"This is the final step. Now we wait. It shouldn't take more than a few years to finish. Still… thousands of years really is a test of endurance."
Even Kael felt a brief daze after spending millennia here. It had nothing to do with strength.
His soul power was overwhelming, so he adjusted quickly to the passage of time. That moment of disorientation only came when he sensed everything was about to end.
To him, a few thousand years and a few hundred thousand years were barely any different now.
Time had long since stopped being a real issue.
Several years later, the final step was complete.
Every Another fish before him suddenly erupted with countless phantom projections—illusory images of Another itself. These were manifestations of flavor that only Food Spirits could taste.
Kael understood what that meant.
He didn't store the cooked Another in his Storage Space. The Food Spirits needed this flavor.
But unlike Komatsu and the others, he didn't stand there in a daze. The moment it was done, he grabbed all the Another along with Asarudi and rushed out. As for the Chief Slime, he followed the instant he saw them move.
The Chief Slime also noticed the strange state of the Another Kael carried.
"What's going on? Why is Another releasing so many flavor phantoms?"
"It's the flavor spreading," Kael replied as he sped forward. "But it only affects Food Spirits. It won't do anything to other beings. Before long, Another's taste will sweep through the entire World of Souls."
"When that happens, the gate to the World of Souls will burst open. So we need to leave immediately."
The Chief Slime increased his speed as well. It didn't truly matter to him—he had countless clones in the outside world. As long as those clones lived, he wouldn't die.
In the original timeline, the Chief Slime had perished because he exhausted every last clone cell in order to revive.
Back then, he had no choice.
Although Asarudi's body was the best vessel aside from Ichiryu's, it still fell short. On top of that, he hadn't consumed enough of the Eight Ingredients.
Under those circumstances, he had to use every method available just to revive. Even then, it was only temporary. Asarudi's body had been constantly eroded by his cells.
The Chief Slime was simply too powerful. Asarudi's body couldn't withstand him.
That revival was never meant to last. Even if he hadn't been defeated, he would've eventually returned to being a Food Spirit. And once NEO completely devoured him, he wouldn't even have had that chance.
They accelerated toward the exit.
The instant they left, the gate to the World of Souls exploded.
Inside, thousands of years had passed. Outside, only a few seconds.
Kael and the others returned to their bodies. The moment Kael exited the World of Souls, he stored all the Another in his Storage Space.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, the gate connecting to the World of Souls shattered. Rubble scattered across the ground. Kael and Asarudi awoke at the same time.
Asarudi, however, stood there frozen.
Kael guessed he had regained his past memories and was drowning in endless regret.
As for the Chief Slime, his consciousness returned directly to Ichiryu's body. His clone, meanwhile, turned back into a stone.
He had nearly limitless clones—but unless necessary, he wouldn't waste even one.
"You're out already? Looks like your cooking was a success. But what happened to the gate? Why did it explode?"
Jiji looked genuinely surprised. He knew Kael could hear the voice of ingredients and cook accordingly. Shortening the time didn't shock him.
But the gate being destroyed—that he hadn't expected.
It could be rebuilt, sure. But that would take considerable effort.
"It was caused by Another's flavor," Kael explained. "I used the method of letting the ingredient teach me how to cook it. The result was a flavor explosion unlike anything before."
"By now, a huge number of Food Spirits in the World of Souls have probably disappeared. And if I'm not mistaken, the same thing is happening across the entire Blue Grill."
"Because that flavor isn't just spreading in the World of Souls. It's spreading here too. It only attracts Food Spirits."
As he finished speaking, everyone noticed something.
The Food Spirits working here had already removed their masks.
Some had collapsed—dead.
The reason was simple. Their souls had been erased in the World of Souls. Once the Food Spirits left, there was nothing left within those bodies.
Others seemed unaffected.
It wasn't that the flavor hadn't influenced them. It was that they had no strong obsessions left behind. Even after regaining their memories, they weren't like Asarudi.
They had already adapted to their current lives. The restored memories were just a distant past.
They had let it go.
So it didn't shake them.
"So we remembered all that, huh… It doesn't affect me much. But for Blue Grill as a whole, the impact is enormous."
The other members of the Ten Shell Five also regained their memories. But they weren't as shaken.
What concerned them more was the transformation of Blue Grill itself.
"Asarudi, where are you going?"
Asarudi was already walking off in a certain direction.
"The Church of Snow."
He left after saying just those three words.
"The Church of Snow? We have something like that in Blue Grill?"
"Yes," the oldest member of the Ten Shell Five answered slowly. "The memories I just recovered include it. It was a very small church. Not many followers. It didn't exist for long before vanishing into history."
"Looks like Asarudi used to be one of its members."