Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 468: Naval Warfare (Top)

Let’s Eat Sect’s main territory was originally ‘Atlas’. However, after absorbing the Barras Kingdom, the territory under them had expanded dramatically. They had also changed the name of the kingdom’s capital from Lumasia to Valencia.

And now, the Royal Court of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that was located in Valencia was having a meeting. Haze, Minhyuk’s appointed aide and the one in charge of managing the nation’s finances, spoke coldly and seriously, “If we continue at this rate, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would not be able to last for long. Even if we do our best, we can probably last for half a year at most.”

Genie spread out the tables and charts that Haze had given her. According to her data, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom’s assets were being exhausted at a rapid pace. They might even face a severe food shortage if they continue at this rate.

“Several kingdoms have refused to have diplomatic ties with us. Barras Kingdom was originally a kingdom of production classes. But with His Majesty Minhyuk ascending the throne as the kingdom’s new king, it’s only right that we abandon the name Kingdom of Production Classes.”

That was right. When their kingdom was established, those that wanted to leave had left and those that wanted to stay had remained. It was inevitable. They could not wipe out those that rebelled but they also could not stop them from leaving.

The tower masters of the Chef’s Tower, the Fisherman’s Tower, the Painter’s Tower and all the other towers located in the Barras Kingdom had left immediately after the change of kingdoms. It could be said that only the skeleton of these towers were left.

“The core personnel of each tower, as well as plenty of their employees, have left. We also can’t sell anything on hand since we’re not interacting with other kingdoms.”

Genie nodded. She could tell from Haze’s words that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had significantly fewer ‘people’ than their vast title of ‘kingdom’.

“We need both foreigners and new immigrants to come to our land. Also, enough money to allow us to hold out longer.”

After hearing Haze’s words, Genie said, “The most urgent task is to get more people to immigrate… As we are now, our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has no advantages to offer…”

Players would choose a ‘nation’ or an ‘empire’ that was advantageous for them and their play style before they would migrate. That was only natural. Even with Minhyuk and Chairman Kang Minhoo’s fame for their good deeds and virtues, no player would choose to stay in a kingdom in a precarious state, that had no benefits or advantages that would actually work for them.

“We should probably start focusing on some sort of specialty. I think we also need to issue some quests. But, what we need the most are the tower masters, right?”

“Yes. There are too many empty tower master seats. Without someone sitting on those seats, the remaining people in the tower are also more inclined to leave. In fact, more are leaving right now as we speak.”

“Which tower master should we get as quickly as possible?”

“The first tower that we should fill is of course the Chef’s Tower. His Majesty Minhyuk has the Food God class, so it’s only right for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to become a ‘cooking kingdom’,” Haze said, pausing for a moment to moisten her throat with some tea, before continuing, “The second tower should be the ‘Fisherman’s Tower’.”

“The Fisherman’s Tower?” Genie asked, looking up at Haze in surprise. She wanted the Fisherman’s Tower to be filled first and not the Blacksmith’s Tower?

“Yes. It also came as a surprise to me, but the tower that collected the most taxes and brought the most immigrants to Barras Kingdom was the Fisherman’s Tower.”

“What’s the reason?”

“Blacksmithing is very famous in Allode Nation. Although a Blacksmith’s Tower exists in the kingdom, the people prefer learning in Allode Nation since they can learn a lot from them compared to the tower here where they are only given limited quests and guidance.”

Haze’s words were true. Allode Nation was truly overflowing with excellent NPC blacksmiths and player blacksmiths. Some even called the nation a blacksmithing kingdom.

“On the contrary, the only choice for fishermen to learn fishing is to go to the ‘Fisherman’s Tower’. The Fisherman’s Tower’s tower master was said to be a legendary fisherman with a free and wild spirit. From what I heard, he only needed to set sail with plenty of people to teach them his know-hows and he would be able to cash in a lot of money. Of course, such a nature allowed him to be loved and cherished by many. And because of that, many fishermen flocked to Barras Kingdom, which in turn allowed the kingdom to rake in a lot of profits. But when the tower master left, all of them left as they wanted to follow him immediately.”

Genie tapped her finger on the table slowly.

“If that’s the case, then we have to find a fisherman that can replace the Fisherman’s Tower’s Tower Master and… he has to know about the seas more than anyone else and have more influence than that legendary fisherman… They also have to be a bit more greedy so they can help increase our forces, an existence like that…” Then, Genie laughed bitterly after laying out their requirements, “There’s no one like that, right?”

***

He was, in fact, right here.

“Hello?”

“Heok! What the hell?! That shocked me!!!” Minhyuk shouted in surprise when the translucent ghost of Gorfido suddenly appeared beside him, who was standing on top of the dolphin. Gorfido was literally floating in the air right next to him.

“Why did you suddenly appear, you skullhead!”

“…”

Even though he already heard it before, Gorfido could still not adapt to Minhyuk’s words.

‘A human who keeps on calling me skullhead…’

How dare this human call him, the great pirate that could make a baby stop crying with his face, a skullhead?!!

“What are you looking at? Do you have any complaints, you skullhead?!”

“…”

Gorfido shut his mouth. He could tell that nothing would change even if he got angry at this point.

‘This person is not interested in gold or silver. He’s a very unusual man. He saw only the price I had to pay for my sin, instead of coveting my gold and silver,’?this thought kept Gorfido’s mouth from opening. He knew that he would not be happy even if he tore apart the man in front of him.

“So, how and why did you come here?”

Minhyuk had heard from the Red Goblin that Gorfido was trapped in the Pirate’s Grave and that he could not escape from there, no matter what he did and no matter how translucent and more ghostly he became.

“I also don’t know. I think it’s you who knows about this and not me though?”

Gorfido’s words made Minhyuk recall the fact that the quest had been changed into a secret quest.

‘Was Gorfido able to move around now because the quest has been changed into a Secret Quest?’?Minhyuk thought, believing that this was a possibility. Besides, Minhyuk had already accepted that ‘quest’. After all, the pirates came to him asking for death. Would he still be a person if he let this opportunity pass by?

“Ah. You got hit by bird poop.”

“…”

Minhyuk rubbed his chin as he watched Gorfido tremble after one of the flying seagulls’ poop dropped on him.

‘The bastard’s not even hit.’

That was right. Gorfido was a ghost so the poop did not really hit him and just went through him. Still, Gorfido looked offended as he stared up at the sky while scratching his head, as if he was shooing away the poop.

Then, Gorfido asked a question, “I know that I’ve asked you this favor and that it’s an outrageously ridiculous favor, but will you be accepting my request now?”

Gorfido knew that it was very difficult to grant his wish. That was why the rewards were ridiculous too. In fact, for this quest…

‘I’ll clap enthusiastically for you if you can even kill 5% of the pirates.’

…they were using % to calculate the progress. The quest would recognize and add 1% for hunting many pirates and would add more % the stronger the pirates that he hunted. Even if Minhyuk only hunted 5%, his results would already be enormous. No, perhaps…

‘I think getting 1% will still be a bit hard.’

When Gorfido appeared beside Minhyuk, he knew that he was connected to the man now. Gorfido told him where he was exactly and followed behind him. On their way, he saw countless pirates floating lifelessly at sea. The reason why Gorfido thought getting 1% was hard was because of the appearance of ‘Gorfido’s Pirate Ship’.

‘All of the pirates are now after you.’

What would he do in this situation? Just when that question floated in Gorfido’s head. Minhyuk, who stood on the dolphin’s back, continued to move.

“Do you know where you’re going right now?” Gorfido said, his face turning ugly after seeing the sea boundary that they were fast approaching.

“Who knows,” Minyuk said with a grin.

Seeing this, Gorfido decided to opt out from giving any advice to where Minhyuk was headed. He thought, ‘I don’t know if he’s going there unknowingly or not.’

It was something that Gorfido truly could not figure out. This was because the place where Minhyuk was headed to was the ‘Sunset Sea’. And in that place, the seas’ shocking power, which had been handed down a long time ago, was hidden.

Minhyuk bowed his head to check the time before using Gryphon’s cry.

“Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

Gryphon’s Cry was Minhyuk’s skill that was used to draw the aggro of the monsters in his vicinity. However, with his increase in strength, the radius that it could cover had already extended even further. And with that cry…

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

…several pirate ships arrived swiftly. The ship at the forefront was the Ruby Pirates’ pirate ships. Then, the pirate ships began to open fire.

“Let’s go, dolphins!!!”

Flaaaaaash—

The dolphins swam swiftly away from the incoming cannonballs.

***

After hearing a burst of sound from somewhere, Ruby, the leader of the Ruby Pirates, immediately made her ship advance at full speed. As they moved swiftly forward, she finally caught sight of the Korean player riding on top of a dolphin and its pod.

“After them!!! Fire!!!”

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Dozens of cannonballs and hundreds of arrows were fired towards the man.

Booooooooom—

Pillars of seawater bloomed from the sea as the mage pirates on board used Explosion.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

But the man just stood on top of the dolphin in a relaxed manner, as man and beast maneuvered skillfully and swiftly away from the pirates. And when they heard the explosions, the other pirate ships also began to gather where the Ruby Pirates were.

Ruby quickly sent in a report.

[Party Chat | Ruby: We have spotted the ‘enemy’ at Ever Seas’ Northern Point. Thirty ships, including Ruby Pirates, are already in pursuit of the enemy.]

Around thirty three ships gave chase to a pod of dolphins at full speed! But no matter how they tried, Minhyuk remained a distance away in front of them.

“Fire! Why can’t you hit one man?!”

“Go around him!!! Block his path!!!”

“It’s the Black Skull Pirates’ Third Attack Ship!!! The Third Attack Ship has arrived!!!”

The appearance of the Black Skull Pirates’ Third Attack Ship meant that their captain ‘Red Hawk’ had also arrived. Red Hawk was a murderer at sea that wielded a red sword and controlled blood.

“The Third Attack Ship led by me, Red Hawk, will take a detour and block the path. The other ships should flank the left and right sides while the Ruby Pirates charge forward!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

Everyone responded to Red Hawk’s order as they went into position.

‘How dare you think of running away from us, the hunters of the sea?’?Red Hawk thought, as he grinned with a vicious expression. Then, he saw where the man was headed to.

“…Sunset Sea?”

Red Hawk looked at the man in doubt. Did he know about the Sunset Sea? The only ones that knew about the Sunset Sea were Pirate Lundnu, him, and the captains of the First and Second Attack Ships.

‘No. There’s now way that a Korean player would know.’

“Chase after him!!!” Red Hawk cried loudly after thinking about it for a moment.

The scene with Minhyuk riding with a pod of dolphins and several ships running after him at full speed was quite spectacular. Before they knew it, the sun above them had already started to set.

‘The miracle of the sea will now make its appearance. If the miracle successfully makes its appearance, then we will have him in our hands without a doubt. In fact, our ship won’t even break even if the miracle appeared.’

Red Hawk’s lips twisted into a gruesome smile. The naive Korean player was rushing towards hell all by himself. And finally…

Puhaaaaaaaaaaa—

Red Hawk and his ship finally succeeded in bypassing the man and his pod of dolphins. He stood on the deck facing his enemy. Even the pirate ships that he directed to block the man’s flanks were all in position! The Ruby Pirates had also blocked the rear! Red Hawk raised his arm as everyone prepared to open fire at the man. And Gorfido…

“What the hell were you thinking?!”

…seemed to be invisible to the eyes of others. Minhyuk turned to look at the sea where the red sunset was slowly disappearing from. Perhaps he looked in that direction because he was listening to Gorfido.

Over the horizon, the shocking view of what seemed to be the sea swallowing the sunset appeared. And when the setting sun looked like it was just a boat floating in the sea, Minhyuk suddenly jumped up from the dolphins and launched to the skies. Red Hawk, who was about to lower his arm…

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr—

…suddenly felt a tremor rock their ship.

[The Sunset Sea’s Miracle has made its appearance.]

[A huge whirlpool will be created around you. This whirlpool will suck in everything around you.]

Vwoooooooooong—

“Damn! Why did the miracle suddenly start at this time?!”

The waters suddenly started to turn and spin violently, as the sea created a whirlpool that sucked in all of the ships in the vicinity. Set against the sunset in front of them, it created a spectacular view. However, the pirate ships were ships that could not be easily broken by the whirlpool. All it did was make them spin around and around.

“Fire at that bastard above!!!”

“But if we open fire, then the other ships will also get damaged!”

“Let’s go after the bastard once he falls down to sea!”

.

At some point, all of the pirate ships had been gathered in the middle of the whirlpool. Minhyuk, who started to fall back towards the sea, had already gathered a strong force at the tip of his sword. It was none other than his strongest AOE attack skill, the Continent Destroyer. And when his sword struck down, the tremendous force gathered at the tip was fired at sea.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa—

This great disaster headed straight towards the pirate ships that were crowded in the middle of the whirlpool. In an instant, the ships crumbled into pieces, like fragile glass shattering upon being hit by a strong impact.