Once the life-threatening danger passed, Komatsu finally breathed a sigh of relief, but in the next second, the bottom of the pyramid began to shake violently once again.
"Voice Bazooka!!!"
Accompanied by a howl, the four walls began to collapse. Especially the ceiling overhead, as a large amount of rubble along with ceiling fragments fell downward, with two figures mixed among them.
"Aaaaaah! Help me!"
Being directly beneath the rubble and the ceiling, Komatsu was immediately scared witless and started screaming at the sight of the huge stones above his head.
The falling Toriko heard Komatsu's cry for help and was about to use his power to cut through those large chunks of rubble, but below the rubble, fine flashes of blade light suddenly appeared.
Swish swish—!
As if a gentle breeze had passed through, the falling rubble and ceiling fragments were instantly turned into small pebbles of nearly identical size and volume.
These small pebbles pattered onto the ground like raindrops, and Toriko and Zebra also landed safely.
The moment he landed, Toriko looked toward Komatsu and, in the process, saw Zombie Xia Yu sheathing his blade.
Seeing this, Toriko immediately understood that it was Zombie Xia Yu who had shredded the ceiling and rubble, and that he was also one of the two people Zebra had sensed.
"You are..."
Toriko looked at Zombie Xia Yu, but no impression came to mind. Why did he completely fail to recognize such a strong person?
"You're Toriko, right? You guys can just call me Zombie; I'm a chef."
"Eh? Zombie?"
"Eh, a chef?"
Toriko and Komatsu exclaimed in surprise simultaneously. Recalling the big dummy named Zombie in his memory and then looking at the Zombie Xia Yu before him, Toriko laughed heartily.
"Your name is Zombie too? I happen to know someone named Zombie as well, but he's not nearly as impressive as you."
"Mr. Toriko, the Zombie you're talking about should be named Zonge," Komatsu reminded him from the side with a helpless expression.
Poor Mr. Zonge, Mr. Toriko gets your name wrong every single time.
But soon, Komatsu put the matter out of his mind and looked at Xia Yu with eyes sparkling.
"Mr. Zombie, are you a chef too? I'm Komatsu, and I'm also a chef."
"Komatsu, is it?" Zombie Xia Yu replied with a smile. "That's right, I'm a chef. The Xia Yu over there currently fighting the monster is my partner."
"Xia Yu?!"
"Mr. Xia Yu?!"
Toriko and Komatsu cried out in surprise again. They remembered this name; he seemed to be a staff member working under Jiumen (Mr. Jiumen).
Toriko had seen him a few times during previous deliveries, and Komatsu had also seen him a few times while following Toriko. They still had a slight impression of this staff member under Jiumen.
But since when did Xia Yu possess such great power?
Toriko couldn't help but turn to look. The Sphinx that had been sent flying by Gourmet Xia Yu also shook its head and stood up from the ground.
"Gaaaaaaaah!!!"
Seeing the several extra enemies before it, the Sphinx once again opened its bloody maw and let out a piercing roar at the crowd.
This roar directly blew away all the nearby rubble, creating a spacious room.
"Was it you who destroyed the brat's Sound Armor?"
Feeling the power within this roar, Zebra, who had been standing to the side, gave a ferocious smile and also widened his large mouth. In an instant, a destructive shockwave composed of sound attacked the Sphinx.
These attacks traveled across the Sphinx's entire body like lightning, and then Zebra used skills condensed from sound, such as Voice Cutter.
The violent attacks exploded around the Sphinx, kicking up dust that spread throughout the entire room. As everyone knows,'smoke but no damage' is an eternal law.
When the smoke cleared, the Sphinx, which was almost uninjured, suddenly let out a strange cry. Its retractable tongue suddenly lunged at Zebra like a nimble snake.
Facing the Sphinx's attack, Zebra instantly roared out a Sound Wall for defense.
However, the Sphinx's tongue folded and twisted in an extremely unscientific manner, forcefully striking toward Zebra through a gap.
Oh no!
This all happened within a brief second or two. Seeing the tongue suddenly strike from the gap, Zebra hadn't even reacted when a powerful hand suddenly grabbed him and pulled him out of danger.
Rumble!!!
The Sphinx's rubber-like tongue slammed into the ground, instantly smashing a huge crater into the floor.
"Are you okay?" Gourmet Xia Yu asked, turning his head after dragging Zebra over to Toriko and the others.
Hearing Gourmet Xia Yu's inquiry, Zebra turned his head away and snorted coldly. "Hmph! Even without you saving me, there's no way anything would have happened. You and he are the ones who crossed through the Valley of Dust to get here, right?"
"Eh? It really is you, Xia Yu?" Toriko's eyes widened, looking at Gourmet Xia Yu in disbelief. "Weren't you working under Jiumen? How did you end up here?"
"Because I resigned from Jiumen's place. My current status is a Gourmet," Gourmet Xia Yu replied.
"A Gourmet?" Toriko was somewhat surprised. Clearly, when he had seen Xia Yu before, the man had seemed frail and weak. How had he suddenly become such a strong Gourmet?
Could he have eaten some incredible Gourmet food?
While the two were talking, the Sphinx felt it was being ignored and gave a light swipe with its small claw.
Boom—!!!
In an instant, four claw marks that tore through the ground brushed past everyone, leaving deep gouges in the walls and floor.
"It looks like now isn't the time for chatting. We have to defeat this big guy first." Gourmet Xia Yu clenched his fist and looked at the Sphinx.
"You're right." Toriko wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth. "And I can smell it—the fragrance of cola is wafting from this guy in waves!"
"This guy is the Salamander Sphinx! The rich cola is inside its body!"
"That's certainly easy to understand." Zebra stared fixedly at the Sphinx. "In other words, if we want the cola, we have to kill this thing, right?"
"I don't think so." Zombie Xia Yu suddenly interjected. Seeing the others' gazes turn toward him, Zombie Xia Yu didn't keep them in suspense.
"I discovered many murals in a certain corridor, and they seemed to have images of this Sphinx. Although I don't know the significance, I feel that we shouldn't have to kill it to get the cola."
"Hmph, you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, kid!" Zebra said unpleasantly upon hearing this, and then he looked back at the Sphinx. "Whatever, let's just take this guy down first."
With that, Zebra suddenly charged forward. A terrifying aura burst from his body, and a massive green demon faintly emerged behind him.
"Don't mind that guy; he's an idiot, that's just how he talks."
Toriko gave an apologetic smile to Zombie Xia Yu. Zebra's personality was just like that—arrogant and conceited, a real problem child—but he wasn't bad at heart.
"Hey, Toriko, how long are you going to keep talking? Come help me!"
Not far away, Zebra sidestepped to dodge the Sphinx's attack and couldn't help but roar toward Toriko.
"Coming, coming!"
Toriko responded and joined the battlefield. Seeing this, Gourmet Xia Yu gave Zombie Xia Yu a look and also attacked the Sphinx.
Zombie Xia Yu nodded and pulled Komatsu away to dodge to the side. Although he might be the strongest person present, his current identity was that of a chef. Chefs don't personally hunt for ingredients; the accompanying Gourmet finds the ingredients, and then the chef prepares them.
"Um, Mr. Zombie, please take a look at this book." After reaching a safe area, Komatsu suddenly opened the book he was holding and pointed at the contents with a look of pleasant surprise.
The inner pages of the book were very old, but the content inside was still clear and didn't hinder reading at all.
This old book could be considered a small foreshadowing for later, but in reality, it didn't have any special content; it was just a notebook that recorded important recipes in code.
However, this was enough for Zombie Xia Yu. What he loved most was collecting various recipes to refine his culinary skills.
Looking at the pleasantly surprised Komatsu, Zombie Xia Yu took the recipe book. After reading a few pages, he said with certainty, "This is a recipe!"
"Mr. Zombie, can you understand the contents inside too?" Komatsu asked with a look of admiration.
Zombie Xia Yu gave a faint smile. The code in the book could be considered difficult or not, depending on how you looked at it; this recipe book could only be deciphered by a talented chef.
However, compared to Komatsu, he was still a bit lacking. Komatsu could decipher this recipe book very easily. While he could also understand it, it was very tiring to read.
Thinking of this, Zombie Xia Yu closed the recipe book and handed it to Komatsu, saying, "Can't you understand it too? There's nothing to admire. However, I saw the illustration of the Sphinx in there; that is likely the preparation method for the rich cola."
Hearing this, Komatsu hurriedly flipped through the pages and stopped at the one with the Sphinx illustration. As he read, a look of joy appeared on his face.
"As expected, the preparation method for the rich cola is in here. Let's hurry and tell Mr. Toriko and the others."
"Yeah."
Meanwhile, at the battlefield.
The three of them were launching attacks at the Sphinx with ease. In the original story, because Xia Yu wasn't there, Toriko and the others had fought quite a fierce battle.
But now, with Gourmet Xia Yu added to the mix, despite a lack of unspoken coordination, their combined efforts were enough to keep the Sphinx constantly suppressed.
"This guy is really thick-skinned. Also, since it's said the cola is inside this guy's body, does that mean its blood is the cola?"
Facing the massive Sphinx, after Zebra finished shouting, he was about to condense a Voice Cutter to open a wound and taste the blood when an abrupt shout rang out.
"It's the tears! This guy's tears are the true rich cola!" Zombie Xia Yu emerged from the safe area and shouted to the three fighting. "Komatsu and I deciphered an ancient recipe book, and it records how to prepare the rich cola."
"Mr. Zombie is right! This recipe book records the preparation method for the rich cola. Although I can only barely guess it, I think this should be correct!" Komatsu also rushed out at this time, holding the book open with both hands and shouting to the three in combat.
Flipped through another two chapters _(:з"∠)_
When the quantity goes up, the quality really does drop. Six thousand words is a bit hard to endure; I'll change it back to four thousand words, though I'll still write a bit more occasionally.