Chapter 115: Cooking AIR
"He really used Knocking on it?"
"But that’s the Horse King!"
After the time-stop ended, Tengu Brunch stared at the immobilized Horse King Heracles, his jaw on the floor. His face was flushed red with a mixture of shock and excitement. He hadn’t believed it before, but now he had no choice.
Is this the divine skill possessed by the disciple of the Knocking Master?
Besides Million-Point Knocking, Kenji also knew other techniques that could paralyze the Horse King, but since it wasn’t a mortal enemy, there was no need to use them. He could have used "Knocking Moment" without stopping time, but that move consumed too much energy. The time-stop was far more efficient.
"Horse King Heracles, we are about to cook AIR," Kenji called out. "I can release your Knocking now, but you must not interfere with us. If I can do it once, I can do it a second time."
They could not be disturbed during the next phase. If he could get the Horse King to act as a guard, then even if the Blue Nitro came, they wouldn’t be able to get past its defensive line.
After speaking, Kenji released the Horse King’s Knocking. The Million-Point Knocking was just a show of force, a way to get the Horse King to communicate with them calmly.
Once it could move again, the Horse King did not attack. It wanted to see if these humans could actually cook the salad, AIR. It now understood that this tiny creature was no ant; it had placed him on equal footing. The Horse King had other techniques, such as its Extinction Breath, but there was no need to use them now. A being with such terrifying Knocking skills... it must be that kid from the Battle Wolf’s family.
The Emperor Ring above them dissipated, a sign that the Horse King would not attack again. Kenji released his power-up.
"Brunch, let’s go. To the location of AIR."
Kenji waved his hand. Brunch, reacting a half-second too late, scrambled to lead the way.
The salad, AIR, was located on the Hill of Late Rain. With the blessing of the King of the Eighth Area, no other beast would dare block their path.
The Hill of Late Rain. As its name implied, giant raindrops descended here at an extremely slow speed. When they entered this area, their movements became much more difficult, as if they were pushing against a great resistance. This was due to the influence of AIR. The area was filled with a high-density special atmosphere, creating a unique space with immense drag, like walking through water.
As Kenji’s group entered the center of the Hill of Late Rain, the Horse King appeared in an instant at the boundary between its hill and this one, as if it had teleported. However, it did not enter the hill’s interior. Its powerful aura would cause the sensitive AIR to rot instantly if it got too close. So it stood at the edge, retracting its aura.
A giant fruit with a diameter of 500 meters hung from an impossibly thick, massive tree. This was the salad, AIR, from Acacia’s Full Course Menu. The air contained within it could cover an entire planet, and it only bore fruit once every few hundred years.
The Horse King’s eyes shone with longing. Only the vast amount of air released by AIR would allow it to successfully give birth to the Son of the Horse King. It hated the Blue Nitro. If it weren’t for them, it might have given birth to its child long ago.
Kenji took out his large cleaver and swung it through the air. The light, effortless motion was enough to slice the atmosphere itself.
"Whoa, what a sharp knife! It can even cut the air," Brunch exclaimed, moving his limbs around. The environment now felt completely normal.
"Brunch, I’ll cut the air. You take these ingredients and feed them to AIR as nutrients."
Aside from his own Full Course ingredients, Kenji took out almost everything else he had, leaving only a small portion behind.
"Oops, took out too much." Kenji quickly put away The Hour of Judgment, which he had pulled out by habit. He definitely couldn’t use that thing on AIR.
"My goodness! How many ingredients are you carrying?!" Brunch’s jaw dropped. The pile of food was taller than the tree AIR was hanging from. It was a literal mountain of ingredients, many of which had extremely high nutritional value.
"Sigh, I should have called a few more people. Leave it to me!" Brunch rolled up his sleeves and began to move the ingredients back and forth, placing them at the base of the giant tree. As soon as they were placed, the nutrients were absorbed by the roots at an astonishing speed.
Electric Drive, activate! Watch this! As the world’s third-ranked chef, he was now acting as nature’s porter. Brunch didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But oh well, for the sake of cooking the salad, AIR... Let’s do this!
"Atashino, you’ll use the Op-Op Fruit’s ability to assist with the cooking later. I’ve already told you the method," Kenji said, continuously swinging the large blade in his hand to keep the air around them normal.
"Got it. Leave it to me."
A giant barrier expanded, completely enveloping the air fruit. Atashino continuously drew on the energy within her body. AIR weighed a staggering 10 million tons. For comparison, Ultraman Tiga’s weight was only 44,000 tons. AIR was more than two hundred times heavier than Tiga.
Tiga: Have I become a unit of measurement?
If it had been Law, his energy bar probably would have been depleted instantly.
Kenji threw a large number of pre-prepared, deformable soft plugs into the Room space. These were for Atashino to use later to plug the holes from which AIR would leak.
Guided by her Food Luck, listening to the voice of the ingredient, Atashino selected the spots and began to carve with her knife, creating the holes for the air to be released after it fell. This process could not have a single millimeter of deviation, or it would cause AIR to rupture. The spatial barrier from the Op-Op Fruit provided crucial assistance during this process. Every second, her stamina was being rapidly consumed.
"Little lizards, this road is closed."
"Leave now, and no one gets hurt."
Just as two Blue Nitro were about to enter the Eighth Area, they saw Ichiryu and Jiro blocking their path.
Damn it, why are these two old geezers here? This is a thorny situation. Could it be that the people inside were acquaintances of theirs? PAIR’s miserable experience last time had already served as a warning. In a one-on-one fight, they were definitely no match for a monster like Jiro.
Just as they were hesitating, a behemoth suddenly appeared. Its eyes, like giant lanterns, radiated a terrifying pressure. Now appearing on the scene was the Horse King. Its gaze was locked deadly on the Blue Nitro.
These little lizards again. They dare to come back? Do they really think I don’t exist?
Jiro and Ichiryu were slightly taken aback. They never expected the Horse King Heracles to appear, but it seemed it was planning to attack the Blue Nitro.
The Horse King was not one for many words. It fired a breath attack, and an impossibly thick air cannon slammed into the two Blue Nitro. This was an attack powerful enough to pierce the planet’s crust. The Blue Nitro had no way to dodge; they never expected the Horse King to attack so suddenly.
Their Life Orbs shattered, allowing them to escape death. The two Blue Nitro had now "died" once, so without a second thought, they fled the area. Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing was the best. With three beings stronger than them here, there was no way to win.
Horse King, you damned beast!
Ichiryu and Jiro weren’t surprised. They had both witnessed the power of the Eight Kings before, and this wasn’t even the Horse King’s full-power attack.
Suddenly, a massive roar echoed through the entire Eighth Area. Ichiryu and Jiro turned their heads to look.
A colossal amount of air shot into the sky, instantly blowing away the clouds above the continent, tearing apart the gravitational shackles, and reaching all the way to the starry expanse of outer space.