A Master Chef for Demonic Beasts
Cain thought he had misheard for a moment.
"Wait, shouldn't we burn them? Hold on... I know what you're thinking!"
Had Cain actually figured out Tae-hyun's thoughts? Tae-hyun was genuinely surprised. They said even a school dog could recite poetry after three years, but Cain was truly growing!
"Since they're Sadiq's demonic beasts, they must have a high resistance to fire, so we shouldn't burn them but destroy them in some other way!"
"...No, you idiot," Tae-hyun sighed. Of course.
"What you said makes sense... but we don't need to destroy them right now. When they wake up and hatch, who do you think they'll attack first?"
"You and me?"
"Exclude us."
"Won't they go outside and attack the surrounding area?"
"Exactly. And who's going to have to clean up the mess? The Guild Alliance."
"...!" Cain realized. Ah!
"Then we should leave quietly."
"No."
"?"
"We should take better care of them."
"..."
Cain's jaw dropped. Tae-hyun was always one step ahead of everyone else!
"But we don't know when they'll hatch."
"Don't worry. I'm monitoring them with a skill, and we'll know before they wake up."
Not only was Tae-hyun using a skill, but Carbanog was also keeping watch. They would easily notice before the eggs hatched.
Tae-hyun quickly pulled out a pot and set it on the ground. Even though they would know in advance, time was short. He had to be as fast as possible!
Bubble, bubble—
He poured water and threw in everything among his ingredients that looked healthy and beneficial for Sadiq's beasts.
"You're putting in Fire Stones too? ...Is this really cooking?"
"Hey. Demonic beasts have different appetites."
You have added Fire Stone.
Your skill level in Abnormal Cooking has increased.
This was a premium stamina dish for demonic beasts, something only Tae-hyun, with his Abnormal Cooking skill, could pull off!
'Grow big and strong.'
Your Infamy has increased.
Your Cooking skill level has increased.
"..."
Tae-hyun ignored the unsettling system messages and focused on his cooking.
⚠️ Warning: Players may suffer severe burns if consumed.
⚠️ Warning: Players may lose HP if consumed.
"Alright, Cain. Go over there and feed them."
"H-How?"
"Pour it over the eggs."
"..."
Cain picked up the boiling bowl of soup with an uneasy expression and walked over. The moment I pour this, the eggs aren't going to get pissed off and attack me, right?
Splash—
Sadiq's Demonic Beast Egg absorbs Sadiq's Special Soup.
Sadiq's Demonic Beast Egg has grown significantly stronger!
Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened.
"Is it okay?"
"It's fi... Wait, you made me do that without even being sure?!"
"Haha. Let's forget the past. Since it worked out, that's great. I should empty out all the trash... I mean, ingredients I have."
The beauty of Abnormal Cooking was that it allowed him to cook with items that others would throw away as useless. Tae-hyun pulled out all the miscellaneous items in his inventory that were awkward to sell and awkward to use, and dumped them into the soup. It wasn't like they were eating it for the taste anyway!
'By the way, seeing how Sadiq's spawning ground is in a place like this underground, Sadiq's Avatar might have hidden underground as well.'
If he had gone underground, it made sense why the Guild Alliance and other guilds couldn't find him despite their searches. Underground dungeons were notoriously hard to find unless you knew the proper entrance.
'Is Burford tracking him properly...?'
When Sadiq's Avatar left the territory, Tae-hyun had ordered Burford to follow him, but he hadn't heard back from him yet.
"I'm ruined!"
Burford collapsed with a lament.
"Sob. How did this happen?"
Burford had been tracking Sadiq's Avatar. At first, it was fine. The Avatar was so massive that he could easily track him from a distance.
But at some point, after rounding a valley, Sadiq's Avatar had vanished into thin air.
Panicking, Burford searched the vicinity, questioned NPCs, and turned everything upside down, but nothing came up.
"Hey!"
"?!"
"What do you think you're doing!"
"I... I'm not doing anything?"
"He looks suspicious."
"No, he's alone. And he doesn't look like a bandit."
The tracking players from the Guild Alliance whispered among themselves as they looked at Burford. He looked like a paladin, not a bandit.
"Don't do anything suspicious and watch your step. We're keeping an eye on you."
"Y-Yes, of course..."
'Bullshit.'
Burford cursed inwardly as he backed away. Arrogant bastards! Just wait until we meet in the Atali Kingdom!
Meanwhile, the Salavian tracking party led by Evangeline was experiencing a similar situation.
"They... took a ship."
They had tracked them all the way to the coast, but only traces of a ship remained, with nothing else in sight.
The party members began to murmur.
"Is this guy really someone Kim Tae-hyun said we could trust? Is he an impostor?"
"Who said Kim Tae-hyun was trustworthy again? Did we mishear?"
"..."
Evangeline felt cold sweat running down her forehead. She had to salvage this!
"Don't worry! We just have to chase them!"
"But..."
"Crossing the sea to chase them is a bit... We don't even know where they went..."
"How far could they have run! Besides, the places the Salavian Church can go are limited! They're vampires, so they only go to kingdoms with large populations. At most, it's the Erangs Kingdom, the Espa Kingdom, or the Auston Kingdom!"
"I see..."
"If Evangeline says so, then I guess..."
Their words were agreeable, but the distance between them was growing! The party members were subtly backing away.
"Wait! Where are you going?!"
"I have an urgent matter!"
"Sorry!"
Whoosh!
As soon as the distance widened, the party members turned around and bolted.
"Phew. We almost got tricked into boarding that ship."
"Is this that kidnapping scam people talk about on the forums? The one where once you get on the ship, they make you do hard labor until you're allowed off."
"Ah, that! I saw that too. They said never trust a Power Warrior Guild member who offers a boat ride. They won't let you off until you fill your quota..."
The words of the fleeing party members stabbed Evangeline right in the chest.
"No...! That's not true! I'm a conscientious person!"
"Regret it later, let's just chase them for now."
The only one left was Choi Sang-yun. He was sitting on the ground, looking utterly exhausted.
"Y-You believe in me!"
"No, not really. It's just that if we lose the Salavian Church, Tae-hyun is going to make my life a living hell."
"..."
"What are you looking at? I stayed, didn't I?"
"...Right..."
The egg containing Sadiq's Demonic Beast is shaking violently!
The demonic beast will hatch soon!
[Carbanog issues a warning!]
"Run!"
Tae-hyun packed up his pot and moved quickly. Cain, who had been waiting, bolted right behind him.
As they emerged outside, they saw a party running toward them from a distance.
"That's the Guild Alliance, right?"
"It's the Guild Alliance."
"You bastards! So you're those Neugu and Neuga guys! I, Eizen, will crush you..."
Thud! Stab! Stab!
Cain recklessly charged and grabbed Eizen. His defense was high enough to simply absorb Eizen's sword swings with his body!
In the meantime, Tae-hyun ruthlessly stabbed Eizen. The explosively high damage completely obliterated Eizen.
What a disastrous—no, fantastic duo!
"Argh! Argh! Hey! What are you guys doing, help me!"
"T-There..."
Crack! Crunch!
From beneath the ground, a massive demonic beast resembling a three-headed dog crawled out.
"An... Elite Advanced Demonic Beast!"
"Its name is so long!"
Until now, only nameless demonic beasts had appeared, but suddenly, a beast with all these extra titles had shown up. What on earth had happened?!
'Is Sadiq getting stronger?! No, how is a god without even a church getting this strong?!'
Meanwhile, Tae-hyun sent a whisper to Cain.
- Hey. We have to pretend to be surprised.
"Gasp! H-Holy crap! A demonic beast!"
"Aaaah! A demonic beast! I'm so scared!"
Thud! Whack! Bam!
Though their mouths claimed they were terrified, their hands were busy beating the living daylights out of the pinned Eizen.
"Gurgle, cough! If you're scared, let go of me, you bastards... Argh!"
Eizen logged out!
The party members Eizen had brought with him hesitated, unsure whether they should flee from the demonic beast or stop the two bandits.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Tae-hyun and Cain thoroughly looted Eizen's gear and bolted.
"Let's get out of here!"
"Eizen's party was wiped out too?!"
"Not only them, but the nearby tracking team as well..."
"Them too?!"
"No, the tracking team nearby was wiped out by the demonic beast."
The Guild Alliance executive's face grew grave. If even Eizen's party had been wiped out, these guys were definitely not ordinary.
'They must be at least ranker-level!'
There were plenty of people in Pandemonium Online who envied and hated the Guild Alliance.
The first person who came to mind was Kim Tae-hyun.
"Is Kim Tae-hyun... in his territory?"
"Yes. They say he's in his territory."
"Phew. I must be losing it... Suspecting Kim Tae-hyun every time something happens... Then again, there are plenty of others who would do this. What about the demonic beast? An elite beast suddenly appeared?"
"Seeing how those guys were surprised by the beast, they don't seem to be related to it."
"I suppose so. Who could possibly... Anyway, we can't just let this slide. Put a bounty on them."
"Understood."
It was a waste of money, but they had no choice. These rankers were too difficult to handle with just the Guild Alliance's tracking teams. If they put a bounty on them, ordinary players would eagerly swarm them. Since they were notorious bandits, the loot would be a bonus!
"And right now... Alcott would be perfect. Call Alcott and tell him to hunt these bastards down."
Alcott the Assassin. He was the best card the Guild Alliance could play in a situation like this.
An assassin truly shined not in a 1v1 duel, but when tracking someone down to stab them in the back!
"If Alcott steps up, those guys are as good as dead. Hehehe."
"Indeed. Sucks to be them. They should've known when to stop!"
"Cain."
"What?"
"You really..."
"Ah, I get it, so stop!"
The two of them were underground once again. Cain had been shoveling and had discovered yet another of Sadiq's spawning grounds.
An insane talent!
Tae-hyun stared at Cain and thought, Should I have really made this guy change his class to a miner? Is there no Miner class in the church's class list?
How did he manage to find something like this every single time he picked up a shovel?
[Carbanog is utterly amazed.]
[Carbanog believes the Aykisus's Slave is practically the Avatar of Pruod, the God of Mining.]
Tae-hyun fed the beasts as usual and stood up. Then, they headed back outside.
'Feeding the beasts is fine and all, but we can't even dig a hole to use as a warehouse. Well, we can just dig again...'
However, Tae-hyun's thoughts were far too naive.
Scritch, scratch—
Sadiq's Demonic Beast Spawning Ground has been discov—
"Are you Sadiq's slave by any chance?"
"I told you it's a coincidence!!"
Cain had finally found a third one!
'Are there really this many spawning grounds here? Wait. If I calculate the distance...'
Mapping the locations of the first, second, and third spawning grounds, Tae-hyun estimated the distance. They were all scattered at equal intervals.
Of course, that was one thing, but Cain's ability to find the exact entrance to these spawning grounds on this massive mountain was nothing short of miraculous.
Scritch, scratch, scrape—
"?"
The sound of something digging could be heard from the inner wall of the spawning ground.
Tae-hyun and Cain looked at each other.
"It sounds like someone else is here...?"
Crash!
The wall broke open, and a very familiar face emerged from the gap.
It was Alcott.
The moment Alcott saw the two of them, he asked unconsciously:
"Kim Tae-hyun?"
"?!?!"