The food I was cooking wasn't great but at least, these would fill up everyone's stomach for a while.
Crackle.. Crackle..
Anyways, I was currently grilling the seasoned meats using a frying pan I kept conveniently in my inventory, and I also started a fire by imitating a fireball skill.
By now, I only needed to wait until these meats were ready, so that I could roast some mushrooms and other vegetables to go with the steaks and add some varieties later on.
In any case, why am I talking about food right now? It was a way for me to get distracted and to ignore someone…
"Are we really going to stay in this trashy place?"
The constant chattering of Asher from my side while I was preparing a good meal for my comrades and everyone, was rather annoying since I couldn't have a peaceful and quiet moment.
Annoyed after not hearing my replies, Asher grumbled. "JoonChul. Oi, are you even listening to me?!"
I would rather not respond to her, thus I just whistled and stayed quiet the whole time.
..Patience is key, after all.
"Dang, when I thought I found a good guy to talk to for once, but you're just an asshole."
"Thank you."
"Shut up, damnit!"
Smacking me on the shoulder as I was taking out utensils and skewer sticks from my inventory, I felt somewhat annoyed by Asher and so as payback, I quickly shoved a bite size steak into Asher's mouth using my chopsticks.
"Hmp?!"
If this isn't enough to shut her mouth, then maybe I should just give her more meat to keep her lips zipped.
"Oh my reaper! This is delicious!"
"And I didn't need to see you giving me a chef's kiss." I sighed.
"Give me more!"
"Do it yourself."
Thud.. Thud!
Eventually, the sound that I heard was resounding to my right until I found out that it was a bunny trying to get my attention with its continuous hops.
"Cryo, you can talk." I spoke to Crystal who was looking forward to her meal.
Afterwards, Crystal cried out with hunger on her face. "I can't wait any longer! I'm so hungry after taking care of Blackie!"
"Has Behemoth woken up yet?"
"Oh, he won't wake up yet since I thumped him to the face to keep him sleeping."
"You wha—"
Suddenly and unexpectedly, Asher dared to cut me off. "The beefs are burning."
Even though I didn't like how she interrupted me during my conversation with Crystal, she only did it to warn me of the beeves that were burning.
'Burning..? Crap!' Immediately with that thought, I lowered down the fire to prevent the meat from overcooking.
Crackle…
Also, I corrected her. "By the way, it's beeves not beefs."
"Wut?"
For whatever reasons, Asher was giving me a strange look when I corrected her 'beefs' with 'beeves'.
I should properly ignore her…
Stare~
'I can feel her eyes looking at me even with a mask on.' I scowled when Asher kept her gaze locked on to me only.
'Just ignore it.'
Right now, I shouldn't be chit chatting nor worrying about Asher's odd stare, it is because there is something more important than that. Sooner or later, everybody would be facing that 'monster'.
Needless to say, it would prove to be a tough stage ahead of us..
I pondered. 'It won't be that difficult if I plan things out.'
Excluding that tough stage, there are items waiting for us to grab, as a result, I ought to be hurrying my way to that stage.
In spite of that, if I were to do that while some of my guild members' mentalities are exhausted, then I would absolutely be a negligent leader.
'And I don't want to be called a bad leader.'
My teammates' health matters the most, if I can't even take care of them properly, not long after, failure will increase more than ever.
"Here's your meal." I served Crystal a bowl filled with all kinds of vegetables, including a couple of bite sized steaks.
When I saw Crystal's excited face and how she instantly munched down on her food, I grinned a little.
'Look at her go.'
———
After handing everyone their steak skewers, some of them ate it slowly because they haven't yet recovered from their traumatic past while some were eating perfectly fine without problems.
..Except Raiden though, he was eating too lightning-fast that it was a good thing I always cook more.
'Why is he still thin even after eating so much?'
In any case, I had to wake Behemoth up so that he could eat, I even especially cooked some grilled fish for him to munch on.
"Ah. Never mind."
At that moment, I should have remembered that Behemoth was the type of cat who does anything for fish.
Swissh.
Not only did he wake up by the smell of the fish, he even walked up to me swiftly and was rubbing his head on my leg.
"Meow! Meow!!"
Without delay, I went ahead and sat down beside him before placing his meal on the floor for him to enjoy.
"Eat slowly."
In view of the fact that I also needed to recharge myself, I proceeded to eat my own food, not savouring the taste at all since I lost quite a bit of my sense of taste after living numberless lives.
"Hm." Eating the mushrooms I had cooked after the steak, I shifted my glance over to everyone who was still eating.
I thought with a faint smile. 'They must really enjoy it.'
When my eyes were moving around everybody, I was eventually shocked by HwanGi's eyes staring straight at me for no reason.
'Jesus Christ, that scared me a bit.. Why is he looking at me?' I wondered before I was reminded of his past.
'I couldn't believe he had such an astonishing past.' That was a lie.
"Not only I saw 'her', I wasn't expecting to see that 'creature' inside HwanGi's past." I mumbled to myself.
"What an unpredictable world we live in."
By the way, I was curious about another thing in HwanGi's past, and in there, I saw someone but didn't as well.
..It was as if his face was blurred by someone.
I didn't know who that person was, however, he seemed to be called 'Sans' and must be the person that HwanGi mistook me for.
'How strange that I can't see that so-called Sans… Why is that?'
'It could be 'her' doing.' Lucifer mentioned.
'Ha, why would 'she' waste her power on blurring someone's face?'
'Indeed, it wouldn't be sensible.'
'What is 'she' going to do this time?'
I leaned on the wall behind me, staring blankly at the ceiling as if I was looking for that archangel.
'That idiot.'
———
After finishing our meals, we had begun passing through the maze with the help of Mirai and Felix.
And of course, it didn't take us long before we reached the end of the stage and this tiring maze.
[Stage #14 has ended.]
[Stage #14's rewards shall be given to the accomplishers.]
[Stage #15 will begin soon.]
We eventually got our rewards which were 1050 coins, 1 Crystal Apple and the Plum Blossoms seed, although not somewhat important, some of us wondered why the 'Helpers' responsible for this world didn't appear.
Sapphire and Ruby.
"Seems like those angels aren't coming, but why?" Asher surveyed the place quickly after leaving the maze.
I responded when I was taking off my mask. "They won't be here."
"Oh really? Then that's good. I don't even wanna see those bishes."
Stunned by her words, Felix exclaimed when he heard what Asher said. "This lady has gone to the dogs!"
"Was that an insult?"
Immediately after that, Raiden came between them. "Guys, guys. Let's not fight now, we need to move on to the next stage quickly."
I also agreed with Raiden. "He's right. We need to go now before the other players fight that 'monster', including the players who may complete stage #14."
"Tsk, seeing how you said there is a monster, I guess I should just go with you for now, but after that, I'm leaving on my own." Asher informed me as if she was making a momentary truce.
Did she think I wouldn't notice? I could tell even without her mask that she was still planning to kill HwanGi, and it was more likely that she would also plan on killing me and my guild members just to get their 'Numbers'.
I still remembered that time where everyone was trying to rush to the next world and was attacking my guild.
From the moment I saw Asher's skills, I realized that she also took part in attacking us as well, recalling that time where souls attacked us.
Her new skill, 'Lingering of the Mad Souls' was the one who did it.
"Do what you want." I replied to Asher before walking forward with everybody.
Asher isn't a trustworthy person, yet she managed to become extremely strong with how much she had obtained skills from the 'Numbers' she collected.
Despite wanting her to join my guild, I had no trust in her yet, she might backstab me after murdering HwanGi.
Even now, she might also be thinking of attacking my guild when they lower their guards.
Especially when we will be entering stage #15, that's where she may be able to sneak attack on us while we deal with that 'monster'.
'Clever yet unpredictable.' I described Asher.
In due course, I had slowed down my pace so that I could be beside Frostina, whispering to her. "Make sure you keep an eye on Asher, Frostina."
"Yes, my liege."
And in a short time, we had approached a gate of some sort, standing there once we came across it.
As though it was waiting for us to enter, the gate proceeded to open for us to get in, unveiling what was inside the room behind its gate.
In the end, we found ourselves in a room filled with a dozen of players who were resting and being patient for the next stage.
'Quite a lot of players, isn't it?' I thought.
In actuality, this place wasn't a normal room because it wasn't a room to begin with.
Soon, this place will change to something else appropriate for that 'monster' when stage #15 start.
"It's so quiet here." Mya commented as she looked around.
Right now, we could prepare ourselves until the stage begins.
[Stage #15 will start at 7:00PM.]
"What? The last time I checked, the time wasn't 6pm!" Alaine spoke.
Afterwards, Louis responded. "That's weird. I thought it was midnight already, judging from the sky outside."
"You cannot trust the sky anymore nor do you need to care about the time." I said while I was polishing Lucifer.
After me, Asher yawned as she gave her statement. "Who cares about the time when you're in this world anyways? Sleep whenever you want, eat whenever you're hungry, drink whenever you want and so on."
She resumed. "I can't believe someone is dumb enough to check the time."
Alaine argued. "I'm not dumb!"
"Why waste time looking at the time? It only makes it seem that you still think you're on Earth when you're not."
Bellowing at Asher, it seemed Alaine finally had enough of her. "That's it! Your attitude is bugging me so much!"
"Got a problem with that?"
Smack!
…?
At that moment, half of my guild members were surprised.
"What the?? Why did I?" Asher was obviously flabbergasted as she looked at her own hand. "Did I just hit myself?!"
Naturally, I was caught slightly off guard by what Alaine just did to Asher. 'Holy hell, did Alaine just use her 'BodyJack' skill to control Asher and make her slap herself?'
"She's quite sneaky." I chuckled while I stared at the dumbfounded Asher.
Even if Asher wore a mask, that could still hurt quite a lot, but the thing that hurt her the most, must be her pride or her confusion.
Alaine proudly spoke. "Serve you right."
"What the hell just happened..?" Confused as heck, Alaine muttered.
"Pfft." I laughed quietly to myself. 'How hilarious to see Asher this way.'
'Does it relieve Master because you were forced to organize the trash bags because of Asher in the past?' Lucifer reminded me of something I didn't want to remember at all.
'Oi, don't mention that time.'