Chapter 10

“Episode 10: How big is this?”“Ugh… Huff…”

My entire body grew feeble, dizziness swept over me, and my head spun.

A bitter taste rose in my mouth.

“Wu… We won…”

It wasn’t a joke; I had genuinely thought I was going to die.

While the lizardmen were somewhat familiar opponents, the chieftain was a completely different beast altogether.

It’s tough scales couldn’t even be pierced with novice dagger skills, and it took three awakened warriors, including Gwang-il, to barely make it a fair fight.

We were already outnumbered, and the burden only increased with three of us facing the chieftain, adding more pressure to the other awakened soldiers.

“And even knowing their weaknesses doesn’t help.”

The lizardmen’s weak spot was their left armpit, precisely below, where stabbing could reach the blood vessels near the heart.

However, with the chieftain standing at 2.5 meters tall, his armpits were nearly 2 meters high.

We needed someone of similar size to attack its armpit and pull the dagger downwards to cut down its blood vessels.

“If it weren’t for the soldiers breaking free from the ‘Fear’ effect and the awakened marksmen joining the battle, we would’ve been corpses by now.”

“Medics, quickly!”

“Oh, no. How am I supposed to deal with this…?”

“You’re a medic! Will you take responsibility if these people die?”

“…No, but if things go wrong, we might end up with casualties too.”

While the battle ended in victory with the reinforcement of other soldiers and marksmen, there were still some casualties, given the unfavorable circumstances.

Every awakened soldier had received wounds of varying degrees.

Thankfully, most of them were not life-threatening.

However, some were problematic.

“Han-il, Daewon…”

Both of them were warrior-type awakeners.

Specifically, the other two who, along with Gwang-il, had faced the chieftain.

“The ones who bravely fought in the most dangerous positions.”

Han-il was knocked out by the chieftain’s body slam, crashing on to a wall, and bleeding from his mouth. And for Daewon, he had his abdomen torn by the chieftain’s sharp claws, with his intestines nearly spilling out.

“If they die… no one will dare to step up next time.”

They had to be saved somehow.

“Medic… Was your name Uijun?”

“S-Sir, Sergeant Shin Young-joon? Well, I’m from the physical therapy department, so…”

“Not that… Ah, it’s too hard to explain right now. Just follow me.”

I was filled with the desire to collapse from exhaustion but somehow, I held on to my senses and moved my body.

I headed towards the place where the bodies of the lizardmen lay scattered.

“Not this one… Not this either… Ah, found it.”

Despite the chieftain’s resistance to ranged attacks few of the lizards were rendered useless by the awakened marksmen soldiers.

Scattered on the ground were bodies of those lizard monsters who were barely clinging on to their life.

What I found was one of those barely surviving monsters.

“Hey, this one’s still alive… Take his dagger. You already know their weak spot, right? Stab there…”

I handed my sashimi knife to the medic and instantly collapsed on the ground, unable to move any further.

The one who took the knife hesitated for a moment, then tremblingly approached the incapacitated monster, and thrusted the knife into its weak spot.

“If my guess is right then this should work…”

A cook like me awakened as a chef.

The ones who awakened as marksmen were generally good at shooting.

Thus, the jobs granted through awakening weren’t entirely random; there seemed to be some rules and logic behind it.

“If this world has turned into a game, there should be job classes, right?”

My anticipation proved right, as the medic holding the knife cheered with joy.

“It worked! I’m a novice healer! I have healing skills!”

“Good, now go take care of Han-il and Daewon…”

Now I could finally rest a bit.

“Oh, but this healing skill, it’s for one person and has a cooldown period of one day…”

“…Didn’t our unit have a chaplain?”

And just like that a healer and a priest two ‘Healer’ class awakened joined our unit.

***

The next day.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself under an unfamiliar ceiling.

I was in the living quarters.

Seems like I passed out among the lizard corpses.

The other soldiers must have moved me in.

“I slept well… Ouch.”

As I tried to get up and to sit properly waves of pain surged through my body.

It felt like I had cramps all over my body.

“Hey, Young-joon. Are you alright?”

“Not really…”

Sergeant Lee Min-jae opened the door and came in with a soldier.

Upon entering he saw me groaning with pain.

“Jungsu, this guy is about to die. Give him some treatment.”

“Yes, sir.”

As Sergeant Min-jae spoke, the soldier beside him folded his hands, adopting a praying posture and murmured.

“Oh Lord…”

A white light descended on to my body from his hands.

And with it, the pain washed, as if it never existed.

“So, you’re the unit’s chaplain.”

“Haha yes that’s me. Though it’s not my first time doing this, I feel awkward whenever I have to that ‘Oh Lord’ prayer.”

Hearing his comments, I smirked and asked, “Is that so? Isn’t it a daily thing for a chaplain to offer prayers?”

“Well, I’m a Buddhist.”

“…”

“Also, for your information, I’m neither a Buddhist major nor a monk. I’m just a third-generation Buddhist born believer. I was ordered by the monk to serve in the army. I’m a Buddhist, not a monk or something similar. But for some reasons I awakened as a priest class. I was also surprised by this result, Haha.”

It seemed like this ‘game’s’ job system was a bit random and haphazard.

But it was fortunate in a way, since it saved lives.

“So, are you okay with that? Isn’t it somewhat against your religious beliefs?”

“In the grand scheme of things, I guess I’ve already crossed the line. I don’t think much of it anyways. Also, everything feels like a game with my new found powers. On top of that I’m saving sentient beings here which isn’t against my religious beliefs, Hahaha.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

He seemed like a very positive Buddhist.

“Anyway, well done, Young-joon. We practically won this battle thanks to you,” said Min-jae after dismissing the military priest.

“And did you see the log as well?”

It was obvious what log he was referring to.

“The one about occupation?”

The system message that appeared after defeating the Lizard Chieftain.

“Yeah. It seems like we’ve occupied this mountain range.”

“A mountain range? Isn’t our unit just positioned on one of the peaks of the range?”

Our unit was situated amidst the rugged mountains of the Gangwon Province.

The place where our base was located wouldn’t even amount to 1% of the entire mountain range.

“Well, it doesn’t necessarily mean we need troops spread across the entire mountain range, does it?” explained Minjae.

“We’re not just randomly positioned on one of the peaks. We’re stationed on the ‘highest summit’ of the range.”

“Hmm… True”

“If there’s a force spread across this whole mountain range then most probably it’s those lizard monsters. But the rules for who controls the area aren’t so simple. It’s all about the symbolic, important places. Who controls those places matters too.”

Now that I have heard his explanation everything began to makes sense.

We defeated the lizards scattered throughout the mountain range and now holds the most symbolic location of the mountain range.

These factors made us the occupiers of this area.

“But that’s not all good news,” Min-jae continued.

“Huh?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but the enemy must have suffered significant losses in yesterday’s battle. Our holding over the symbolic location, and them being spread across many areas means our occupation over this place signifies their major losses. So, then…”

Min-jae became excited and continued, “We might even launch a counterattack against them.”

“No, that’s not possible.”

Yesterday’s battle.

Despite the various circumstances, we had the terrain advantage.

There is a major difference between being in a defensive position and being in a position where you have to break through the enemy defenses.

Even in such a defensive battle, we almost faced total annihilation due to a slight mistake.

“Of course, what you say is true. And our awakened individuals are increasing. With your buffs from yesterday, I think a counteroffensive might not be out of reach.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t expect much from those buffs.”

“What?”

Certainly, the reason we could win last night’s battle was due to the tremendous buff effect from my dishes.

But it’s not easy to make these dishes again.

“The dishes that I had fed you all… Each one took at least 4 to 7 hours to prepare.”

“I see.”

Using high-quality ingredients gathered by the chefs after meticulously studying the tastes of each awakened individual, and then spending hours on each dish made such buffs possible.

“It was made as a precaution against the possibility of the giant lizards attacking. If I were to make it again, I wouldn’t be able to get ingredients of the same quality. And with more awakened individuals, it would be even more difficult to do so.”

“Hmm… Then…”

“Normal level buffs might be possible, but with that level, even if we were to repeat yesterday’s battle, we’d be at a disadvantage. Even in a defensive battle, let alone a counterattack.”

“It seems impossible then…”

Unless we can secure good ingredients.

Given the nature of the cooking skills that I’ve been investigating high level buffs will be impossible for a while.

“Now, the next thing to discuss is… the top achievement.”

“Oh! That. What did we end up getting?”

[Major Region – First ‘occupation’ of humans under ROK affiliation]

[Achievement unlocked! – My Land From Here to There]

[1st Place privilege has been granted]

The achievement messages that appeared when we first formed a party of five awakened individuals.

We were third at that time but now we’re first.

And it’s not just about forming a party; it’s about occupying an area.

The rewards could be substantial.

“There’s no need for me to explain. It’s better if you see it for yourself.”

“Huh? What did we get?”

At Min-jae’s words, I accessed the log and clicked on the first-place achievement section.

Then…

[You can choose one of the following rewards]

An Invitation to Lord Valak’s Castle

Mobile Fortress Bimana

Nebuchadnezzar’s key

Call of the Abyss

Ascending Path

Tome of Reversal

Broken Straight Sword

“What in the world is this?”

An invitation to Valak Castle? Who in the world is that?

A broken straight sword? What are we supposed to do with that?

“So, we still haven’t made a decision yet. There’s no proper explanation given, let alone what they’re for.”

Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be some sort of description window.

[Broken Straight Sword]

[This is a Broken Straight Sword.]

[Call of the Abyss]

[You have received the Call of the Abyss.]

That’s the problem with it.

“So, here’s the thing. I’d like you to choose for us.”

“Huh?”

Min-jae hyung spoke with a serious expression.

“Wouldn’t it make no difference if I choose?”

“Since we have no information, it’s all luck anyway. But still, I’d feel more at ease if you chose. The others probably wouldn’t mind if you pick our reward.”

Even if he says it like that, I still need to know…

Hmm.

“Then let’s go with that one, the Mobile Fortress Bimana.”

“Why?”

“Because at least we can speculate its purpose from the name, right? If it’s a mobile fortress, maybe something like a giant tank will come out.”

“Do we even need a tank?”

“Not right now, but we might need one soon.”

As someone who manages the unit’s food supply, there’s one thing I can be sure of.

“Soon, the time will come when we have to abandon the unit and move.”

When that time comes, that Mobile Whatever will come in handy.

“If there’s a reason, then it’s settled. We will go with the second reward.”

[Special Privilege – You have chosen the Mobile Fortress Bimana]

[Summoning authority for Bimana has granted to ‘Shin Young-joon’]

“Summoning authority, huh. Should I try it once?”

After going out to the courtyard in front of the living quarters, we decided to test the special mission.

“Summon Bimana.”

[Insufficient space for summoning]

“Huh, it says there’s not enough space.”

“This courtyard is a bit narrow. Let’s try it in the soccer field ahead.”

[Insufficient space for summoning]

“Here too?”

“Let’s go to the training ground. Our unit’s training ground is quite large compared to the unit’s size.”

[Insufficient space for summoning]

“….”

“….”

This… Just how big is this fortress?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Translator: One Force

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