Chapter 423

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"AAAAAAAAAH!!"

"KYAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"KYYYAAAAAAAH!!!"

The corpse dolls - Duncan, Shamus, Bathory, and the female warlocks - let out screams as they descended towards the falling Human-meat Chef.

Human-meat Chef, who had been dominating his opponents, was momentarily startled by the sudden turn of events. However, he quickly adapted to the situation and launched a counterattack. To him, this was hardly a crisis compared to his past experiences.

"This is nothing..."

Human-meat Chef channeled his ever-shifting emotions, unleashing massive blades in all directions.

The dense emotional blades, fueled by pure hatred and anger, flew towards Oliver under the sorcerer's control, but Oliver skillfully countered them.

[Ptah's Assistant]

Oliver crafted mechanical hands from magical energy and cloaked them with an emotional robe, forming multiple black hands that deftly intercepted the incoming blades.

The razor-sharp blades, capable of slicing through concrete buildings and even the earth itself, attempted to cut through Oliver's obsidian hands. Just before being completely severed, Oliver interceded with the emotional blades and narrowly took control.

"......!!"

Human-meat Chef was stunned.

He had once relinquished control of his emotions, but it had been a half-hearted effort, made with the intention of capturing his target alive. However, this time, he had unleashed them with full force, unconcerned about losing a limb in the process.

Yet, Oliver had wrested them away.

It was a profoundly startling turn of events.

Utilizing the emotions of others was a fundamental aspect of black magic, but the difficulty fluctuated exponentially based on the quality and quantity of the emotions and the willpower of the target.

It could be likened to water.

Water from a faucet was safe and convenient, but water from a tsunami or flood was not.

Therefore, Human-meat Chef had rarely had his emotions stolen.

His inherent rage was immense, stemming from being abandoned and betrayed by the world. The fools who had perished attempting to use his emotions against him over the centuries were testament to that fact.

But now, Oliver had taken them. His truly ignited fury.

'So this guy is really...!'

As his uncertainty transformed into certainty, Human-meat Chef swung a French knife forged from blood with all his might, aiming to cleave everything in one fell swoop.

BOOOOOOM!!

An invisible slash shot forth, intent on slicing through everything in its path, reminiscent of the livestock that had betrayed him in the past.

Then, Bathory's disciples, the female warlocks, leaped forward and invoked blood magic, erecting a massive blood barrier.

Astoundingly, they thwarted Human-meat Chef's attack.

Despite sustaining substantial damage and being cut in half, the barrier managed to dissipate the chef's slash.

'Could their skill really be this high?'

Human-meat Chef was astonished by the astounding performance of the female warlocks when something broke through the shattered fragments of blood and the plummeting corpse dolls.

It was Duncan, the corpse doll.

BANG━━!!

Duncan, or more precisely, Fourth residing within Duncan, employed flesh-made Tonfas and pre-stored black suits, along with various disease-enhancing black magic, to enhance his physique to the utmost before striking towards Human-meat Chef's face.

A tremendous roar, akin to a building being demolished, reverberated through the air, producing three layers of shockwaves. Human-meat Chef crashed to the ground, creating a massive crater as though struck by a meteor.

Even amid this chaos, Human-meat Chef, unscathed, seized Duncan's arm. Yet, Fourth inside Duncan immediately channeled all its stored energy into the captured arm and thrust it forward once more.

"AAAAAAAGH!!"

With Fourth's final effort, the ground caved in once more and completely gave way. In the process, one of Duncan's arms was utterly obliterated.

"Third."

Oliver calmly called out, and the Third, following the Fourth, sprang into action.

It was the Third residing within Shamus.

Third employed beanstalks to ensnare Duncan and pull him back, then extracted a branch from his limbs and infused it with the full power of nature.

The branch voraciously absorbed the energy of nature and rapidly grew, shaping into a colossal pillar, as large as a building, under the sorcerer's will.

Corpse doll-Shamus, bound this colossal pillar with beanstalks and brought it crashing down upon Human-meat Chef.

BOOOOM━━━━!!!!

The pillar, colossal in both size and weight, collided with the basement floor, generating an enormous shockwave and a deep fissure, upheaving the floor and its surroundings.

The basement, weakened by these successive impacts, crumbled all at once, revealing access to the lowest level where immense mana surged.

However, the undeterred Human-meat Chef impaled the wooden pillar with both hands and rent it asunder.

But this was part of the plan.

Within the corpse doll Bathory, First was orchestrating a large-scale blood magic ritual, harnessing the copious amount of blood flooding into the basement. First extracted blood that had long been tamed, using it as the core catalyst. Gathering the substantial quantity of blood coursing into the basement, a colossal stake took shape.

As soon as the stake reached completion, First circled around and descended upon the stake's head, amassing all the mana and emotions for a resounding strike.

[Punishment]

With a resonant thud, the impacted area emitted ripples of sorcery, molecularly reassembling the massive volume of blood, consolidated by magic, into an immense iron mass.

If anyone bore witness to this spectacle, they would deem it the end.

Even Human-meat Chef, with his transcendent physique, would be naught but an ant crushed under a finger.

It appeared that Human-meat Chef was destined to be crushed beneath the immense mass.

Or so it seemed.

"KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

While trapped beneath the colossal iron mass and descending, Human-meat Chef unleashed a scream that transcended humanity.

The scream was so deafening that it visibly tore through the air, and the already surging life force of Human-meat Chef burgeoned exponentially, akin to a blooming flower.

He surpassed even a giant.

Demonstrating this life force, the building-sized iron mass came to a halt.

It was Human-meat Chef who halted it through sheer strength. And that wasn't the end of it.

CHAAAK!!!

Immediately upon halting the iron mass, Human-meat Chef erupted with emotion, projecting a massive blade outward.

However, instead of dispersing it in all directions, he directed it forwards, cleanly cleaving the iron mass in two and even attempting to continue the cut beyond.

CHANG!

Yet, it was bisected by a dagger wielded by Oliver.

Human-meat Chef, now adorned with horns atop his head, scales covering his body, and dragon wings and tail, remained an enigma.

How could someone so emaciated, weakened by disease-inducing black magic, muster such strength?

But that wasn't the end.

[Black Javelin]

[Targeting]

[Strengthen]

[Heavily]

[Acceleration]

Oliver intoned multiple spells on his quarterstaff and hurled it straight ahead.

The quarterstaff, enveloped in a substantial surge of emotion, descended upon Human-meat Chef, transforming into the shape of a javelin.

Human-meat Chef, his arm covered in scales, attempted to block it with black magic.

Although he had previously thwarted Oliver's assaults with his physical form, this time, fortune favored a different outcome.

PLOP━!

Oliver's quarterstaff pierced not only Human-meat Chef's arm but also his body.

It marked a victory.

For in that final strike, Oliver had channeled the entirety of the absorbed essence from Human-meat Chef's slash, combined with his emotions, mana, and life force.

The quarterstaff, drained of its energy, pierced through Human-meat Chef before plummeting to the depths of the sewer, breaking through the bottom and descending to the lowest layer where torrents of emotions flowed.

Barefoot and following closely, Oliver arrived at the lowest level of the sewer.

'...I'm hungry.'

As he reached the deepest recesses of the sewer, Oliver clutched his growling stomach and pondered his predicament.

It was unavoidable. It had been a long while since he had experienced such hunger, perhaps even longer than his days at the orphanage and the mine.

Now, it wasn't just hunger; it was becoming agonizing. Back in the orphanage and the mine, he had never endured such intense starvation.

'No... there were a few times.'

In the lowest part of the sewer, where emotions coursed like a river, Oliver ruminated.

Ordinarily, he would have been captivated by the spectacle before him, but as his hunger reached its zenith, even his usual curiosity waned.

'There were two or three times... I was this hungry.'

In the depths of Central Zone 1 of Galos, Oliver was lost in an untimely reverie.

Two or three times he had felt this ravenous.

During instances when he was falsely accused and punished in place of others, or when his fellow children pilfered his sustenance.

Back then, Oliver had been too feeble to protest.

'On those days... strangely, one of the other kids died... How peculiar.'

Oliver, who hadn't paid much heed to these memories, was taken aback as he recalled the past.

Wasn't it odd? It was a curious coincidence that whenever he starved, one of the other children would meet their demise.

'...I'm hungry.'

Tortured by the gnawing hunger, akin to a relentless drill, Oliver snapped back to reality and peered ahead.

Overwhelmed by dire hunger, Oliver had unknowingly dropped to his knees and noticed the alarming frailty of his wrists.

His consciousness was fading, and his grip on reality was slipping away.

Perhaps for this very reason, he felt no particular emotion even as he witnessed Human-meat Chef, with outspread dragon wings, soaring toward him.

The sole notion in his mind was to bring this to an abrupt end and consume anything edible.

[Black Sun]

Right as Human-meat Chef was on the verge of snaring Oliver with his dragon claw, Oliver began an incantation, slightly faster than before.

He employed a technique called Lumen, once utilized by the son of an Angel and reinterpreted through black magic.

A voracious little flame (貪火) materialized between Oliver's palms and erupted, engulfing the abundant emotions around it, forming a flawless sphere.

The speed was so extraordinary that Human-meat Chef, attempting to seize Oliver, was forcibly pushed back by the overwhelming physical force and fire power, without even making contact. There stood Human-meat Chef, who had hitherto been impervious to all attacks, now ablaze. His transcendent body was consumed by fire.

"......!!"

Human-meat Chef displayed profound emotional turmoil in the face of the black sun's fiery onslaught from beneath.

However, instead of retreating, he extended his hand into the black sun, stubbornly endeavoring to capture Oliver.

As a consequence of this stubbornness, not only his skin but also the subcutaneous tissue and muscles beneath it ignited, yet his hand inched ever closer to Oliver.

Yet Oliver remained utterly indifferent.

The black sun, expanding in size, devoured even more of the surging emotions surrounding it, growing in magnitude and burning Human-meat Chef with greater intensity.

━━━━━!!!!!

For the first time, Oliver witnessed something.

Human-meat Chef, displaying more than just surprise—an emotion.

His invincible body, which had withstood every attack without harm, was being consumed down to the bone.

"I am...!"

Human-meat Chef uttered words as he confronted the black sun head-on.

However, Oliver, increasingly overwhelmed by hunger, paid no heed to the chef's words. His sole focus was on continuously expanding the size of the sun to burn Human-meat Chef and bring an end to it all swiftly, so he could eat anything, something.

"Big━"

"━KAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Just as Oliver was on the verge of causing the black sun, brimming with an immense surge of emotions, to explode and obliterate everything around, Human-meat Chef let out a deafening scream.

Whether it was due to hunger or some other reason, Human-meat Chef's arm underwent a reptilian transformation and enlarged drastically, enabling him to crush the sun in that state.

Surprisingly, just before the explosion, the sun collapsed and vanished, its magical formula disintegrating.

"......"

Even Oliver, usually unflappable in any circumstance, found himself momentarily struck speechless by the unfolding spectacle. He had never imagined it would come to this.

As Oliver stood in stunned silence, Human-meat Chef advanced towards him.

His recovery rate was as impressive as his defense; most of his charred body had already regenerated.

"Don't underestimate me...... I haven't just lived...... For hundreds of years, without any blessing...... I haven't just lived......!"

Human-meat Chef's defiant declaration seemed to carry a certain pride, but Oliver, overwhelmed by extreme hunger, simply knelt without offering any response.

His hunger was just too overpowering.

Meanwhile, the children, attempting to rescue Oliver, rushed at Human-meat Chef. Already drained of considerable energy, they were swiftly subdued by Chef's slashes and claws.

During this chaos, Human-meat Chef's gaze fixed upon Bathory, her limbs severed one by one. Approaching what remained of her body, he muttered to himself.

"I am..."

Shhhhhhhh......

As Human-meat Chef was about to utter something, an incongruous sound reached his ears. It was the sound of life force being siphoned away.

Turning towards the source, Human-meat Chef saw Oliver, still on his knees, drawing in his life force.

Even for Human-meat Chef, who had preyed upon people, this technique was unprecedented.

However, consumed by intense aggression, haunted by the lifeless body of his former lover, and affronted by the theft of his life force, Human-meat Chef was too engulfed in fury to be intrigued by Oliver's technique.

He seized Oliver, who was absorbing his life force, by the throat with his hand.

Undeniably, Oliver was a formidable adversary.

Much like when he first encountered him in the basement. The kind of adversary that could stir up trouble if consumed.

What was it about him that could evoke such emotions in Chef, who had desperately clung to life for hundreds of years?

Could it truly be what the witch had alluded to? But it mattered not. In the end, he would be devoured by him, his sister, and become nourishment.

With this thought in mind, Human-meat Chef endeavored to crush the detestable mouth before him. Yet, at that very moment, he experienced a searing pain.

Instinctively releasing his grip, Human-meat Chef examined his palm.

There were bite marks. Clear bite marks.

"......"

Silently, Human-meat Chef gazed ahead, and before him stood Oliver, emaciated.

Oliver, audibly chewing on something.

With half-closed eyes, he uttered, "I'm hungry......"

(To be Continued)

CH 414-423 (Vs Human-meat Chef Part3) $3CH 424-433 (Vs Human-meat Chef Part4) $3CH 434-443 (Dave Vs 100 Druids) $3444~ $1/chapter

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