LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 952
<952 – Captain-class Monster Cuisine Contest (5)>
The boy monster reluctantly picked up the giant meat dish.
Crack went the wooden chopsticks as they crumbled into pieces.
“…”
The boy monster grabbed the giant meat dish with another utensil.
The metal chopsticks flopped around, melting away.
“……”
The boy monster again used a mana-infused utensil to grip it.
The mana was corroded by the energy of the giant monster, causing the chopsticks to bang explode in mid-air.
Sweat beaded on the boy monster’s forehead as he spread a protective barrier to block the fragments flying at his face.
‘How on earth did I eat something like this?’
Oknodie had no trouble picking it up.
But what did he use to grab it?
Digging through his memory, the answer came to him.
His hand.
He grabbed the meat with slender fingers gloved in white cloth, wolfing it down as if it were a potato soup.
While it lacked decorum, using that method was the correct way to eat the giant monster meat that destroyed everything.
The boy monster unleashed his newly acquired tentacle ability.
The tips of the tentacles were wildly prickly and throbbing, yet he could finally grip the meat without issue.
‘That was the answer.’
Reluctantly, he put the meat into his mouth.
The meat that was painful to hold caused chaos in his mouth even more.
Teeth: I’m melting.
Stomach: I’m dying.
Intestines: I’m twisting.
Cerebrum: I’m spitting.
Skin: I’m swelling.
Every organ in his body writhed in pain, losing functionality while desperately trying to expel the toxins out.
The boy used the monster’s recovery and endurance, along with his mana control technique that allowed him to move rapidly, to force the harmful toxins into his body at alarming speeds.
He then condensed the energy expelled through his sweat glands into a single [Poison Potion].
Huff, huff…
“Wow, I can’t believe you live after eating this. Your power-up is really impressive!”
Clap, clap, clap. Oknodie’s applause followed.
The voice that seemed unanticipated only brought about fear rather than gratitude or pride.
Oknodie absorbed all that toxicity without expelling any.
Up a notch.
He had become this strong yet still couldn’t gauge the level of Oknodie.
‘I have to get stronger. Even more than now.’
Had he been the boy trapped by face and common sense, he might have settled for his current level before stepping even closer to Oknodie’s unimaginable power.
He would break free from being just a ‘Researcher’ under Professor Buzhaar and be recognized as a ‘Combat Member’, even rising to ‘Captain’ level leading a single unit.
For an ordinary person, that would be enough to be moved to tears.
Even if he didn’t become a professor, he could still enjoy the wealth and power that came with leading a strong group.
If he descended into the research dimension, he’d be treated like a god descending to the lower realm.
But now he understood.
All that was merely child’s play.
“Want to dip it in super spicy sauce?”
“…That monster’s essence?”
There was hesitation in his gaze at the horrifying condiment known as monster essence, but the boy resolutely extended his tentacle and plunged the meat into the sauce.
‘Who knows? There might be ingredients in the sauce to neutralize the monster’s energy.’
Of course, there was no such merciful trick.
The meat rubbed in the sauce was twice as painful.
The boy monster realized that in front of Oknodie, who was chewing and swallowing the meat like a teddy bear meeting salmon, betting on the dish was a guaranteed loss.
‘Whether it’s the dimension catalyst of twenty…. or twenty-five dimensions, it doesn’t matter.’
It was insufficient.
Even risking the lives of all the captain-class monsters couldn’t breach Oknodie’s stronghold.
“Oknodie. I have one question.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you like a challenge?”
“I love it!”
“How about when the opponent grows stronger?”
“Even more so!”
“Even if the host disappears, and the competition gets messy, you’d still want your opponent to become stronger?”
At that moment, Oknodie realized what the boy was getting at.
Before the astonished Jaku could interfere, a mana shield cut off external sound.
A retired professor from the Senate raised a bit of energy, thinking it amusing to see the chaos unfold.
“Are you going to smash everything again this time?”
Tears welled up in Oknodie’s eyes.
It reminded him of the chaotic ruckus caused by the five captain-level monsters yelling, “Our competition is ruined!”
“If Oknodie helps, the venue will be safe.”
“Hm. In that case, sounds good!”
Against an ordinary opponent, one received ordinary rewards. But fighting a strengthened opponent yielded enhanced rewards.
The stronger the opponent became, the higher the rewards naturally became.
Strengthening an opponent beyond limits and claiming rewards that surpassed those limits hit the sweet spot for veteran players.
[Protective Barrier]
The moment Oknodie spread the barrier, shock crossed the faces of the two.
The Jaku trapped within the barrier and the retired professor crushed by the mana shield were the subjects of that surprise.
The Jaku sensed something unusual was happening, while the retired professor was astonished that even a retired student could break through a professor’s mana shield.
“I’m the host. There can’t be a competition without a host!”
“It’s fine! Professors are experienced hosts!”
Could people who present at conferences not host?
Moreover, the only spectators present were professors or monsters.
So what if the host changed? It wasn’t a significant deal.
Complaints?
If there were complaints, a special meeting could be held with the professors.
“Then you should have kept the cooks down below in check. If you had, I would’ve been willing to indulge, but this is just too much.”
“The issue is you lot who made the uproar! Why are you directing this at me, the host!”
Dodging the boy’s tentacle assault, Jaku leapt into the air, shocked at the sight of the flying severed tentacles.
When abilities meld, unusual attack methods are usually born, but the idea of cutting off tentacles harder than steel and throwing them like boomerangs was beyond imagination.
Boom!
Moreover, the explosion that occurred as he severed the tentacles obscured their view, scattering mana dust everywhere while temporarily crippling the mana detection function.
Seeing Jaku, stripped of all senses of sight and mana, Oknodie found it interesting.
Oknodie had seen similar tactics before.
Titosso’s Titos Beam.
He had used it himself.
Thus far, no one had dealt with this attack successfully.
But how about the host?
Would he just ineffectively be defeated?
“Ahhh!”
A scream rang out.
Surprisingly, the screamer was the boy monster.
[Rotate] [Launch] [Spine]
Infusing the energy saved within his body into tangible form, he released it in all directions.
In a regular area-of-effect attack, it should’ve simply bounced back uselessly without breaking through the density of the attackers.
But the spikes fired by the host did not bounce back.
Though fired in all directions, the spikes aimed toward the charging boy monster were evidently differentiated by layers of [Specialized Area] density.
Even as the boy, late to realize something was wrong, attempted to escape, the Jaku’s attacks followed him precisely.
No matter where he fled or what defenses he erected, the attack pierced through his defenses and struck the boy monster.
At this point, he could be called nothing less than a humanoid hedgehog.
“How, how is this…”
“You might neutralize detection instruments, but you can’t escape your fate. You may have gained Captain-class power, thinking highly of yourself, but merely increasing the number of dimension catalysts doesn’t signify true strength. The ‘karma’ accrued through time and individual effort is something that cannot be concealed. Facing that karma is the true realm of imprinting your will into the world.”
It was a realization encompassing the principles of astonishingly advanced martial arts.
Gaining functional experience makes it progressively harder to accumulate, allowing for more specialized moves, actions, and challenges.
But functional experience also carries a different meaning.
Not the experience accumulated as a technique, but the karma built up as a result of one’s good and evil deeds and life’s trajectory.
Such functionalities sometimes exist in the world.
Oknodie, who evolved from [Good Child] or [Bad Child] to [Evil Child], understood this even better.
Surprisingly, the host could perceive such karmic ties.
The ability to read karma was a supernatural power aligned with instincts, separate from mana.
With the detection instruments disabled, he finally understood the secret to why he could still act.
“My karma is…”
“A opportunist.”
“And the connection…”
The boy monster’s head was caught in Jaku’s grasp.
Then, his entire form shriveled and withered like a mummy.
The victorious Jaku absorbed all of the boy’s monster cells and energy.
Thanks to this, the now startling Oknodie was disoriented.
He had set the stage to empower his participant, only for the host to plunder the participant right away, even absorbing him outright.
“What happens when the host absorbs the participant!”
“Hm.”
Jaku glanced at the professors in attendance, noting that unlike before, some now felt confident of victory.
Having absorbed the refined energy of a Captain-class monster, they’d exceeded the 20-dimensional threshold, accumulating an astonishing 33-dimensional catalysts once duplicates were excluded.
But among them were two individuals.
Michael and Destroyer.
They were on another level.
To the extent that they still felt it was insufficient.
Lost in such thoughts, Oknodie turned to look at him.
In that moment, he had a realization.
‘Huh?’
Because he had taken the role of host, he had no worry about facing off against her, the nearly monstrous strong girl.
Now, that girl no longer seemed vague to him.
‘Maybe it’s worth a shot?’
Somewhere in between the upper-tier professors and top-tier professors.
Oknodie seemed ‘equal’ in that space.
Perhaps that was why.
“Take responsibility and compete in my place!”
“Let’s just give it a shot.”
Jaku confidently challenged Oknodie to a one-on-one duel, following the boy monster’s lead.
This time, pandemonium erupted in the stands.
“I’ll take responsibility for the lady’s competition.”
“He’s my apprentice. I’ll take responsibility.”
“If I want to raise a good girl, I must feed her well. I’ll handle this.”
Professor-tier spectators engaged in a battle of nerves over the now-vacant host seat.
“That’s enough! If you’ve come to watch, just watch – how can you try to fight? If you fight there, the entire venue will be obliterated!”
That was a fair point.
Unlike Captain-class monsters, the clash between upper-tier and top-tier professors was honestly on a different scale.
Oknodie’s guardians proposed a reasonable compromise.
“In that case, you choose.”
“Oknodie second year. Choose who among us should be the host. You can pick your favorite. Of course, it’ll naturally be someone from the main building.”
“I trust you, lady.”
Suddenly faced with a monumental question akin to “Do you prefer mom or dad?”
The distinguished old professor stroked his beard nonchalantly.
The Destroyer was being a little too cheeky.
Even those who weren’t pushing for it showed subtle expectant looks, and so, naturally, Michael, Bronze, and Jonnas’s eagerness was unmissable.
Choosing one would ensure four would sulk!
“What do I do?!”