Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 370: Turning the Tide of War

The people in Berdk Attack Base were in a desperate situation. The players and NPCs that fought outside the base and blocked the enemy troops had already been wiped out. The number of troops left inside Berdk numbered 3,000 at most. On the other hand, the enemy troops advancing towards Berdk were around 20,000. These troops were an alliance of players and NPCs sent to recapture Berdk!

“We’re in trouble!”

Genie frowned after hearing the urgency in Lucia’s voice. The mages and archers continued to shoot their arrows and magic spells, preventing the enemies from sticking to the ramparts. However, keeping the enemies in check through this method was already impossible. Their attacks were being reflected back.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The magic spells sent by the mages were being deflected away to hit the ramparts, while the arrows sent by the archers were being reflected and sent back to target their necks. This was all because of the hundreds of mirrors floating around Berdk.

‘Master Reflector, Xu Jiaqi.’

She was the one that led the Black Dragon Order to attack Ellie not too long ago. The only reason why she appeared now and not during the previous battles was because she felt that the battle right now had become easier.

“Don’t you think it’s high time you surrender? Hoho!” Xu Jiaqi laughed derisively as she tapped her lips with her thin and slender fingers. She was obviously mocking them.

“You won’t last long anyway,” Xu Jiaqi said, before looking up at Genie.

In fact, what she said was true. There was a high possibility that they would not last any longer. Even if the battle had dragged on and turned into a long-term one, they would not have any chances of winning.

Genie, who was standing on top of the ramparts, smiled and said, “Guys, they want us to surrender?”

“Huh?”

“What did you say?! But I’m really busy!”

“…They… they want us to commend her. Noona?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Everyone turned to look at Ace blankly after hearing his words. The members of the Let’s Eat Sect Guild, who were moving busily, peeked out from the ramparts and looked at Xu Jiaqi. Then, all of them raised their middle fingers at the same time and said…

“But we don’t want to?”

“…”

Xu Jiaqi’s expression was distorted in anger after hearing their answer. For some reason, she felt that the Let’s Eat Sect Guild always had that unpleasant energy radiating off of them. However, Xu Jiaqi planned to wash off the shame that they received from their recent Ellie hunt.

‘As long as we kill Genie, the former Legend Guild Master, and her colleagues, victory will definitely be in our grasp.’

Then, Xu Jiaqi took out the trump card that she had hidden. This was something that they had acquired from Black Dragon Vormon, one that could summon Vormon’s Subordinates. Black Dragon Vormon was an existence that long reigned supreme. This just meant that Black Dragon Vormon’s Subordinates would also show great power.

Riiiiiiiip—

Hundreds of black holes twisted and opened in the air the moment Xu Jiaqi tore apart the parchment. Then, monsters started appearing from these twisted spaces.

“Kraaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Kraaaaaaaaack!”

The first noteworthy point was the monsters’ extraordinary builds. An ogre with red skin and a height of seven meters appeared out of one of the twisted black holes. And that was just the beginning. There were also trolls, orcs, and many other monsters. The other monsters seemed to be around five meters tall and were almost comparable to giants. To top it all off was the fact that these red-skinned ogres, trolls, and orcs were all equipped with armor made of dragon bones.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

“Shit…!”

“The… the ogre’s advancing! What the hell!!!”

Around 800 monsters appeared and began to advance towards the ramparts together. Xu Jiaqi had already checked the durability of the ramparts earlier.

[The Berdk Ramparts have received 1,414 damage.]

[The Berdk Ramparts have received 1,624 damage.]

And just like they had expected, Berdk’s ramparts truly boasted a high defense that was worthy of the best base in the entire Continent Cloud. Even if the rankers slammed into the ramparts, they could only deal around 4,000 damage altogether.

But, what would happen if the ones that slammed into the ramparts were the summoned monsters?

“Graaaaaaaaaack!”

One of the gigantic red-skinned ogre swung its axe and…

Baaaaaaaaang—

[The Berdk Ramparts have received 6,541 damage.]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

Genie and the players inside Berdk were shocked and terrified at the huge amount of damage.

In the first place, Vormon’s Subordinates had their own purpose and objective upon their summoning, and the summoner could choose what kind of objective that was during their first summon. They could summon the defensive type, the slaughterer type, or the siege type. For the defensive and slaughterer type, the summoner could summon around ten times more than the number of the monsters that were currently summoned. On the contrary, the siege type was comparably smaller in numbers, but there would be an additional 250% damage to the wall whenever they attacked. They also had a 50% damage reduction from siege weapons, on top of their incredibly high HP and defensive power. In other words,

Black Dragon Vormon’s Subordinates had become a specialized and optimized ‘siege weapon’.

Baaaaaaaang—

Baaaaaaaaaang—

Each of their attacks could shake the entire Berdk castle.

“Great Spear!!!”

Crow, their strongest dealer, tried to stop their attacks by targeting the head of one of the ogres that had come closest to the ramparts.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa!

A powerful spear flew at an incredible speed and slammed into the ogre’s head.

Stab—

“Guooo…?”

“…?!”

However, the ogre just nonchalantly pulled out the spear that got stuck on its head. Crow hurriedly used his retrieval skill to get his spear back.

Scratch—

“Guo… Graaaaaaack!”

Then, the ogre struck the walls again.

Baaaaaaang—

“Sh… shit…!”

That was right. Their enemies were more like the undead. They did not die even after receiving fatal attacks. Even the archers were having a hard time trying to pierce through the dinosaurs’ thick skin due to their high defense against magical attacks and skills. Just like that, hundreds of monsters created a united front to slam on the ramparts of Berdk.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Not long after, explosions rang loudly. These were the harbinger of despair that Berdk.

Atlas.

Black Mage Ali, Crazy Priest Locke, Cerberus, and Kaistra were the key figures in the defense of Atlas Territory. However, no matter how strong they were, the constant influx of enemy troops proved to be too much. Once the enemies breached their defenses and created a path, the troops behind them would follow behind and march through that path.

Among the 700 troops initially left in Atlas, only 200 had survived so far. It did not matter how powerful the soldiers of Atlas were, they were no match against the sheer volume of their enemies. On the other hand, the number of the enemies kept on increasing. Once they had successfully hunted and killed 1,000 enemy troops and there were only 2,000 left, another 2,000 strong troops would arrive and fill in the gaps left behind by the dead.

“Don’t falter!!! Food God Minhyuk’s army can’t lose this territory!!!”

Death Corps’ Soldier Park was able to reunite with his late mother to give her a tight hug, thanks to Minhyuk. That was not all. Minhyuk was a good lord to them. He trained with them, ate with them, and also worked together with them. And all of the soldiers of Atlas territory agreed with Park.

Stab—

“Keuaaaaaaack!”

They were in a situation where a single soldier had to deal with hundreds of enemies alone. And in this chaos, a spear suddenly appeared and pierced through the advancing Soldier Park. But Park held onto his spear tightly. Even if they died here, they would still be able to be resurrected back in Asgan Continent. That was the ‘Power of the Continent Cloud’. However, even if they knew that, everyone still dreaded and feared death. Soldier Park firmly grabbed the enemy’s spear and pulled it off of his body.

Spurt—

“…You, aren’t you a crazy bastard? Huh?!” One of the Chinese players spat out unintelligible words in a fluster, as Park squeezed out the power from his body and stabbed him in his abdomen.

Thuuuud!

Then, Park kicked the body away. He was already in a state where he did not know how many enemies he had killed. His entire body was even covered with blood and he felt extremely exhausted and dizzy. However, he endured it.

“Protect Atlaaaaaaaas!!!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

There were only around 200 soldiers left, but they were all squeezing out the remaining strength in their bodies to protect the territory. Then, the notifications rang for Locke, Black Mage Ali and Kaistra.

[The Atlas’ Soldiers’ morale has increased.]

“For real…” Locke murmured in awe. He was impressed by how much power that Minhyuk could bring out from his people. However, their situation was still quickly approaching hopelessness.

Slash!

Locke cut down another enemy! Then, he tried to trigger his skills to deal with the dozens of enemies rushing towards him.

[You cannot trigger your skills. Your MP has been exhausted.]

“God f*cking damnit!”

This was mainly due to the long and exhausting battle that they were in. Even their mana and HP potions had already been exhausted.

“Keuaaaaack!” Kaistra screamed, as someone punched him while he was still sitting on top of Penrus, the Incarnation of Light.

“Grrrrrrrr!”

Penrus unleashed a powerful, majestic aura to protect his master. The incarnation of Light’s fur exuded a blinding white light! However, the opponent in front of him was none other than Arcas, a player that had awakened the Pinnacle. Perhaps Penrus could prove to be a worthy opponent against Arcas if he was in a healthy state, but Penrus was exhausted right now. Then, at that moment…

Craaaaaaaack—

“Keuaaaaaaaaaack!”

A powerful fist struck strongly on Penrus’ body and made him fly back!

“Pen… Penrus!!!”

“Grrrrrrrrrr…”

Despite collapsing from the blow, Penrus still struggled to stand up and protect Kaistra. However, Kaistra held him tightly. He said, “No… no more. Get some rest, Penrus.”

Kaistra did not want to see Penrus get hurt any further. So, he sent him back to the summoning room and grabbed his spear tightly.

“The summoner is going to fight with a spear?” Arcas said, looking at Kaistra in interest. Then, Kaistra rushed towards him with all his might.

Flash—

Kaistra had been hunting wild animals since he was young! Because of that, Kaistra’s spear had become fast and accurate. However, this was the game.

Stab—

They could not go beyond their stats, skills, and level. Arcas grabbed Kaistra’s spear and said, “Kid, where is your king?”

Kaistra just smirked at Arcas’ words and said, “In your ass?”

“…”

Arcas learned one thing. The people that followed and served the Food God were all stubborn and filled with pride.

‘This is something that is worthy of great envy.’

Even if this was a game, how could one player win the hearts of so many people in the world? However, this was still just a game. And just when Arcas was about to smash Kaistra on the head…

Baaaaaaaaaang—

…a huge flame engulfed Arcas’ body. He faltered, but he did not feel too much from the hit. After all, he had a very high magical defense. He even had the passive skill ‘Magic Armor’, that reduced magical damage by 50%.

This was the magic that Black Mage Ali had casted. Ali was the only one left in commission and he was using his magic and Blink appropriately. He was demonstrating the power of someone that could summon infinitely by summoning hundreds of snakes and using them to absorb MP.

Just like that, Ali continued to fight, and tried to run away from Arcas. He and Arcas were an extremely bad pairing, as he could easily die under Arcas’ hands. And then…

“Caught you.”

This was Arcas’ trap. He had deliberately attacked Penrus and grabbed Kaistra’s spear. That was the opportunity he was looking for, and in an instant, he had narrowed the distance between him and Ali.

Light Step. It was a skill that could narrow the distance between him and his opponent, as long as they were within a 15 meter radius.

Baaaaaaaaaaaang!

Arcas grabbed Ali by the collar and slammed him on the ground.

“Keheooook!”

[Your HP has fallen below 50%.]

No skills were used, but his HP dropped by a lot. Then, thousands of players circled around them and pushed the remaining Atlas forces behind. Just when Arcas was about to slam his fist on Ali’s head again…

“Kieeeeeeeeeeek!”

The huge Predatory Snake appeared from Ali’s hand and tried to devour Arcas, who just slammed the Predatory Snake with his huge fist.

Baaaaaaaaaang—

“Cu, Cupid-chan!!!” Ali shouted in despair. If only he were a bit stronger.

‘Goddamnit… If only my magical attack is stronger…’

Mage Ali had climbed to the top. However, no matter how much he looked at it, his magic did not work on Arcas. This was his limit. He was only up to this point.

“Love, Hope, Happiness!!!” Locke shouted as he rushed to the bloodied Love, Hope and Happiness.

Even though they were a demonic beast that came from hell, it was still difficult for them to deal with thousands of humans by themselves. The truth was it was ‘Arcas’ that had made Cerberus feel bad. They could see Arcas asking Ali with their own eyes.

“Where is your king?”

But, Ali just smiled at him and said, “Minhyuk? Didn’t you check your ass?”

Fwooooooooooom—

Arcas struck down on Ali’s face without any mercy.

***

Washington D.C., United States of America.

In a large cafe inside the city, the Americans’ attention was all focused on the TV screen showing the showdown in Athenae between South Korea and China.

“In the end, China wins against South Korea. And they did not even use much force.”

“Even the strongest territory in Korea is helpless in front of them.”

“Compared to what I heard, Black Mage Ali looks a bit sloppy.”

“The Koreans can only reach that far. How strong can they even be?”

However, they still admitted one fact.

“The NPCs are giving their all to protect a territory where players gather.”

“Even the guild members are desperately trying to protect their lord.”

“We have to admit how united the Koreans are, right?”

There was one guy among them. He was none other than Team Leader Park. He came to America to meet with some of the Athenae executives from all over the world to discuss Athenae: World War, which was just around the corner.

“Here’s the americano that you ordered.”

“Ah. Thank you,” Team Leader Park graciously accepted the coffee, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.

On the screen, Ali remained helpless as he got stuck on the ground. Team Leader Park felt numb. The Atlas players and troops were being pushed back to a corner and being shown what despair was like.

Team Leader Park smiled dejectedly and thought, ‘In the end… is there nothing we can do…?’

He had faith in them and he held immense hope. However, the situation remained desperate. Immersed in bitterness, Team Leader Park turned around.

Just as he was about to leave in a hurry…

“Huh?! What the hell?!”

“What’s that?”

“The Chinese troops are dying!!!”

“…?”

Team Leader Park quickly turned back to look at the screen. And on the screen, he saw a man moving quickly to where the Chinese troops had gathered. Every time he moved, hundreds of blades appeared from his body and brutally devoured and slaughtered them. The players from Cairon Continent were easily swept away like autumn leaves on a windy day! Arcas moved to smash Ali in the face.

[Where is your king?]

[Minhyuk? Didn’t you check your ass?]

When Arcas’ fist was about to slam down…

Spuuuuuurt—

Blood spurted out of Arcas’ back. Was it a skill? No. It was just a swing of the sword. Simply put, it was just a simple attack. However, Arcas, who had not screamed at all from all of the attacks that he had received, suddenly screamed in pain.

[Keuaaaaaaaaack!]

And the man that slashed Arcas’ back said…

[Did you just bully my friend???]

Team Leader Park smirked before turning around and leaving. He murmured to himself, “You guys are XXX.”

The Food God had appeared.