As Sergeant Shin Young-jun returned to the unit and exchanged salutes with Lee Sang-ah, the soldiers watching were left speechless.

The sight of the ground moving on its own, massive trees parting as if guiding a path—it was awe-inspiring enough to leave them dumbfounded. And walking through that path without a hint of hesitation was Sergeant Shin Young-jun.

“What in the world is that…”

“…Just let it be. Don’t question it.”

While they were still in shock, Lee Sang-ah stepped forward to approach Shin Young-jun after their salutes.

“What happened in there? What on earth—”

“Ah, careful.”

Just as she stepped between the parting trees.

Crack!

“…!?”

A massive tree root suddenly blocked her path.

“Calm down.”

“...I’m guessing that wasn’t meant for me.”

Lee Sang-ah stared at the root, hand over her chest.

As she guessed, the command to “calm down” wasn’t directed at her.

“It’s for this guy.”

He gently patted the tree.

“Calm down. She’s a friend of mine. You don’t need to worry.”

With his soothing words, the root slowly receded back into the ground with a rustling sound.

“What in the world is going on…”

“I told you, things went better than expected.”

He grinned.

“We’re friends now.”

* * *

“Anyway, just know that it all worked out. And…”

I turned away from Lee Sang-ah, who looked at me as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Is Private Cheol-wook here?”

At my call, a man came running out from the group.

“Present, sir! Did everything go well?”

“Thanks to you.”

“Oooh…!”

He looked proud that the fertilizer recipe he’d taught me had been useful, bursting into a hearty laugh.

“That’s great, just great!”

“And I have more good news for you.”

“Sir?”

I pointed behind me with my thumb.

“Inside there… what did you call it? The kind of thing that would ignite a farmer’s passion?”

“Ah, yes, I did say that.”

“I’ve taken care of it. You can access it now.”

“...Excuse me?”

As a chef, I knew that having good ingredients was essential for great dishes. The better the ingredients, the more experience points I could earn.

The same logic applied to any production profession.

“You can only cultivate inside there, though. Make sure to bring fertilizer when I’m not around.”

“Thank you, sir!”

Unlike me, who could earn experience through battle as well, Cheol-wook had developed purely as a farmer. Having more crops to grow meant a significant opportunity for growth. He bowed deeply.

“But there’s one thing you need to be careful about.”

“...?”

“It looks a bit different now compared to when I first found it. It’s intriguing, and I know you’ll be curious, but… don’t approach it recklessly.”

The Alraune, which had been malnourished and had a grotesque human face embedded in the middle of its trunk, was like a plant in an energy-saving mode.

‘It must have been a form of conserving energy.’

Once it received proper nutrients, its appearance changed significantly.

If anyone approached without caution and got attacked, it would be disastrous. I was the only one it had bonded with so far.

Having more vegetables available for Cheol-wook to cultivate was good for me, too. Good ingredients made for better dishes.

Another benefit of becoming friends with the Alraune was:

“The defense of our rear can be entrusted to that forest.”

We’d gained a powerful ally.

With most of the combat troops out on an expedition to Chuncheon, even though Inje was relatively stabilized, the reduced manpower was undeniable.

It was always nerve-wracking knowing that a monster could appear unexpectedly.

‘Now I can worry a little less.’

I had made it clear that this base was my home. A friend wouldn’t let their friend’s home fall apart.

I still needed to visit the base periodically to collect vegetables, but it felt like I had gained more than expected.

Not a bad outcome at all.

‘Now I should replenish the vegetable supplies and head back to Chuncheon.’

Just as I was thinking this:

“Commander!”

A soldier called out to me.

I turned to see what was going on.

“That man has woken up!”

“Which man?”

“The one in the infirmary, sir. You told us to report as soon as he woke up.”

Ah.

It seemed I wasn’t leaving just yet.

* * *

I followed the soldier to the infirmary.

Just days ago, the man lying on the bed had been unconscious. Now, his eyes were open, and he looked around nervously.

Creak.

He turned his gaze toward me as I entered the room.

“A-Are you the high-ranking officer the soldiers talked about?”

I had told them to report immediately when he woke up, so it seemed they had followed my instructions to the letter.

“Well, yes, that’s me.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Please, hear me out.”

The man grabbed my collar, speaking urgently.

“My hometown… Chuncheon needs help. It’s like hell over there—”

“Oh, we’ve already taken care of that.”

“E-Everything’s flooded… wait, what?”

Now that I said it out loud, I realized how long this man must have been unconscious.

“Yes, it’s all resolved.”

I explained what had happened in Chuncheon: how we heard the distress call before he collapsed, went to Chuncheon, cleared the dungeon, and evacuated the people.

He let out a long sigh of relief.

“I thought I might have said something before collapsing, but I wasn’t sure. So it wasn’t just a dream…”

“Judging by what I saw, any longer and people would have started fighting over food. Your alert saved many lives.”

“That’s a relief. Really, thank you so much.”

Tears welled in his eyes as he bowed his head in gratitude.

Still, there was one thing that I was curious about.

“There’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Yes? Please, anything. You saved my hometown, so ask away.”

“Were you one of the people trapped in that dungeon… or city?”

“Yes, I was.”

I had been wondering about this for some time.

“How did you manage to escape from there?”

This man was the only one who successfully escaped from the dungeon.

“That waterfall isolating the city was no ordinary obstacle. The water pressure was strong enough to tear through steel. Most people didn’t even think escape was possible. How did you manage…?”

Unless this man was an extraordinary fighter.

[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]

[Low-level Messenger Lv. 3]

He wasn’t.

Very few of our own soldiers would have been able to make it through that waterfall. Even I would have needed multiple stacked buffs from [Absolute Taste] to have a chance, and even then, I’d probably be bedridden for days due to side effects.

“Well, I don’t know if you’re aware…”

The man hesitated before responding.

“There was a monster in the city.”

“If you mean the mermen, we know. Their leader is dead, and the rest died when the dungeon was cleared.”

“No, it wasn’t just the mermen.”

“?”

The man spoke cautiously.

“There was a cannibal… a monster that ate both humans and mermen indiscriminately.”

The reason he managed to get through the waterfall and reach us.

It was something unexpected.

* * *

After finishing things up at the ammunition base, I prepared to return to Chuncheon.

“Take him with you.”

“Huh?”

Lee Sang-ah approached, holding a small, black, fluffy creature.

-Squeak…

[Iron-Eating Beast]

It was Ka-mang.

I had left him behind, just in case, when the combat troops had gone on their mission.

“I don’t know the details, but that thing in the jungle is going to defend our base, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We have tanks and fortifications built by the engineers here. With the jungle on our side, our defenses are more than sufficient. But it’s different over there, isn’t it?”

Chuncheon had more combat-capable Awakened, but its defenses were makeshift. We only had barricades set up around an abandoned building we were using as a base.

The engineers were trying to build more, but there were limits.

“Most of the building materials here have already been reinforced.”

“Don’t the engineers over there need those materials more urgently? It’s okay to take him with you.”

Ka-mang’s ability to enhance materials meant I’d considered bringing him along. Hearing the engineers’ opinion, I decided it was a good idea.

Lee Sang-ah spoke again.

“More than enhancing materials, I’m asking you to take Ka-mang for your own protection.”

“My protection?”

“Yes. You’ve been reckless for too long, Commander. One day, it’s going to catch up to you.”

“Come on.”

Maybe in the past, but I’d grown more confident in my combat skills after everything I’d been through. My base stats were superior to most soldiers, and with the enhanced buffs from [Absolute Taste], I felt secure.

But she clearly thought differently.

“You’re still human, Commander. No one’s perfect all the time. And in this world, one mistake can be deadly.”

“Hmm.”

“You never know what might happen. Just take him with you.”

It felt strange.

Military rumors tended to exaggerate, and many of the stories about me were blown out of proportion. Because of that, some soldiers had an inflated opinion of me, which I found a bit burdensome.

But this concern was different.

It had been

 a while since someone genuinely worried about me.

“…Alright.”

“You made the right decision.”

I couldn’t refuse someone who genuinely cared.

Besides, it was true that Chuncheon needed more materials.

-Squeak!

Ka-mang squeaked happily as he nestled into my arms.

I’d have to start making special dishes for him again once we got back.

As I looked down at him, I activated [Combat Strength Indicator].

A dark blue aura radiated around Ka-mang.

“…”

Even stronger than Ariella.

Darker than the Alraune.

Almost deep enough to be indigo.

“…You’re an incredible creature, aren’t you?”

-Squeak?

Although he looked like a small kitten due to limited feeding, I couldn’t imagine how strong he would become if he were fed to his full potential.

And finally.

“Here you go.”

Cheol-wook handed me a small box.

I’d already stocked up on vegetables in my shadow storage, so I was curious.

I opened the box to find unfamiliar plants.

Wait.

Not unfamiliar.

“You already started cultivating them?”

“Well, not exactly. These were the ones already growing out there. Your fertilizer saved them when they were dying from poor soil.”

The strange plants that had surrounded the Alraune.

“Is it okay to uproot them for use? Isn’t that against your goal of cultivating them?”

“Haha, do you think I’d bring them without thinking? We’ve already collected all the seeds and saplings we need. You can use these freely.”

“Oh.”

Awakened as a [Farmer], he was quite capable.

“So, when do you think you’ll be back?”

“Well, I’ll be focused on stabilizing things there for a while.”

Chuncheon wasn’t fully secured yet. We didn’t even have a proper base, just an abandoned building we were using as a temporary shelter.

“Still, it would be nice if you could visit more often.”

“Why? Things seem to be running smoothly here.”

“Well, I did try using the fertilizer you made, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.”

Ah.

He meant the Alraune.

“At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but the trees started tapping me on the head as I passed by. And when I tried taking plants from the forest, it got really angry.”

“Haha.”

“I had to yell that I was bringing them to you before it calmed down.”

“You must’ve had a tough time.”

“I was shocked by its appearance at first, but I didn’t realize how temperamental it was. It seems to want to see you again. If you could stop by once in a while to calm it down…”

“If I can, I will.”

Honestly.

Staying here wouldn’t be a bad idea.

But I had things to do.

I recalled what the man in the infirmary had said.

-That cannibal monster didn’t distinguish between humans and other monsters. When I encountered it, I thought I was dead for sure.

-But that wasn’t the case?

-It dragged me to the city’s edge and told me to go outside and ask for help.

And then… it used its arm to block the waterfall and threw me through it.

[Dungeons] don’t allow exits until they’re cleared.

But the people of Chuncheon were trapped when the dungeon formed around them. They hadn’t entered from outside.

The waterfall, once breached, allowed escape.

The man had found someone to help and made his way to us.

-I risked my life to get here not just because Chuncheon was my home, but because I was terrified.

-Terrified?

-That the monster would come after me and eat me if I didn’t do what it said quickly enough…

A monster roaming the city.

It hadn’t shown itself even when the dungeon was cleared.

‘The Cannibal.’

I’d been thinking of visiting anyway.

There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask it.