The Military Chef of a Ruined World

‘Phew. I’m not sure if this is the right decision.’

A man sighed as he pondered.

He was leading a small group in the submerged city.

He was somewhat capable, so the group was managing reasonably well, but…

‘The city’s food supplies are running out. There will be fighting again soon.’

The food they could obtain through fishing or the bread they could buy with points was not enough to feed all the people in the city.

There had been a major fight over food in the past.

The man, thinking there would soon be another conflict where humans would take up arms against each other, took his group out for hunting.

To level up a little, earn some more points, and secure some more food for the survivors.

“I’ve found a way for us to escape this place.

It was Chang-su, the leader of the Revengers, a group made up entirely of battle-crazed fighters.

He said he had joined forces with some soldiers from the outside and was planning an operation to escape from this place.

When the man first heard this, he thought,

‘Those revenge-obsessed idiots and their nonsense.’

Everyone in the city hated the monsters, but they were a little extreme.

Most of the surviving humans in the city avoided them.

And this time was no different.

‘Now they want to drag us into their revenge as well.’

He had heard about the soldiers from the outside.

Tae-wan’s group had apparently welcomed them but parted ways on bad terms.

When he heard that story, he thought those idiots who clung to their legs deserved to be kicked out.

‘But if those soldiers are talking about hunting the monsters together, I would have refused too.’

Sorry, as he was about to say it, the man had no intention of getting involved in this.

Even though they were trapped in the buildings by the mysterious walls, his priority was to live one more day.

Hunting monsters was one thing, but going to the center to catch the boss?

It might be a novel way to commit suicide, but those who valued their lives would never participate.

He was about to refuse, shaking his head, when…

“I know it’s hard to believe, but could you at least come to our building and hear us out?”

“What reason do we have to do that…?”

“We’ll provide you 3 days’ worth of food.”

“…3 days’ worth?”

Three days’ worth of food sounded great on paper.

In a situation where even the daily food ration is precious, this condition was absurdly exceptional.

‘I ended up coming here because I was blinded by that condition, but I’m not sure if it was a good choice.’

There were a few others around who had also come, attracted by that outrageous condition.

There was also the judgment that it wouldn’t be bad to get friendly with Chang-su’s group, which was full of strong individuals.

But apart from that, the man thought Chang-su’s proposed method was unrealistic.

‘Hunting those monsters is also a life-threatening endeavor. Is it really possible to hunt their leader?’

Well, whatever.

If he could get the group’s 3-day food ration in exchange for wasting a bit of his time, that would be a kind of profit, in a way.

Thinking such thoughts, the man went up to the rooftop of the building.

What he saw there was…

“…Huh?”

A huge thundercloud hovering over the city center.

After entering the dungeon,

Lightning mages had essentially become useless.

The reason was simple.

‘They’ve become too strong.’

In this dungeon, not only is the ground covered in water, but the air is also saturated with moisture.

Even the interior of the buildings has damp floors.

‘The fact that no diseases have broken out yet is probably due to the peculiarity of this dungeon.’

Anyway, with highly conductive water everywhere,

The lightning magic of the mages had become too powerful.

‘Even if they fire it from far away, the lightning still affects their own allies.’

Even when inside the buildings, the waterfalls flowing down the exterior walls end up affecting the people around them.

While there were lightning awakened in this city,

They were all treated as outcasts.

‘Novice mages don’t have long range advantages.’

Using magic too close would only end up harming their own allies and themselves.

Meanwhile,

[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]

[Lee Min-jae]

[Lv. 21 Intermediate Lightning Mage]

[Hwang Sun-wook]

[Lv. 16 Junior Lightning Mage]

Our mages were quite high leveled.

“If we minimized the power and only fired from the maximum range… we might be able to contribute to some degree. But…”

“We’re not specialized in long-range attacks like the snipers. I’m not sure how much help we can provide by reducing the power and firing from far away.”

The mages I had gathered looked quite uncertain.

Hearing their words, I let out a wry laugh and responded.

“No, we shouldn’t reduce the power.”

“Huh?”

“If we do that, it will still end up affecting our own allies. The environment of this dungeon itself…”

“You’re right, but let’s try changing the approach.”

Reducing the power just because a problem arose is…

Too passive of an idea, isn’t it?

“We should do the opposite.”

“…?”

“Increase the power and the range as well.”

The magic that’s already strengthened.

Enhance that even further.

“As long as the range is enough that it won’t harm our own allies, right?”

“No.”

“That doesn’t seem possible…”

“Why not?”

“…?”

If it doesn’t work, we just have to make it work.

‘And I have the ability to do that.’

The memory of when I reclaimed the tank battalion came to mind.

Corporal Seo Su-hyeok, who fainted after eating the food I had poured my full power into.

What he said right before fainting:

‘It’s best to refrain from using such powerful buffs.’

‘I was just barely able to endure it, but someone with even a bit weaker willpower would have fainted long ago.’