Chef in the Apocalypse

Fury at his peak, Jayce’s gaze darted around the chaos of the battlefield, his eyes searching for any sign, any face that might reveal the murderer. His mind raced, a tempest of emotions threatening to consume him.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, a chilling sense of danger gripped him from behind. In a desperate instinct, he lunged toward the Bloodfang Dagger on the ground, snatching it up with trembling hands just in time to parry the unseen threat. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

As he blinked away the tears that clouded his vision, the horrific truth came into focus. Standing before him was a monstrous Praying Mantis, towering at an imposing two meters in height. Its forearms were grotesquely elongated scythes, poised to strike.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed that one scythe was missing. It was then that Jayce recognized this abomination – it was the same creature that had callously slaughtered the three teenagers right in front of him, back in Qinling City.

"It was you?" Jayce growled through gritted teeth, his voice a venomous blend of anguish and rage. The mantis remained silent, its malevolent eyes gleaming with a sinister intelligence.

Letting out an anguished cry, Jayce pushed forward, forcing the Mantis back and regaining his footing. The burning fury that was eating at him from within, suddenly began to cool down, sharpening his senses.

This was no time to lose himself to the madness of battle and revenge, he had seen too many people perish in a fight they could have won by giving into their emotions. His mind raced, analyzing the current scenario and what actions needed to be taken.

If one of the boss monsters were up here, it could very well be possible that the others had joined them and were rushing towards the city walls right now. Other than a few of his party members, Jayce did not have faith that any of the residents except for perhaps Dion could last longer than a couple of minutes against a boss monster.

This meant that the longer he was tied up in this fight, the more casualties their side would receive. This led Jayce to the conclusion that he must kill this Mantis in front of him as soon as possible, so he would be able to help defend against the others.

No longer hesitating, Jayce pulled out his food stash from his inventory and began to violently stuff them into his mouth, chewing a few times before swallowing and repeating. The scene seemed dissonant, in stark opposition to the battles that were taking place just a few feet away.

Jayce never took his eyes off the Mantis, his eyes burning with ice cold malice. If looks could kill, his clear blue eyes would have torn the beast asunder thousands of times by now. The Mantis tilted its head in confusion, not understanding what its prey was doing.

However in the next moment it moved with tremendous speed, using its remaining scythe to cut down a boar monster which had just made it to the top of the city wall. In a flash the boar was sliced in two before being scooped up by the Mantis and held up to its jaw.

Munching and crunching noises rang out as the Mantis also partook in a meal. It had assumed that what Jayce had been doing was a pre-battle ritual, therefore it also chose to partake, fetching a nice meal to chow down on.

Jayce had no reaction, the more time he had to consume his food, the more powerful he and his faction would become in the next phase of battle. And just like that, the two warriors from each of the camps partook in an odd ritual, causing some of the defenders to double-take.

This would later be known as the Feast before Fists ritual, coined by a certain bystander and blown way out of proportion in the future. Yet that was for another time.

Jayce’s jaw began to get tired from the act of chewing, yet he did not slow down at all. Every bite was making him stronger, increasing his stats a few points at a time.

[You have consumed Avocado Sushi +3 Strength for 2 hours]

[You have consumed Rice Ball +3 Intelligence for 2 hours]

[Your skill VIP15 has made this boost permanent]

[You have consumed Melon Bread +3 Vitality for 2 hours]

[You have consumed...

Thankfully, now that he had leveled up his Basic Cooking skill, not only did his food now give 3 stats, it also lasted for an additional hour, bringing the total to 2 hours. This gave him some additional confidence for the oncoming battle.

After a few more moments, Jayce felt that he could not eat anymore without effecting his fighting capability. Therefore he put the remaining food back into his inventory and checked his stats calmly.

Name: Jayce

Title: N/A

Class: Chef

Subclass: N/A

Level: 30 (MAX)

EXP: 2300/2300

Health 1650/1950

Mana: 700/890

Strength: 35 (+106)

Dexterity: 35 (+98)

Intelligence: 35 (+85)

Vitality: 35 (+117)

Luck: 206

Stat Points: 0

Seeing the bonuses almost triple his base stats, Jayce’s face turned up into a small grin. All up, his total stats were not that far off from what he had achieved in his previous life at level 70. With the additional 50 dexterity and 20 strength from the Bloodfang dagger, he had closed the gap even further.

As Jayce and the towering Praying Mantis faced each other on the blood-soaked ramparts, a heavy silence hung in the frigid night air. Their gazes locked in a chilling standoff, a macabre prelude to the impending violence.

With his fingers tightly gripping the handle of the Bloodfang Dagger, Jayce’s voice, cold as the deepest abyss, cut through the tension. "How was your final meal?" he hissed, his words laced with disdain. "Are you ready to die now?"

A palpable tension gripped the ramparts. Then, from Jayce’s very being, a radiant light burst forth, like a beacon of hope in the darkest of hours. The defenders atop the city walls erupted in a cacophony of joyous cheers, their voices rising in an overwhelming chorus of "Leader! Leader!" that reverberated through the night.

Jayce had activated his Executive Chef skill, sharing his bulked up temporary stat boosts with everyone in his faction.

The Praying Mantis covered its eyes with its remaining scythe, struggling against the blinding brilliance. It suddenly felt an overwhelming, paralyzing fear. It was an instinctual terror, a primal urge to escape, to flee from the incomprehensible force before it.

Yet it was too late.

In the next heartbeat, the world around the mantis seemed to spin, as though it had been plunged into a nightmarish whirlpool. In that fraction of a second, as its head flew off its body, it bore witness to its own gruesome demise. Its body was dismembered with a swiftness that defied comprehension, an elegant dance of death executed by the hand of an avenging angel.

After its decapitated head had come to a stop, its vision began to blur. The intelligence in its eyes seemed to retreat, leaving only confusion as it stared at the red moon above the plains.

The last thing that it saw was a rubber sole, filling up its vision before everything went dark.