Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad - Chapter 18

After seeing Kurken.

Choi Hyun-seok headed to the kitchen.

The warm sun had already risen high in the sky.

Soon it would be time for the cooks to leave for the hunt, so he had to arrive before then.

“Hu…Fortunately, I’m not late.”

“Ah, Choi Hyun-seok! You’re here.”

Kulkan warmly greeted him as soon as he entered the kitchen.

“Yes. Did sir Kulkan have a comfortable rest yesterday?”

“I’m always comfortable! By the way…”

Kulkan stared at Choi Hyun-seok.

“What’s that strange thing on your face?”

He had forgotten to take off the scouter because he was in a hurry.

Choi Hyun-seok made a rough excuse.

“Oh…I bought it because it looked nice.”

“Is that so? You have a strange taste.”

Kulkan didn’t really care and moved on.

Choi Hyun-seok breathed a small sigh of relief.

‘Thank god.’

Then he suddenly got curious about something.

‘How strong is Kulkan?’

The head cook Kulkan.

In other words, it means the strongest of all cooks.

Choi Hyun-seok raised his head and looked at Kulkan.

Dingdingding!

The number written on the lens began to rise rapidly.

Beep!

Choi Hyun-seok became shocked by the number that finally stopped.

‘3…35,000…?’

Kulkan’s combat power was over 35,000.

That was double the other commanders.

Feeling something amidst, Choi Hyun-seok hurriedly confirmed the combat power of the other cooks.

[Combat Power: 1960]
[Combat Power: 2620]
[Combat Power: 2350]
[Combat Power: 2100]

‘The average is around 2000… What kind of monsters are these guys?’

Most of the cooks were around the 2000s.

A far different figure from the demons out there.

Some of the weakest-looking cooks exceeded the 1000 mark, while others exceeded the 5000 mark.

‘They were incredible after all…’

It wasn’t anything strange in retrospect.

The cooks fought against demon beasts every day.

It would be weird if they weren’t strong.

‘I’ve grown this much in just over 10 days…Considering the time period, I might be rather weak.’

This is a good thing.

It benefited Choi Hyun-seok that the cooks are strong.

‘I’m going to put in more effort grilling meat today.’

This was a group of crazy monsters risking their lives to eat.

Having already tasted his meat, they will do whatever Choi Hyun-seok asks of them.

‘Before we go hunting, should I bring up the spar?’

Choi Hyun-seok approached Kulkan, who was preparing for the hunt.

“

“Sir Kulkan, I have a favor to ask of you!”

“Huh? What is it?”

“I want to spar with the cooks!”

“Spar?”

“Yes, I was so impressed by the cooks fighting the demon beasts! I was wondering if they could give some pointers…”

“Hahahaha!”

At Choi Hyun-seok’s words, Kulkan gave a pleasant laugh.

“Choi Hyun-seok. Don’t be too impatient.”

“What?”

“You’re getting stronger at a rapid rate. You’re already pretty strong for a human…So take it easy.”

Choi Hyun-seok gave a disappointed look.

“Oh…It can’t be helped then.”

“Huh?”

“I cooked some meat to repay the teaching today, but…We’ll have to eat this another time.”

Choi Hyun-seok pretended to put the meat back in his backpack.

Pa.

Kulkan grabbed Choi Hyun-seok’s wrist.

“Let’s start right away. Who do you want to fight?”

* * *

Preparations for the spar proceeded quickly.

Choi Hyun-seok chose an orc named Kubakum.

The reason why he chose this guy among the many cooks was simple.

First, he was the same race as Kurkan.

But also because Kubakum looks the dumbest out of all the cooks.

‘Still, his combat power is quite high at 2500.’

His figure is nearly twice as big as Choi Hyun-seok.

To be honest, he didn’t think he could win.

‘But I still have to win.’

The image of the very powerful Kurken overlapped in front of him.

The one in front of him is much weaker than Kurken.

If he can’t beat this guy, he won’t be able to beat Kurken either.

“What’s going on? It’s almost time to go hunting.”

“Choi Hyun-seok is going to spar against Kubakum.”

The cooks gathered at the news of the spar between Choi Hyun-seok and Kubakum.

“Spar? What’s that? Are they fighting?”

“Tsk. You don’t know? They’re going to fight to the death.”

“What!? That means Choi Hyun-seok is going to die!”

The stupid cooks spoke with serious expressions.

“Hey! If Choi Hyun-seok dies, who will cook the meat?”

“No…! I can’t live without that meat anymore…”

“Let’s kill Kubakum first.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Just before the death sentence of the poor cook Kubakum, Kulkan stepped in and mediated.

“Everyone, shut up! You idiots!”

“…”

“A spar isn’t a fight to the death. It’s simply a skill exchange.”

The cooks babbled at Kulkan’s words.

“Are they arm wrestling?”

“Maybe it’s a tug-of-war.”

“Haa…”

Kulkan decided to just leave the idiots alone.

“Listen carefully.”

Only Choi Hyun-seok’s opponent, Kubakum, needs to understand the situation.

“You can’t kill Choi Hyun-seok. You’ll hold back in the fight. Do you understand?”

“Grwar…! Okay.”

The orc Kubakum answered with a stupid look on his face.

He didn’t look very reliable scratching his head with a dumbfounded look in his eyes.

“But you can’t be too gentle. Only hit Choi Hyun-seok to the point where it really hurts. Okay?”

“Grwar…Gr…! Okay…”

“Try not to break anything if you can.”

“Grwar…sparring is really hard.”

“Yeah, yeah. He’ll cook more meat after this, so cheer up.”

At that moment, the word meat flashed across his eyes.

“Just leave it to me. Head cook!”

Kubakum suddenly uttered a coherent sentence and stepped forward.

“Choi Hyun-seok. Let’s start the spar.”

“Yes. I look forward to the exchange.”

Kubakum and Choi Hyun-seok stood facing each other with a little distance.

And between them, the referee, Kulkan, raised his arm.

“Ready…begin!”

The spar started as soon as Kulkan’s arm fell.

Kubakum took a posture.

‘…Don’t hurt it too much.’

Choi Hyun-seok is a person who grills meat.

He didn’t want to hurt him.

Papapa!

Right from the start Choi Hyun-seok began running at full speed.

Kubakum lifted his arm.

‘Lightly… just enough to crush his face.’

He pulled his heavy arm back.

Muscles throughout his body became tense.

‘I’m coming…!”

He seemed to have forgotten that he shouldn’t hurt Choi Hyun-seok just three seconds ago.

It was simply the memory of a goldfish.

Whoosh!

Kubakum’s fist stretched out violently.

‘Huh…?’

However, contrary to expectations, Kubakum’s fist didn’t reach Choi Hyun-seok.

It had missed and hit air instead.

At the same time, he saw Choi Hyun-seok’s kick flying in.

Swish!

It felt like the sound of something cutting through the wind.

‘Big shoes…?’

The mud-stained sole of a shoe was growing larger.

‘Ah, I’m hit.’

Boom!

That was the last sound Kubakum heard.

* * *

Forest behind the 3rd Legion’s headquarters.

Choi Hyun-seok was in a state of great excitement even though they haven’t come across any demon beasts yet.

“I’ve grown stronger.”

It’s been a while since the spar, but the feeling still lingered.

‘I defeated an orc with twice my combat power in one shot.’

Frankly, he didn’t expect to win.

It was just an idea to gain experience.

However, contrary to expectations, Choi Hyun-seok knocked out Kubakum with a head kick.

The faces of the cooks who looked at him in awe were still vivid in his mind.

‘This has made it clear. Combat power doesn’t mean everything.’

There was a difference of 1,000 combat power between Choi Hyun-seok and Kubakum.

Nevertheless, Choi Hyun-seok knocked down Kubakum in one hit.

This was a very good sign.

‘I can win.’

This means that there’s a chance even if there’s a huge difference in combat power between him and Kurken.

Of course, Kurken is a lot stronger than Kubakum who he fought today.

Kurken’s herculean strength could be called monstrous.

But Choi Hyun-seok also grew stronger.

And he will continue to grow stronger.

‘There’s still a long way to go, but if I keep growing, I’ll definitely be able to put up a fight against Kurken.’

He vowed to hunt harder today.

‘Good. I’ll hunt whatever comes today.’

Choi Hyun-seok gripped his huge kitchen knife with his eyes shining.

“There are Talas up ahead.”

Finally, he heard something he had been waiting for.

When he glanced ahead, he saw spider-like demon beasts.

‘So those are Talas.’

The bastards were quite big.

It was bigger than a decent-sized dog.

However, this size was cute compared to what he has been dealing with.

It was like a little baby.

“How many?”

“Seven.”

“Well, that’s weird. There shouldn’t be a group of Talas here…”

He was wondering why Kulkan hasn’t ordered them to charge like usual.

Choi Hyun-seok approached Kulkan, who has remained silent.

“Is there a problem? Does Talas meat taste bad too?”

“No, Talas meat is delicious. Especially the chewy Talas’ bone marrow!”

“Then why…? “

“Talas lives in groups. One mistake, and you’ll have a group coming at you.”

“Oh…”

“The queen in particular. The Talas Queen is more troublesome because of her motherly bond. If we mess with her babies, we’ll be in trouble.”

Choi Hyun-seok looked surprised at Kulkan’s explanation.

‘A demon who can think like normal!’

He didn’t think there would be someone normal among those in the demon army.

“But Talas meat is delicious, so let’s just catch them.”

Kulkan said calmly.

Choi Hyun-seok nodded in agreement.

“It’s rare for the queen to show up out of her nest anyway, so it’ll be fine.”

“Then let’s go now!”

“All right! Everybody, charge! Today’s snack is Talas bone marrow!”

“Uwaaa!”

The cooks roared as they started running.

Choi Hyun-seok, who fell behind, jolted his legs.

‘There aren’t many.’

There were a total of seven Talas in front.

On the other hand, there are a hundred cooks.

In this situation, if he hesitates too much, he might not be able to get the last hit.

‘Don’t hesitate and aim for the last hit.’

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes shone.

Just one more last hit and he’ll definitely be able to level up.

“Surround them so they can’t escape!”

“Don’t damage it too much! Otherwise all the delicious bodily fluids will be lost!”

The cooks quickly surrounded the Talas.

“Keek!”

“Keek!”

The Talas babies gave a pathetic shout, but it was of no use.

“Keueu…I heard the fluids from their legs are very delicious.”

“How about the Talas’ bone marrow?”

“That’s for the executives. We may be included in the dinner menu if we touch what’s not ours.”

In the eyes of these muscle idiots who only had food on their mind, the Talas were merely seen as a well-prepared meal.

Of course, the hero Choi Hyun-seok also had a similar thought.

‘Hehe…these demon beasts are definitely mine.’

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes glistened with madness.

‘EXP…EXP…! Huhuhu…!’

It certainly didn’t seem normal to smile like an idiot with a kitchen knife.

“Kill them cleanly!”

Kulkan shouted.

The cooks rushed at the Talas at the same time.

“Waaa!”

A situation in which butchers with huge kitchen knives were seen running from all sides.

The group of poor Talas couldn’t even resist properly.

Among them, Choi Hyun-seok swung his kitchen knife, desperate to get the last hit.

“Last hit! Last hit! Last hit!”

It went on like this for some time.

‘All right! I got it!’

Choi Hyun-seok cheered.

He succeeded in getting the last hit on as many as two Talas.

It was the result of his crazy tenacity and concentration towards leveling up.

[Level up!]

Listening to the level-up notification, Choi Hyun-seok was overjoyed.

‘Kuehu! Thank god!’

He didn’t leveled up as much as the first time, but it couldn’t be helped.

This is because he was still going for last hits after his level had already risen quite high.

Rather, it was a very generous reward compared to the effort put in.

‘I’m off to a good start. Let’s keep the ball rolling!’

When Choi Hyun-seok was smiling and checking his status window.

Boom, boom, boom…!

The ground began to shake with a lot of noise.

“W-what!?”

Choi Hyun-seok looked around in shock.

Even the cooks were shocked.

Boom, boom, boom…!

The vibration became louder.

Pa.

Light suddenly disappeared like it was never there.

At this moment, the surroundings were drastically darkened.

It was because of a giant shadow.

“Uh…Kulkan, sir…?”

The frozen Choi Hyun-seok turned his head and looked at Kulkan.

“Is that their mother?”

“The Talas Queen to be exact.”

“Aha, but you said the queen rarely comes out…”

“Things don’t always go your way.”

“Ah…I see…”

The Talas Queen was larger than an adult elephant.

It has 10 meters thick legs that can be seen in all directions.

He didn’t think there was any possibility of winning.

But Choi Hyun-seok used the scouter just in case.

[Combat Power: Unable to measure]

Looking at the letters on the lens, Choi Hyun-seok asked.

“Kulkan, sir. What do we do now?”

The Talas Queen’s eyes were fixed on her dead babies.

Clearly resentment.

The cooks who had been cutting off the baby Talas’ limbs were halfway from fainting.

“Hmm…”

An urgent crisis.

Kulkan patted his chin leisurely.

“It can’t be helped.”

Kulkan took a step forward.

‘Don’t tell me…he’s going to take it on…”

In any case, Kulkan is a strong demon with more than 30,000 combat power.

Maybe Choi Hyun-seok will be able to see what he’s really capable of.

Papapa…!

Kulkan ran at great speed.

A few seconds later.

Pass the Talas Queen just like that.

“Huh…?”

Kulkan was getting farther away.

With some distance apart, he shouted as hard as he could.

“Let’s all meet back alive!”

“T-this son of a bitch…!”

Choi Hyun-seok’s legs moved faster than the rest as he cursed Kulkan who had run away.