"It seems that they really managed to achieve it," Chris muttered.
"And with finesse too," someone said to the side.
They all paused for a few seconds, then focused on the trio once more. Emery was gutting the snake and removing certain parts from the entire body. They'd been watching him since he left the building.
After a while, Chris got his thoughts back in check.
"Is there anyone against us taking him to the boss?"
Silence. No hands raised.
"It's settled then. We'll take him to the boss in two days. I'll tell him beforehand."
A unanimous nod emerged from all the individuals watching from the top of a singular building in the distance. It was probably hundreds of meters away from where Emery was, but they could see with incredible ease.
And so they all left finally.
. . . .
Unaware of the individuals looking at him from afar, Emery diligently continued on with his task.
He actually learned the process of cooking snake some time ago just a bit at the beginning of the apocalypse where there were still a few normal animals around from time to time and while it wasn't very hard, it was a bit tricky.
He separated the parts he needed from the ones he didn't quite easily and then cleaned them carefully.
Elyn was injured and bitten by the dark king cobra, so she needed something of a cure immediately. He knew it was wrong to test people's limits like this, but he had to know and figure out his own limits as a chef with this Doomsday Chef system
(Note: I've changed it from Summoning System. Point out parts where it's still called Summoning system and I'll correct it.)
He got out a pan once more and placed a bit of oil on the pan. Then he chopped up a few vegetables and a few chunks of the snake meat.
The pan was heated, and now it was time to cook.
He got out five make-shift kebab sticks and arranged them in the telltale manner that indicated the familiar dish.
[Ding!]
[Job Action performed. 20 exp gained!]
[New Dish Created: King Cobra Kebab
[Name: King Cobra Kebab ]
[Effect: Antivenom properties capable of rivalling traditionally made anti-venom medicine. Enhanced passive healing.]
After a while, the cooking was done. He handed a stick to the mongoose, who watched in awe and picked another one to give Elyn.
He pulled out a piece of the kebab and opened her mouth, putting it in. He held her up to avoid choking and chewed for her.
She swallowed the chewed-up piece of thing, and her expression improved quite visibly. Seeing this, he grew a little more confident as he held her up and fed her the kebab slowly.
Her eyes fluttered with a breath of life after the last bite until finally they opened.
The breathtaking purple orbs stared into his own eyes for a good second. Only then did Emery realize what he was doing. He stopped the inadvertent caressing of her head and let her off to the side.
She turned away from him as well, doing the same thing.
"Eep eep." Citro shook its head.
"You shut up,"
The mongoose gave him a mocking glare and then climbed over to the remaining pieces of kebab.
"You're only allowed two more, greedy." Emery sneered.
How did the kebab taste? Emery himself was not very sure. He helped himself to one and took a bite out of it.
Pepper, salt and… colour.
The meat reminded him so much of pork and the spices he added only served to make that distinction more clear. The rest of the kebab was almost as good, but none could quite hold a candle to that snake meat.
It was amazing.
'Should we kill snakes more often?'
The question lingered on for a brief moment, but aside from the adrenaline, he realized something important.
They really did it. A Class Nine threat. How? He wasn't quite sure, but it was clear that he did it.
And those moves he pulled towards the end of the battle. That was some movie shit. Emery still wanted to be a chef, and he'd still rather be a chef, but that dopamine rush he felt when he sliced down with his knife.
Amazing.
"Em, do you still want to hunt more beasts?" Elyn interrupted.
He looked towards the girl. He didn't know. Did he?
"Nah," he said after considering it. "Let's go back for now. Our spoils are quite decent. We got several Class Ten corpses and a Class Nine snake head. Its venom should allow it to go for quite a higher price than a normal Class Nine."
"Un un un. And you gotta make even more food when we go back!"
"Eep eep eep eep!"
He rolled his eyes. "I'll only be cooking for Elyn if you keep up with that, greedy!"
"Eeeeep!"
"Noo, don't do that to greeny!"
He smiled at their antics, then put everything he needed back into the pantry. After making sure they weren't missing anything, he went ahead, and they started going back to Hemp's base.
Well, not quite.
"That's quite some spoils you've got there, guys. Why don't you share them with us?"
The voice came from in front of them. These new individuals seemingly appeared out of nowhere, blocking their exit paths. Emery, at first glance, identified that there were at least five people in this new group.
Each one was dressed in a strange combination of modern clothes and tactical armour. They also primarily held cold weapons, but one of them did hold a dark shotgun.
He shuffled back a little. Beasts he could deal with, but humans…
"Wait, he looks a little familiar, no?" one voice said from amongst them.
"Oh… now that you mention it!"
And all of a sudden, everyone in the group laughed at the same time.
"It's that dude that the boss is obsessed with for some reason. Won't let him just leave! What was his name again?"
"Em-something hahaha! I heard that the boss went along with Zion and Tim and this guy was shivering in his boots,"
Another round of boisterous laughter emerged.
And then, for the first time, Emery decided to look to them to spot that symbol that hunted him most of the time. To anyone else, it was just the image of a single silver finger, but to Emery; it represented a sort of invincible force that would not let him be.
Carlos.
He stared at it for a long time, but only one word came to mind.
'Shit.'