Obtaining a Designated World-Saving Mission

Six months later, on the Fourth Continent of the Gourmet World.

Two ferocious beasts with capture levels above 100 roared at each other. One was an Ashura Tiger with three heads, while the other was a King Baboon whose body was harder than iron.

Just as the two beasts were about to tear into each other, a faint, indistinct aura frightened them into crawling to the ground, where they wailed without pause.

Setsuna emerged from the forest, the bloodlust behind him nearly condensing into a vicious ghost. With a thought from him, the ghost vanished like an illusion.

"Titan, time to eat."

At Setsuna's command, a massive python nearly a thousand meters long shot out and swallowed both giant beasts.

Over the past year, Titan had grown tenfold. That was with Setsuna deliberately restraining its diet, worried that bringing Titan back to Konoha would eat the Naruto World into poverty.

"It's a shame your Gourmet Cells haven't attracted a Food Spirit yet. Otherwise, your presence alone would be enough to make most Food Spirits submit." Jiro walked out behind Setsuna, sounding rather regretful.

Setsuna was somewhat surprised. "Even transplanted Gourmet Cells like mine can attract Food Spirits?"

Food Spirits were Gourmet Demons. After certain supreme powerhouses in the universe died, their wills did not completely fade away. Instead, they became Food Spirits, waiting for a suitable host to appear.

But as far as Setsuna knew, these Food Spirits generally only dwelled within people who had been born with Gourmet Cells.

The more often a host used the power of a Gourmet Demon, the more deeply they would be eroded by it, until even their body was taken over by the Gourmet Demon.

In Setsuna's eyes, these Gourmet Demons were much like tailed beasts. Their power could be used, but it came with corresponding risks.

"Of course they can," Jiro said. "Gourmet Demons choose their own hosts."

Setsuna nodded thoughtfully. Then Jiro's expression suddenly turned solemn. "Setsuna, the Human World is facing a massive crisis."

"A massive crisis?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow.

"Take a look." Jiro took out his watch and projected a virtual screen before them.

The screen showed countless civilians screaming as they fled. The host looked terrified as well, but still diligently delivered the report. "Generally speaking, creatures from the Gourmet World have no interest in unpalatable food. In other words, they would not come to the Human World specifically because of us. That is humanity's good fortune."

"But the Four Beasts are different. They especially enjoy the taste of humans and come to the Human World once every few centuries. This is a catastrophe for humanity. All citizens who see this broadcast, please evacuate immediately to the central region of the Human World. Do not remain in the border regions under any circumstances..."

Setsuna watched expressionlessly and could not help complaining, "Putting aside you, Master Jiro, shouldn't there be plenty of powerhouses in the Human World capable of dealing with those four beasts?"

"Haha, you saw through it." Jiro showed no embarrassment and continued, "It would indeed be easy for old-timers like us to defeat the Four Beasts, but this arduous task can only be left to young people like you."

Setsuna frowned. "I don't understand. Why make such a simple matter so complicated, even forcing tens of billions of people to migrate?"

"Because the invasion of the Four Beasts is both a disaster and an opportunity," Jiro said with a smile. "Their meat can subtly promote the cellular evolution of all humanity. Even humans without transplanted Gourmet Cells can gain enormous benefits from eating the Four Beasts' meat."

"But the Four Beasts are very special creatures. The more their fighting spirit boils and the more injuries they suffer, the more delicious their meat becomes. Only meat of this highest quality can bring out the Four Beasts' effects. It's like beef that has been repeatedly tenderized. Only after being pounded hundreds or thousands of times does it become softer and more tender."

Setsuna nodded slightly, but still asked, "What if you controlled your strength and fought it slowly?"

Jiro shook his head. "The Four Beasts' senses are extremely sharp. It is difficult to hide one's true strength from them. Once they lose their fighting spirit, no matter how many injuries they suffer afterward, it will be difficult to cook the Four Beasts into a perfect dish."

Setsuna could not help complaining, "What's with this handpicked feeling? The Four Beasts' whole setup sounds like they were specifically created to test humanity."

Jiro laughed. "Your guess is correct. The Four Beasts were not naturally born creatures. They were created by the Creator God, a species meant to make humanity more delicious."

Setsuna fell into thought. "The Creator God? More delicious?"

He had not finished the entire story in his previous life, but he knew quite a bit. The Creator God Jiro spoke of might have been a strange bird called Nitro.

Jiro said gravely, "You'll learn about it eventually anyway, so I'll give you a rough explanation now. According to my explorations over the years, every species in this world may have originated from the Gourmet Nobles known as Nitro. Gourmet Cells were also scattered across this planet by them, and they even caused Earth to expand hundreds of times over the course of countless years."

"But those fellows were not acting out of kindness. They merely wanted to turn Earth into a gourmet market—or rather, a pasture for livestock. We hunt the Four Beasts to help all humanity evolve, while they created the Four Beasts for that same purpose. Perhaps when humanity evolves to a certain point, those Gourmet Nobles will descend upon this planet once more and harvest every human."

Setsuna nodded. In this regard, he knew more than Jiro. Those Gourmet Nobles did not intend to cook humanity—they intended to cook the entire Earth.

Seeing Setsuna's worried expression, Jiro smiled and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about what comes later. Even if the Four Beasts are delicious bait, we can only choose to swallow it. If we flee passively, then when disaster arrives, we won't even have the right to resist."

Setsuna laughed helplessly. If he had not known what came next, Master Jiro really might have bluffed him.

Jiro had once treated Nitro as a drinking snack. Though they had only been low-level Red Nitro, the higher-level Blue Nitro that appeared later were not much better off, getting taken down one punch at a time by Jiro.

Of course, Setsuna also understood Jiro's concern. Nitro was not one individual, but an interstellar race. Who knew how many Nitro existed in the universe?

Jiro continued, "My senior brother Ichiryu originally planned to have his four disciples—the Four Heavenly Kings of Gourmet—deal with the Four Beasts. Not counting the Gourmet Society founded by Midora, the four of them should be the strongest among the younger generation. But judging from the results of your last battle, even dealing with the Four Beasts' four clones would be difficult for them."

"You should go as well. Help them defeat the Four Beasts' main body, and enjoy their delicious meat while you're at it."

Setsuna nodded firmly. He had long wanted to meet Coco, the poison-using Heavenly King among the Four Heavenly Kings of Gourmet. He planned to ask him how to improve his resistance to poison, so he would not suffer the same humiliating defeat as Goku.