Chapter 419: The Flesh Cook

After promising Yareli that he would try not to get hurt, Oliver parted ways with her and walked toward the center of the city.

Naturally, his destination was the mechanical tower, where it’s assumed the ritual is taking place.

Oliver turned his gaze towards it.

The mechanical tower, a combination of advanced architecture and engineering, was built as a testament to Gallos’s national power. It stood 600 meters tall, visible from anywhere in Ravely.

In fact, during the time Oliver spent in Ravely, whether short or long, he saw it continuously.

Because of that, he thought he had grown somewhat attached to it.

‘Though, the people here hate it. They call it a monstrosity—too big, out of harmony with the surrounding scenery. But I find it charming.’

Anyway, one thing was certain: regardless of personal preference, the mechanical tower could be seen from anywhere.

But right now, it couldn’t be seen at all.

The tower, located in District 1 at the city center, was cunningly obscured by the fires raging across the city.

The black smoke from the fires veiled it like a curtain from all directions. Oliver only realized this now.

Well, it’s not too surprising considering the entire city has become a war zone.

‘Seems like a rushed operation, yet still thorough.’

Oliver silently assessed the Flesh Cook’s plan.

It wasn’t his area of expertise, so he couldn’t judge it rashly, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that a long-prepared plan had been hastily altered due to unforeseen circumstances.

He tried to guess the reason… Whatever it was, the only thing that came to mind was the sudden conflict between the Tower of Magic and Loculi University, starting at Lake Village.

‘Well, it’s not important now. I’ve also gained something from this.’

Recalling Deziher Durance, who was devoured by Big Mouth, Oliver took out several spatial magic-infused papers from his pocket, considering the location of the mechanical tower obscured by black smoke, and scattered them in all directions.

The papers, imbued with magic, flew to their assigned spots as Oliver willed, and Oliver began to make his way toward the mechanical tower.

Hoping to arrive as quietly as possible.

***

‘Hmm… Was it too much after all?’

As Oliver moved closer to the city center, he thought while fending off waves of the Flesh Cook’s subordinates.

Previously, when seen from underground, they were scattered around the city causing destruction and chaos. But now, they had gathered in an organized manner to hinder Oliver.

The zombie soldiers, in particular, fired guns from behind walls or from the upper floors of buildings as soon as Oliver approached.

Dududududududu!!

Loud gunfire echoed from all directions, mingled with the smoke of gunpowder.

Bullets rained down from the front, back, sides, and even from above.

Although, they couldn’t penetrate the robe Oliver had crafted, the bullets were stopped in midair.

While his robe handled the defense, Oliver observed the zombies firing at him from all directions.

They were indeed similar to the zombie soldiers he had seen in the contaminated zones, made by the Puppet.

For a moment, Oliver wondered if the Puppet was helping the Flesh Cook, but quickly shook his head.

While he couldn’t say he knew the Puppet well, he didn’t think the Puppet was the type to lie.

There wasn’t even a reason for the Puppet to lie in the first place.

‘Guess I can just check.’

Thinking that, Oliver returned the bullets, caught by his robe, back in the direction they came from.

The hundreds or thousands of bullets that had stopped in the air now flew back, piercing the bodies of the zombies or smashing into the walls, bringing a temporary halt to the rain of gunfire.

However, this didn’t mean much.

They were zombies, after all, and a few bullets wouldn’t matter much to zombified bodies, as they were already dead.

As if to prove this, the armed zombies reinforced their ranks, tightened their encirclement, and resumed firing.

Just as they were about to throw grenades, Oliver raised the black hand created with Ptah’s Assistant and the Black Suit to absorb all the emotions, life force, and magic in the area.

Shooo—!!

Scattered all around the place, the zombies had placed themselves to sustain high-powered magic attacks, yet all their efforts were in vain as their energy was sucked out.

Some of the zombies tried escaping backward, but as the range of Extract expanded, it became a futile attempt. One by one, they fell to the ground like wind-up soldier toys running out of spring.

At that moment, Oliver spotted the only zombie soldier who was resisting.

‘The rooftop.’

Raising his head, Oliver caught sight of a zombie with much more life in its eyes compared to the others… a corpse puppet, controlled by a necromancer.

As soon as their eyes met, the necromancer controlling the corpse puppet attempted to flee.

But Oliver was faster.

[Targeting]

When Oliver reached out his hand and chanted, a massive amount of emotions quickly gathered to form dartboards in front of both his hand and the corpse puppet. These dartboards then acted like magnets, pulling the zombie toward Oliver.

The zombie puppet tried to resist with dark magic, but since Oliver had used a vast amount of emotions for the targeting spell, it easily overpowered the puppet’s resistance.

The zombie puppet was helplessly drawn toward Oliver, like a fish caught on a hook.

As soon as the puppet was dragged closer, Oliver used the emotional particles from his robe to bind the puppet’s limbs, grabbing its face and forcing it to make eye contact.

Focusing on the necromancer’s sight through the puppet’s eyes, Oliver saw the person controlling the zombie army.

Fortunately, it wasn’t the Puppet.

The necromancer was visibly startled when his eyes met Oliver’s, and he hurriedly severed his connection with the corpse puppet, but Oliver didn’t mind.

He already knew where the necromancer was.

Suddenly, Oliver recalled the puppeteer, Glyp.

The dark sorcerer he first met when he came to Randa alone.

Overweight to a grotesque degree, Glyp had been a disciple of Puppet and was the second dark sorcerer after Joseph to extend a hand to Oliver.

He had made Oliver an offer:

If Oliver cooperated with him, he would help Oliver join the Black Hand and obtain the knowledge he sought. He’d even grant full access to the Black Market.

That had been several years ago.

Yet ironically, now Oliver was fighting against one of the Black Hand’s Fingers.

He was suddenly curious.

‘What would have happened if I had accepted that offer and joined the Black Hand instead of becoming a Solver?’

As Oliver pondered this, he started chanting.

[Minced Meat]

Briefly lost in thought, Oliver came back to reality and used the black hand to absorb the vitality of the fallen zombies, compressing their flesh into a round mass.

He then infused it with life force and emotions, activating Targeting and maximizing repulsive force to launch the flesh ball high into the sky.

[Targeting]

[Heavily]

[Acceleration]

When the ball of zombie flesh reached the heights above, like he had done with Deziher Durance, Oliver used dark magic and spells.

After using Targeting to set his target, he increased the projectile’s weight for more destructive power and added acceleration. His target was the rooftop where the corpse puppet necromancer was.

Although he would have liked to meet the necromancer directly as he did with Glyp, time was pressing, so this would have to suffice as a greeting.

Luckily, Oliver’s targeting was accurate, and as soon as the flesh mass struck, all of the zombie soldiers across the city halted their actions simultaneously.

It seemed the necromancer had lost control over the zombies in his attempt to flee, and shortly after, an enormous explosion erupted in the heart of the city.

The explosion was so massive it could be seen from a distance.

Its scale was so great that everyone in the city had to notice it, including the Flesh Cook’s subordinates who were causing havoc.

Those nearby started rushing towards Oliver.

Just as Oliver determined that enough of them had gathered, he pulled out a paper from his pocket and opened a violet portal.

He hadn’t planned to use it now, but for quick movement, he did. Upon entering the portal, Oliver immediately found himself close to the mechanical tower.

‘Good enough.’

Oliver thought as he checked the remaining papers.

Upon exiting the portal, Oliver hurried and soon arrived at the mechanical tower.

At that moment, he felt it—the intense stare coming from the top of the tower.

As soon as Oliver sensed this presence, several portals appeared around him.

They formed directly in midair, without any catalyst.

The speed, timing, and execution were all beyond excellent.

Only Merlin and Gretel had such mastery over spatial magic.

‘But it’s not Gretel. It’s similar… but not her.’

Before Oliver could even finish his thoughts, numerous people emerged from the portals.

They were very young, all followers of the Flesh Cook, and they held French knives, boning knives, filleting knives, and cleavers, each brimming with dark magic.

No sooner had they come out of the portals, they swung their knives at Oliver.

Although, the knives were stopped once again by Oliver’s robe.

“Kraaah!!”

Despite being blocked by the overwhelming force of the robe, the Flesh Cook’s followers didn’t give up. They burned their life force to a dangerous level, driving their knives deeper.

Their crimson-stained skin and bloodshot eyes were proof of this.

As a result, they managed to push the blades barely a centimeter further.

Their determination was truly remarkable… Oliver was impressed.

He didn’t know the details, but it was clear these people held a belief and will so strong they were willing to risk their lives.

So impressed was he that Oliver, almost involuntarily, reached out and extracted their emotions and life force to reinforce his robe and used the emotional particles to create several hands.

Using them, he pressed down on the Flesh Cook’s subordinates from above, forcing them to the ground.

He then asked the kneeling men a question.

“Are you the Flesh Cook’s disciples?”

“Yes! Master’s enemy! We will destroy you!!”

One dark sorcerer boldly shouted. His voice resonated with faith—faith in the Flesh Cook.

Oliver wanted to ask why they believed in the Flesh Cook so fervently, but as he mentioned several times earlier, time was scarce, so he didn’t inquire further and instead subdued them to move forward.

He could still feel that gaze from the tower.

Just as he was about to make his move, he noticed a slight wriggling inside the bellies of the dark sorcerers who surrounded him.

Tiny larvae, like the ones he saw when the Flesh Cook had sent him an invitation.

Awakened from their slumber, the creatures immediately swam up from within their hosts’ bellies, injecting a particular kind of sorcery into their bodies.

The results varied—some sorcerers’ abdomens swelled grotesquely, others vomited profusely, and some cried tears of blood.

Strangely enough, when the blood and vomit made contact, they produced a visibly lethal toxic gas. Just then, an overinflated abdomen burst, triggering a small but potent poisonous gas explosion.

It was a curse-weakening type of dark magic. A very potent one too.

‘Starvation sickness, eye shingles, red spots, mad nerve disease, seizure sickness, joint petrification, and 13 other deadly curse-type dark magic diseases.’

It was quite dangerous. The risk of curse-weakening type dark magic multiplied when various curses piled up because…

Even though they were diseases, their roots were in dark magic, causing them to chemically react and evolve into unknown forms when mixed.

As proof, the curse-weakening magic had already begun affecting Oliver’s body.

Fortunately, he had read about some of these curses in books, allowing him to react quickly.

Using the magic within his robe, Oliver prevented the spread of the curses while neutralizing them with emotions.

At that moment…

He sensed a powerful life reaction near the mechanical tower.

It was a giant. From the several sightings during his journey, Oliver could identify it.

It was identical to the giants he had seen before, except it could use dark magic.

“Ohhh…”

Oliver looked up, making a sound.

The giant, larger than most buildings, let out a ground-shaking roar and raised both arms to the maximum height.

That light movement alone created an air current up above. The giant didn’t stop there; it deepened the color of its arms to crimson and bulked up its muscles.

Crack… crack…

The sound of muscles and bones groaning could be clearly heard.

By instinct, Oliver knew he had to dodge. This wasn’t just a strong attack; it was closer to an artificial disaster.

However, due to the multiple curses affecting him, Oliver couldn’t react in time. In the end, instead of dodging, he wrapped some of his robe around one arm.

Just as he finished wrapping his arm, the giant slammed both of its massive fists down like meteors. Oliver coughed but raised his robed fist skyward.

BOOM!!!

As the fists collided, an indescribable roar echoed throughout the city. The shockwave and dust spread in all directions, creating enormous cracks in the ground.

It was as if a meteor had fallen—a terrifying sight.

It seemed like no one could possibly survive, yet standing proudly in the crater created by the fists was a single man.

It was Oliver.

Despite taking the full force of the giant’s fists, he stood his ground, even managing to shatter the giant’s hands.

Although he was still coughing from the curses.

“Impressive… Winning a fistfight with a giant while choking on his own coughs.”

Oliver turned his head. There hadn’t been any sign of anyone before.

But there he was—the Flesh Cook, holding a French knife in his hand.

As soon as the Flesh Cook’s eyes met his, he swung his knife from left to right in a wide arc.