Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 334: Overwhelmed

After Minhyuk had completed the trials of the legendary territory, Atlas, he was allowed to bring in three Athenean priests through the help of the Legendary Priest, Louis. And, because this was a promise between God Athenae and the Food God, the lord of Atlas territory, Athenae Religion had to send three of their men to Atlas. Minhyuk received Kenneth and Lloyd as priests for his territory. As for the remaining person, he immediately asked Saintess Loyna for a favor.

However, Saintess Loyna was undoubtedly a prominent figure that symbolized Athenae Religion and was an NPC that appeared in all of the Athenae Religion Temples all over the world. She was the subject of envy, admiration, and wonder. Everyone wondered what kind of abilities she had. Of course, her ability would naturally be a buff ability.

The Saintess of the Athenae Religion, Loyna, had an excellent buff ability! However, there was one setback. Her ‘AOE buff’ could not exert much power. Of course, if it was compared to the value and worth of Saintess Loyna’s name, then her power was truly meager. In fact, her AOE buff was slightly weaker when compared to Mei Wei’s buff. On the flip side, Saintess Loyna’s targeted buff was said to be extremely outstanding, to the point that Mei Wei’s ability could not even compare at all.

The request for Saintess Loyna to migrate to Atlas was because she and Guild Master Minhyuk had built a close friendship. However, she could only make a decision to become a ‘Temporary NPC’ for the territory. Loyna told Minhyuk that she would come to Minhyuk’s aid, or lend her hand to the Let’s Eat Sect once when they needed her help. That was the reason why Loyna was on the Asgan Continent’s side during this Continental War.

Before their 200-strong troop clashed with Cairon Continent, Loyna participated in Asgan Continent’s operation meeting. In the center of the meeting was a girl named ‘Haze’.

‘The enemies are looking down on us. In other words, we can catch them off guard. So, we will only march forward with 1,000 troops and leave behind 2,000 troops.’

‘Why?’?

Haze simply answered Genie’s question with a, ‘They’ll be a hindrance.’

‘Ah…’

The 2,000 troops did not come from Atlas. As for the troops of Atlas Territory that grew tremendously strong over a short period of time, the help of the other players’ troops would most probably not be helpful to them at all. They might even become a hindrance to their operation.

‘The enemy has Black Lion and White Lion as their trump cards. And that’s not all, they also have a cold-blooded mage, as well as the Vice Tower Master of the Assassin Tower among their forces.’

Black Lion and White Lion were very famous figures. How did they know about this information? This was all thanks to Conir’s ‘Ramyeon Torture’. Rumel, the vice leader of the Red Dragon Order, was forced to eat thirty bowls of ramyeon a day. He could not stand the ‘ramyeon torture’ and ended up spilling all of the information that he knew. And, the Red Dragon Order had excellent information.

‘Saintess Loyna’s targeted buff is very outstanding, so we must first take the initiative and hunt either the Black Lion or White Lion with the help of her buff.’

To catch the enemy off guard, they have to hunt their strongest and most powerful figure. It was a good strategy. So, they discussed it with Saintess Loyna.

Grandpa Ben looked like an old veteran soldier that had difficulty wielding his spear at first glance. Anyone that saw him would laugh and mock him. How ridiculous would the sight be for Black Lion or White Lion, right? So, Saintess Loyna cast her buff on Grandpa Ben. She had been hiding on the hill, before suddenly appearing, and used her Athenae‘s Prayer the moment Grandpa Ben dashed forward.

[Athenae’s Prayer]

[Ignores 80% of the enemy’s defensive power and deals a 400% damage for three seconds.]

Saintess Loyna was a figure that could never be owned or be subordinated by players. The reason? It was because the balance would be broken. If Loyna belonged to someone, instead of a bus, they would be riding the KTX train. The power and influence that she wielded was that immense. She had the power to let anyone ignore 80% of their enemies' defense!

Grandpa Ben dashed forward fiercely with his spear, while White Lion just leisurely stretched his fist and stepped forward. Grandpa Ben had been Minhyuk’s vassal for quite a while now. At first, his status was like this:

(Ben)

Rank: One of the Pinnacle Strong Men of the Past

Type: Vassal

Level: 509

Attack: 4,959

Defense: 2,683

Special Abilities:

?Passive Skill: Minhyuk’s Fan

?Active Skill: Ghost Spearmanship

?Active Skill: Ghost Defense Arts

Potential: 137

Experience Value: 13%/100%

This status was almost equivalent to Black Lion’s status. However, that was Grandpa Ben’s status almost a year ago. He was now on a completely different level.

(Ben)

Rank: One of the Pinnacle Strong Men of the Past

Type: Vassal

Level: 569

Attack: 5,949

Defense: 3,613

Special Abilities:

?Passive Skill: Minhyuk’s Fan

?Active Skill: Ghost Spearmanship

?Active Skill: Ghost Defense Arts

Potential: 137

Experience Value: 62%/100%

Ben’s outstanding potential allowed him to keep on growing stronger. Although he kept on extracting luwak coffee beans, Ben had never missed a day of training. There had been an influx of strong people coming to Minhyuk’s territory and Ben had always competed with them, like Kaistra and Corr, and had achieved an explosive growth in his strength.

On the other hand, White Lion just leisurely prepared to counter Grandpa Ben’s strike. He thought, ‘I should grab his spear first and strike him on the neck. That way, I can easily break his neck.’

After all, Grandpa Ben did not use any special skills against White Lion, the Fist Master! However, there was something that White Lion had failed to realize. If he was considered to be the Legendary Fist Master, then Ben was the father and master of all of the spearmen in the entire Asgan Continent.

Among the Ghost Spearmanship skills that Grandpa Ben had, there was a ‘Pinnacle Spear’ that could be triggered in an instant. The Pinnacle Spear was a skill that increased Grandpa Ben’s instantaneous damage by around 900%, ignored his enemy’s defense by 30%, and increased his instantaneous attack speed by as much as four times.

White Lion‘s hand moved to grab Grandpa Ben’s spear the moment he saw Grandpa Ben thrust it towards his neck. However, contrary to his expectations, White Lion failed to grab the spear. This was Grandpa Ben’s technique that was four times faster than White Lion’s own skill level!

In an instant, White Lion’s throat was pierced by Grandpa Ben’s spear. The strike to White Lion’s vital point ignored 80% of his defense and had an additional 1,000 damage. There was even the critical strike triggered after Ben struck his vital point.

“Keuheok!” White Lion gasped as he grabbed his neck, dying helplessly on the spot.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The fierce momentum of the Cairon Continent’s troops faltered and dampened.

“You, youngsters, are easily frightened,” Grandpa Ben said as he watched the enemy troops retreat after seeing him walk leisurely with his hands behind his back. The old man had killed White Lion in one strike. Even Nangong Hao was in a panic.

‘This…this is impossible…’?

Nangong Hao knew that there must be a difference of 100 levels for their enemy to kill White Lion in one shot. That gap in the level was like the difference between heaven and earth.

‘Are you telling me that old man is over Level 600?!’

In fact, Ghost Spear Ben had temporarily reached that level thanks to Saintess Loyna’s buff. Then, Ghost Spear Ben demonstrated his AOE skills.

[Ghost’s Attacking Spear]

[Dozens of spears will stab through the enemies’ vital points.]

Stab—

Stab—

Stab—?

Stab—

Stab—

Dozens of soldiers from the Cairon Continent were stabbed and died on the spot. Nangong Hao took another step back after seeing his soldiers on the frontline die one after the other. However, he came back to his senses not long after.

“The old man might be strong, but he’s only one person!!! Attack the old man!!!”

No matter how strong the old man was, he would not be able to do anything if they ganged up on him. One man alone could not stand against thousands. Nangong Hao, Black Lion, and the thousands of soldiers from Cairon Continent rushed forward to attack Grandpa Ben.

Ghost Spear Ben immediately used his Ghost Defense Arts the moment they gathered around him. He slammed his spear on the ground, causing a powerful wave of red aura to sweep outwards and pushed the enemies back, effectively protecting himself from their assault.

Then, a woman flew up in the sky with her whip extending far and wide as she swung it down on the ground.

Crack—

“Aaaaack!”

“Keuaaccck!”

Even before the whip slammed on the ground, the enemy soldiers that tried to block it had been slashed. It was as if the weapon that attacked them was a blade and not a whip. The whip then continue its trajectory onto the ground, unleashing a powerful spark that created spider web-like cracks.

[The Whip Warrioress‘ Rage.]

[A huge explosion of lava will engulf your enemies and inflict 600% damage the moment your whip slams on the ground.]

Blazing red lava spouted out from the cracks in the ground and devoured the troops from Cairon Continent.

“Aaaaaack!”

“Sa…save me!”

Nangong Hao looked at his troops being devoured and melted by the hot lava in disbelief. He thought, ‘She killed more than 50 soldiers in an instant…’

There was only one thing that came to mind after seeing that much power.

‘High…High Class?’

A gap was created amidst the enemies after Genie retracted her whip. Then, mysterious weapons suddenly sprang up from the ground. Spears and swords appeared and pierced through the bodies of the troops of Cairon Continent.

“Ugh… Aaaaaaaack!”

The enemy soldiers fell down, grabbing their ankles and bodies that were pierced through by the blades of the weapons that suddenly sprouted from the ground. Then, mysterious soldiers crawled up from the ground. They were none other than the soldiers of Atlas!

They had used ‘Underground Digging’, a strange training that Ghost Spear Ben had made them do. Throughout the course of their training, their Underground Digging skill had reached Level 7. Ghost Spear Ben was fully aware how strong and powerful the land was especially if it was used effectively in a fight. Just like that, hundreds of Cairon Continent troops had died under the hands of the Atlas soldiers that sprang out from the ground.

‘This…this is impossible…!’?Nangong Hao thought as he looked at the scene in confusion.

Even if they dug deeply underground for a surprise attack, it was difficult for ordinary territory soldiers to pierce through and land a successful attack on his Qin Shi Huang’s Warriors and Cairon Continent soldiers. Nangong Hao’s troops were on average at Level 350, while his warriors were around Level 440. Alas, the enemy attack was successful. Just with their level gap, his troops should have been able to trigger their evasion.

As it turned out, the Atlas territory troops were, on average, over Level 450. And that was not all. They had reached Level 6 in their spearmanship thanks to their great spearmanship instructor Ben, Level 7 in swordsmanship with the help of Conir and Corr, and even Level 5 in archery with the help of the former archery gold medalist, Root.

At the same moment, the Koreans that were sitting in front of their TV and despairing at their supposed defeat…

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Let’s goooooooo!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!”

…ran around their houses and screamed!

“Look at those bastards’ faces!!!! Our South Korea is winning!!!!”

Even the people eating chicken and beer in chicken restaurants jumped up to scream and hug whoever was sitting next to them. They even danced! Even the people in subways…

“Wooooow! So cool, Genie!!!”

…watching the live broadcast on their smartphones shouted loudly, before covering their mouths and looking around in embarrassment, after they caught the attention of the other people riding in the subway. All of the citizens of South Korea were of one mind as they cheered.

PD Kim Dae-Guk clenched his fists as he watched the scene on the monitor. Surprise and shock colored his voice as he said, “Genie, those troops, those vassals and guild members… All of them are working under Let's Eat Sect Guild’s Master, Minhyuk?”

At this moment, the players, even the Chinese players, thought of Minhyuk as if he was an existence that they could never reach. His existence was like ‘A sky beyond the sky’.

1. Korean Train eXpress. A high-speed rail system in Korea.

2. ???(天外天). A Chinese proverb meaning that there will always be someone better than you. It can also refer to infinity. Outside of the sky, there is another sky. Outside of people, there are other people.