more whacks, Molrangkau jabbed a finger at the ongoing disaster zone.
“Now what? Huh?!”
“Ugh... No choice.”
“No choice my ass.”
Rubbing the sore spot, Hura said,
“Let's bail.”
“What?”
The original plan was to verbally thrash the defeated Sap Knight into submission, wrap things up nicely, and head back to Vesta's Flame Palace.
But with things like this, no helping it.
Bail first, deal with the rest later.
No telling how long that psycho would chase them, but holing up in the Flame Palace should work. Play dead and hunker down.
...Figure out the aftermath later.
“Is that your brilliant idea?! What did those people ever do to you? This village is about to get wiped off the map!”
“...Didn't you say you wiped out some Bills Duchy or whatever?”
“Th-that has nothing to do with this right now!”
Dahyun jumped in urgently.
“Eek! Eek! The Sap Knight's coming!”
Molrangkau scowled at the direction Dahyun pointed.
“Idiot! We might not even escape, and you're—”
Boing—
The Sap Knight leaped high on his shovel, bounding toward Hura like a frog.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Shovel hahahaha!!”
Hura clicked his tongue.
“Tch. That's why we buy time till we can escape.”
He racked his brain quick.
Time for that last-resort ace up his sleeve.
“Molrangkau!”
“What!”
“Can you hold that crazy shithead off, even just for a bit?”
“...He's my total counter. Not easy.”
“You saying you can't?”
“I said not easy, not impossible.”
Red light flickered in Molrangkau's hands, her crimson hair whipping wildly.
“Shovel haha!”
As he stomped the ground to launch himself—
Squelch—
“...Huh?”
The earth turned to sticky muck in an instant, swallowing him up to his waist.
Molrangkau thrust her glowing red hands forward.
“...Hmph!”
A massive pillar of fire erupted over the embedded Sap Knight.
Whoosh—!!
“Gack!”
The explosion billowed dust clouds skyward.
When the haze cleared moments later, the soot-blackened Sap Knight stood there, head drooping, puffing black smoke like a faulty engine. The sticky sludge had hardened solid, binding him tight.
“Nice!”
Hura pumped his fist.
But Molrangkau scolded him right away.
“Nice what?! That won't hold long! Run now!”
At her glance, Geum Taeyang and Tteoksoon-i moved to scoop up Hura and Dahyun again.
“Hold up.”
Hura waved them off briefly and scanned the Sap Knight's rampage zone.
It was a mess, like an earthquake had hit: cracked earth, shattered homes, uprooted trees, mounds of dirt half-swallowing buildings.
But amid the devastation, casualties seemed light.
Luckily, few had fallen to the Sap Knight's disaster.
Made sense—these were folks who'd made it to rugged Harten. No weaklings here; they were all skilled enough to call themselves experts.
And above them floated hearts, popping up like crazy.
Hearts blanketing the crowd—a legion, a wave of them.
Hura thought: With this many powerhouses, if they all teamed up, couldn't they take down even a high ranker? Especially in that defenseless state.
Worst case, it'd buy some time.
“Dahyun-ssi. Molrangkau.”
“Yes?”
“Yeah?”
“Plug your ears.”
Hura stared straight at the ground-trapped Sap Knight and unleashed the skill Lion's Roar.
Lion's Roar
“ATTACK!!!”
Hura's voice boomed across the suddenly quiet battlefield, burrowing into everyone's ears.
“...Huh?”
“Attack? What's that about all of a sudden?”
“I heard 'assault.' Who said that?”
“Dunno.”
But despite their confusion, their bodies obeyed Hura's command to the letter.
Thud thud—
Rustle rustle—
“Wha? Huh? What's happening?!”
“Hey! Where you going?!”
“What the—my body's moving on its own!”
“Why's this happening! Stop!”
The crowd snatched up weapons and charged the Sap Knight en masse, leaping chasms, kicking aside toppled trees, vaulting ruined houses, bounding over split boulders, sprinting across raw, exposed earth.
“Noona! Where you going?!”
“I-I dunno! My body's not listening!”
Even Niimorul Chataseo gripped her mic and barreled toward the Sap Knight.
“My body's gone rogue!”
“Noona!”
“Don't worry about me—keep filming great!”
I believe only in youuuuu—
With that long yell, SearchingForNiiMom rocketed toward the Sap Knight at insane speed.
“Noona...!”
The cameraman and those who hadn't eaten Hura's dishes—untouched by Cooking Charm—gawked in bewilderment at the mob savagely charging the still-dazed Sap Knight.
Hundreds strong, they swarmed him with everything they had.
“Uwaaa!”
“Not my fault!”
Kaboom—!!
“Bounce!”
Hura and crew bolted.
Geum Taeyang scooped Hura and sprinted toward the village outskirts.
“Fairy-nim! We must go!”
Pew pew—
Tteoksoon-i grabbed Dahyun, who was prone-shooting the Sap Knight's helmet with pinging shots—her pistol now a long sniper rifle.
“Molrangkau-nim! What are you doing?!”
“Uh, yeah! I'll catch up from behind!”
Molrangkau snapped out of her daze at the surreal sight of hundreds mobbing one guy and hurried after them, glancing back warily.
No clue how long it'd stall, but crises never give warning—especially not that psycho.
How far had they run? Still not clear of the village when—
Groan... rumble—!
The ground shook.
“What...! Already?!”
Hura, carried by Geum Taeyang, whipped around in shock.
Molrangkau just scowled like she'd expected it.
“Told you! He wouldn't last!”
She preheated flames in her palms and yelled,
“How do you think that freak clawed his way to Rank 8?!”
Krunch—
Something burst through the earth.
“One reason he beat out all those elites? He's insanely tough!”
“What?”
“Kill him all you want—he won't die! Think he's done? Nope, he's back good as new, laughing like a maniac and charging! And for some reason, he gets stronger every time!”
Groan krunch—
A tunnel snaked from where the Sap Knight was buried, stretching long.
Toward Hura's fleeing group.
Fast—like swimming through dirt.
“He's coming!”
“Waaaak! Geum Taeyang! Faster!”
“This is max speed!”
Molrangkau halted.
“Tch.”
She spun, red light surging as she began casting.
“Molrangkau!”
“Go, idiot! I'll handle this!”
“Rank 5 won't lose to Rank 8, right?”
“As if!”
Krunch... boom!
“Shovel haha!!”
The Sap Knight erupted from the long tunnel, shovel spinning overhead like a drill.
Just as Molrangkau's spell neared completion.
Pop—
Her disguise spell dissolved. She shot up in height, reverting to her true form.
Disguises messed with mana flow—annoying for big spells. And it'd reveal her anyway.
“...Huh?”
The Sap Knight gawked at the blocker in his path, letting out a confused grunt.
“What're you staring at?”
Her red hair rippled.
Whoosh—
Flames roared before the spell even finished. Her ruby-like eyes burned quietly.
“Eat this, punk.”
Shwoooosh—
Red light enveloped her like an egg, hatching into a massive phoenix that shattered the shell and rose.
Whoooosh—!!
The colossal bird dove straight at the Sap Knight.
“Uwak!”
He frantically assumed a guard midair.
Booom—!!
The blast ripped the air with deafening thunder.
“Uwaak!”
“Kyaaak!”
Users drawn by Hura's command clutched their ears—but their feet kept pounding toward the Sap Knight.
Puff—
Crash.
Through the thick black smoke poured from the blast, the Sap Knight slammed pathetically into the dirt.
“...Huh?”
“That thing that fell... the Sap Knight?”
“What? He went down?!”
“Who the hell...”
Users turned from him to the figure ahead.
A gigantic phoenix looming over them, and below it, Molrangkau haughtily overlooking the Sap Knight.
“……!”
“M-Molrangkau!”
“It's Molrangkau!”
“Hiiiik! Run! Run!”
“Why's the Red Witch here?!”
Panic erupted.
“Damn it! Run, body! Why won't you listen?!”
“Nooooo! I don't wanna die!”
“Spare me! I did nothing!”
“Aaaak!”
They'd charged the Sap Knight no problem, but near Molrangkau? Screaming hysterically.
She ignored them, pointing a glowing red finger at the downed Sap Knight.
Whoooosh—!!
The phoenix swooped again, slashing with talons and beak in a frenzy.
Boom! Kaboom—!
Kablooey!
Each strike birthed flames and explosions.
But the Sap Knight tanked it all, vanishing into the smoke unnoticed.
Krunch—
Another tunnel formed.
“Argh, this guy's ridiculous!”
The phoenix chased the tunnel, pecking and clawing—but it kept going. Too fast to catch.
Sap Knight swam underground after Hura.
Molrangkau pursued the underground swimmer.
Charmed users tearfully trailed Molrangkau in turn.
The bizarre chase was nearing its end.
Because the leader was about to be caught.
Krunch—!
“Shovel haha!!”
From the tunnel's end, the Sap Knight rocketed out like a cannonball.
Right behind Geum Taeyang.
Boom!
His flung shovel nailed Geum Taeyang's leg.
“Kuh!”
The steel-tough leg snapped clean off, sending him tumbling forward.
“Ugh!”
Hura rolled across the dirt.
“Master! Hurry—”
Boom—!
The Sap Knight's foot slammed Geum Taeyang's head into the ground.
“Geum Taeyang!”
Snagging his shovel mid-recovery, the Sap Knight springboarded off him toward Hura, grinning.
“Shovel ha! How's that, Hura? Still wanna fight me?!”
“You crazy bastard!”
Hura sprang up, yanking out the Garden Master's Necklace like lightning.
“Petrify!”
Petrify
Flash—
...Did it land?
But the Sap Knight was flattened in a weird pose.
Pink light gleamed in his eyes as he giggled madly.
“My turn now?”
“……!”
His shovel shot out like lightning.
Aimed at Hura's heart.
“Customer-nim!”
Dahyun sprayed bullets wildly, screaming.
“Master!”
Tteoksoon-i, who'd dropped Dahyun, hurled thread late.
“No!”
Molrangkau yelled from behind.
But the shovel's edge outsped every cry.
Too fast for Hura to react, it tore the air toward his heart.
Screee—
Just as it pierced—something plummeted from the sky.
Boom—!!
The immense force blocked the Sap Knight's strike on impact.
Clang—!
His sure-kill attack sparked and halted against harsh metal.
The blocker? A massive greatsword.
He glanced at Hura and said,
“You done with business?”