Chapter 807: Today’s Dish

When I proposed the transaction.

Those bastards crushed me beneath their pressure.

From the moment I summoned them, the contract was already in progress.

By preventing me from giving a clear answer to their proposal.

They had tried to push this contract through in a half-baked state.

“I know everything.”

And.

The reason they had no choice but to do that was simple.

“You have no choice but to accept this transaction.”

They had sworn to do everything in their power for the Alliance.

For that purpose, they had placed a restriction upon themselves that prevented them from speaking lies, even at the cost of damaging their own divinity.

“Otherwise, it would mean you had lied.”

Avaritia had seemed certain to cease to exist just like this.

Had he truly ceased to exist, then from their perspective, there would have been no way to save him.

Even if they failed to save him, it would not have been their sin.

But now, the situation was different.

=.......=

By personally declaring that I would save Avaritia.

I had placed them in a situation where the contract they had made forced them to negotiate with me.

‘No matter how harsh the conditions I present may be.’

Since they had sworn to do everything in their power for the survival of the Alliance.

They had no choice but to do everything in their power to satisfy those conditions.

=......It would be best for you to understand this.=

That was why they had tried to play a trick and push this contract through quickly.

But with the awakened from China joining us, even that trick had failed.

=If accepting those conditions would reach the point of destroying another member of the Alliance, we cannot comply.=

Therefore.

There was now only one choice left for them.

=So...... if you truly prevent Greed’s extinction and return him to our side.=

The contract I would present from this point onward...... one unfair to the point of cruelty.

=So long as it does not reach the point of destroying another member of the Alliance.=

Upon that contract.

=It shall be fulfilled as you desire.=

All they could do was silently sign.

***

“I’m saying this just in case, but I trust you won’t later claim something like, ‘Even the slightest loss brings us that much closer to destruction, so we cannot comply.’”

=......We will do everything in our power to provide compensation at a level that satisfies you. There shall be no deception, no trickery, and no hidden scheme.=

They could not speak lies.

A world where such beings had gathered.

The wills of the demons had said so.

It was no different from those bastards declaring that they would accept an unfair contract.

=However, you must also understand one thing.=

In that case.

Only one thing remained.

=All of this applies only if you succeed in preventing Greed’s extinction.=

In the end.

No matter how unfair this contract was.

It was still a conditional contract.

‘A promise that they will provide the greatest possible compensation, so long as I succeed.’

If there was a problem with that.......

It was the act of reviving a divine being that was ceasing to exist.

The fact that success itself was close to impossible.

=If you fail, there shall be no compensation whatsoever.=

=No, beyond that.=

=......You will have to pay the appropriate price for summoning us over a meaningless contract.=

I could still feel distrust coming from the Demon Realm.

It was something even those incredible bastards were certain was impossible.

But, whether I should call it fortunate or not.

‘There is exactly one method I can try.’

With that thought.

I approached Avaritia.

=Are you serious?=

I was leading the contract with the Demon Realm and saying that I would save him.

Avaritia looked at me as though he could not understand me.

“What do you mean, am I serious?”

=......About saving me and returning me to the Demon Realm.=

“Of course I’m serious.”

Well, after saying all this, it would be quite embarrassing if I failed.

Even so, it was something I could at least attempt.

=Are you saying this because you do not know?=

“Hmm?”

=My true body remains in my homeland, but the soul here is complete.=

I knew.

An absurdly powerful soul.

This soul possessed a rank so immense that it was close to the limit of what this world could contain.

And.

=As you are now...... you would be capable of bearing even my soul.=

“.......”

Perhaps it would have been different in the past.

But I had now reached level 70.

I had gone beyond a demigod closer to humanity and become an existence closer to a god.

That was why I could tell.

‘My body, which obtained [Body Reformation] and [Dragon’s Inner Core], has already been refined more than enough.’

The soul contained within it.

If I merely strengthened that soul.......

If I devoured whole the soul of a transcendent so powerful that even across the entire universe, such beings were rarely seen.

=If you devour me...... you will be able to achieve transcendence.=

I would no longer merely be an existence comparable to a god.

It might even be possible for me to become a true transcendent.

=At that point, you would easily overcome a mere destruction trampling this land.=

“.......”

Those who had been watching this world from outside.

Most of them had fled the moment they noticed my existence...... my fate.

=The only dangers remaining in this land are the refugees of destroyed worlds.=

Therefore.

The only ones we now had to worry about were those who had already flowed into this world.

Those drawn in by the pull of this perforated world, where fragments of destroyed worlds had entered and settled.

Among them, there would likely be powerful beings such as Mirinae and the king of Belsnickel.

But.

=Now that you have awakened your authority, you would be able to drive all of them out without difficulty.=

Even they were not residents of this world.

We were the rightful successors recognized by this world.

Considering the rights granted to the defending side as the rightful owners of the world...... our authority.

The moment I achieved transcendence, every destruction within this land would become surmountable.

“A way to overcome destruction.”

Certainly.

What that bastard said was undeniably true.

It was not as though that choice held no appeal.

But.

“I’ll handle that myself.”

=.......=

I had no intention of choosing that option.

For me now, devouring this bastard was not even something worth considering.

=Why? No matter how much my Alliance may be able to offer you, even that would not be more valuable than my soul.=

“That’s probably true.”

=I tried to destroy your world and trample your fate. So why?”=

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not doing this because I like you.”

If anything, it was the opposite.

Just thinking about what that bastard had tried to do to me still made me grind my teeth.

If he had not been flickering as though he might cease to exist at any moment, I would not have minded beating him a few times.

“I, too, have gone through struggles for survival. I defeated many enemies and survived by devouring them.”

Even so, the reason I did not choose that path.......

Was quite simple.

“But I have never allowed innocent people to be massacred as a result of my actions.”

That bastard had prepared himself to fight.

He had resolved himself to devour others in order to protect his own world.

He had stepped willingly into a struggle for survival where both sides sought to devour one another in order to live.

But the inhabitants of his world had not.

They had made no preparations and committed no sins.

And yet.

If I devoured Avaritia.......

If I chose that path despite knowing that the result would be the deaths of countless lives.

“Then I would become no different from you.”

=.......=

Invading and destroying a world that had committed no sin.

Turning countless lives into fuel simply because doing so would help them survive.

It would be an act no different at all from what the beings of the Demon Realm were doing.

The higher an awakened person’s level became, the harder it was to gain another level.

For me, already beyond level 70, moving on to the next stage would be an unimaginably difficult path.

Moreover, transcendence was the act of an existence that had once been an ordinary human trying to become a god.

There was no way something like that could be easy.

If I let go of this path now, I might have to take an extremely long detour.

Perhaps even after dozens...... or hundreds of years, I might still be unable to achieve true transcendence.

There was a high possibility that grasping this path now would be the easiest route.

But even so.

‘No.’

The moment I did that.

The path I had walked until now.

Its history and mythology.

‘A great stain would be engraved upon that path.’

By becoming stronger immediately, I might be able to survive for the next thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of millions of years.

But billions of years later, perhaps tens of billions of years later.

Even if an immeasurably vast length of time passed.......

Someday, without question.

‘That stain will catch hold of my ankle.’

I could not make that choice here.

Even if I could live peacefully for eons.

After those eons passed, I would certainly regret that choice.

=You.=

That intuition.

No.......

=You...... saw something.=

That ‘foresight.’

Was being engraved into my soul.

***

While surviving this destruction.

There had been many times when I relied on strange intuitions that suddenly pierced my mind.

When had it been?

Sergeant Lee Minjae had once told me that my intuition might not be mere instinct.

A judgment based on standards in some place even I could not understand, acquired while surviving this destruction.

Perhaps it was a reasoned judgment that I only described as intuition because even I could not clearly explain the reason behind it.

And as time passed.

That intuition of mine advanced into the next domain.

‘Foresight.’

And.

That foresight...... that intuition of mine screamed.

That I must not devour this bastard here.

“......But well. Even if I hadn’t seen it, the result would have been the same.”

No, actually.

Even without that intuition, my choice would probably have been similar.

“I don’t know what that law itself you saw was.”

They were beings who had fought against destruction.

But at some point.

After seeing something they believed could never be defeated, they gave up fighting any longer.

In other words.

“You are already losers.”

=.......=

The path they walked was a path taken after acknowledging defeat.

A path of compromise, seeking to delay destruction as much as possible after realizing they could not fundamentally overcome it.

But I had not yet experienced that destruction.

No matter what incredible existence might approach.

Because I had not experienced it, I had the right to challenge it recklessly.

In that case.......

“I have no intention of walking that path.”

The path taken by those who had been defeated and chosen compromise.

There was no reason for me to follow in their footsteps.

“So accept it quietly.”

With that thought.

I reached out toward Avaritia’s soul, which was shaped like a sphere.

As I did, I thought.

My occupation was a chef.

And as a result of surviving this destruction for quite a long time.

I had also become a chef of fairly high standing.

Something like a head chef.

“I told you earlier, didn’t I?”

For a chef who had reached the position of head chef.

Changing the day’s menu freely according to his own will was also possible.

And...... I had already decided today’s menu.

“Today’s dish is you.”

A divine being among the oldest in the universe.

An existence so powerful that it would be difficult to find another like him even after searching the entire universe.

[Skill - ‘Soul Cooking’ is activated!]

This ingredient.

Seemed like it would be quite satisfying to cook.