Gourmet Gaming

When watching an exciting movie, something fun, or just a good show, there was a snack that everyone loved to munch on. It was none other than popcorn, which was usually sold in movie theaters.

Employee Lee Minhwa had run to the ‘Mega Box’ movie theater during lunch time to buy some, after feeling an intense craving for it. She bought a large bucket of the half-and-half combi popcorn, with her favorite onion and caramel flavors.

On her screen, the Beyond the Heavens King Food God was fighting an intense and fiery battle against the executives of the kingdom.

Crunch—

The moment Lee Minhwa pushed the caramel popcorn into her mouth, she felt the texture, which was crunchier than regular popcorn, bloom. Lee Minhwa personally believed that it was tastier if one ate the popcorn by the handfuls. and not one by one.

She crammed a handful of popcorn in her mouth before sipping the coke that she bought along with her bucket. The carbonate in the drink made her throat tingle.

This time, Lee Minhwa tried the onion flavor. Just like before, she ate it by the handful. Unlike the crunchier caramel popcorn, the onion popcorn had a more mellow crunch. For her, this was the perfect combination of ‘sweet and salty’.

“…”

Team Leader Park Minggyu shook his head when he saw Lee Minhwa eat her popcorn like that.

“By the way, Team Leader. Don’t you think that it’s a bit unexpected?”

“What is?”

“I’m talking about the appearance of the God of Comrades.”

In fact, Team Leader Park was surprised by the sudden and very unexpected appearance of the God of Comrades. Although the God of Comrades was one of the Absolute Gods, he was among the cautious ones that up until now, had not made an appearance.

“The God of Comrades has been watching Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.”

To be exact, he was watching Minhyuk. After all, Minhyuk had the power to attract people and a heart that cared for and cherished his comrades.

“From what has been revealed so far, does that mean that the God of Comrades has judged that this process is necessary for the growth among these comrades?”

“Perhaps that’s true. Even if they’re comrades and friends, determining who’s stronger is still necessary. How they would change after going through this situation is what’s important.”

People were seldom broad-minded and open in their way of thinking. In fact, it did not matter how close people were, once they lost, they would feel frustration. As for those that were more narrow-minded, it would probably even result in ‘hate’, ‘envy’ and ‘jealousy’ toward Minhyuk.

It seemed like the God of Comrades was very curious about what would happen to the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after this.

“If they satisfy the God of Comrades, then they would be able to receive huge rewards, right?”

“That’s right.” Team Leader Park nodded.

The rewards that the God of Comrades gave out tend to increase when he was satisfied.

“They might also receive a reward that would allow all of them to grow even further.”

Lee Minhwa was lost in thought after hearing those words.

‘Let’s wipe the onion powder off of my mouth first before thinking…’

Then, she asked, “By the way, who do you think will win? Will it be the Food God or the Beyond the Heavens’ executives?”

Park Minggyu just shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows? I don’t know either.”

***

Everyone groaned slightly when they saw the silver barrier that shone brightly and covered Minhyuk’s entire body.

‘He has a skill like that…?’

‘What skill is that?’

Minhyuk did not tell anyone about the barrier skill, ‘Absolute Defense’, attached to the Forgotten Monarch’s Crown. It was natural, after all, it did not matter if they were his closest friends or not, he never felt the need to brag about the new artifacts and abilities that he had obtained.

However, the thing that surprised the executives the most was the fact that the barrier was not the typical dome-like barrier. It clung to Minhyuk’s skin as if it was wrapped around him.

All of the people here were high rankers, and were very quick-witted.

‘No way…!’

‘Are you telling me that he can attack even though he has a barrier on him?!’

The thing that they hoped to be untrue had now turned into reality. Minhyuk mumbled under his breath.

‘Like the Wind.’

Then, as he moved to cover several meters swiftly, he swung his sword and released the power of the ‘Sword of Absolute Death.’

[Sword of Absolute Death]

[Hundreds of lightning swords with additional 7,000% attack will fall down from the sky and strike all of the enemies within a 20 meter radius with a 100% success rate.]

[Immediately after the first attack, the hundreds of lightning swords with 2,000% additional attack will strike down all of the enemies within a 30 meter radius.]

[Anyone that will receive a direct attack from the lightning sword will fall into a four second stunned state.]

Lightning swords with 7,000% additional attack fell and hit all of Minhyuk’s opponents within a twenty meter radius accurately. Everyone turned nervous. How much damage would they receive from Minhyuk's AOE skills? Would it eat around 15~25% of their HP?

Baaaaaaaaaang—

[Your HP has dropped below 65%!]

“Keheoook?!” Carr choked in surprise. The damage that they received was completely ridiculous. It was supposed to be an AOE skill, but the damage was comparable to that of a high ranker’s lethal skill. The other executives were also left in a dazed and confused state. That was especially the case for Ali and Death. They were the ones that had been hit hardest by the attack earlier.

[Your HP has dropped below 25%!]

Mages and necromancers generally had lower HP compared to others. Fortunately, it was offset by the fact that they had higher magical defenses compared to other close combat classes. At that moment, they came to a realization.

‘What will happen if we get struck by Lightning after getting hit by the Sword of Absolute Death?’

‘What the hell? Are we going to get wiped out?’

There was a chance that they could get wiped out like that. Of course, some of them would probably be able to survive if they activated their special skills. However, they still thought that Minhyuk had already gone too far ahead of them. Right in front of their eyes, the lightning swords were about to run rampant and cut them down indiscriminately.

Clench—

“Compress.”

All of the executives were pulled to where Ali was as he cast a huge golden barrier around them. Taking this opportunity, Mei Wei, who could act as both a buff specialist and a dealer, cast her healing and recovery skills over the group.

[Valkyrie’s Wings.]

[The wings made of light will heal and recover your wound by 35~65%.]

Flaaaaaash—

The wings of light fell down from the sky and were absorbed in their bodies. They might not be able to launch any attacks while they were inside the barrier, but they could still do other things inside, just like how Minhyuk would hide inside his barrier to cook.

A strange tension lingered in the air as all of the lightning swords disappeared.

‘Defeating this many people with varying powers and strength is definitely not an easy task,’ Minhyuk thought. After all, they were all top rankers in their own respective fields. Also, unlike him, the executives would often go out together and hunt. Their teamwork was fantastic.

‘I shouldn’t be bothered too much about this.’

On the other hand, Minhyuk could not go with them as he had far too many things on his plate. At this juncture, Minhyuk might be nervous, but the same was true for all of the executives.

‘What kind of AOE is that? It can deal as much damage as a Named Boss Monster’s AOE.’

‘If we get too careless and get hit by that, we’ll probably immediately die if we get hit by a basic attack right after. Right?’

Still, they felt like they were the ones at an advantage at this moment. Minhyuk’s skills obviously had limits and restrictions, while their group had more than ten people. Then, the barrier melted away. Both sides were exchanging nervous looks.

“Kingdom of Death. Summon Baroque. Summon Andrana. Summon Broicht. Summon Paruino. Summon Kruna. Summon. Summon. Summon.”

Crack, crack, crack—!

Dozens of blue death knights appeared as a huge kingdom rose from the ground and engulfed the area where the barrier was before, creating another barrier of sorts. Blue death knights were existences that were on the same level as legends for necromancers.

“Please give your orders!”

The levels of each and every single one of the blue death knights easily exceeded Level 500. However, that was not the end. Thousands of undead also appeared and surrounded the death knights as they charged forward.

Death sat on top of a bone dragon and charged forward with his army. Golden Mage Ali, who was sitting on his divine beast Predatory Snake, also charged forward with him.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—!

Hundreds of 1st~2nd class magic appeared around Ali and shot toward Minhyuk. However, just because they were 1st~2nd class magic did not mean that they could be ignored. Ali stood at the pinnacle of the mage players. Even some Level 500 monsters would perish under the onslaught of his 1st~2nd class magic bombings.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash—!

Minhyuk grabbed his sword tightly as he looked at the rain of magic attacks and the undead protecting the executives behind them. Then, he leapt to the sky. At the same time, the magic attacks slammed into his body.

[Steel Skin.]

[Physical and magical defenses have tripled.]

[Your HP has fallen below 90%.]

[Your HP has fallen below 89%.]

‘As expected, they are dealing a lot of damage.’

That was true. For a top ranker like Minhyuk, who had Steel Skin activated, the fact that 1st~2nd class magic could shave off 1~2% of his HP meant that the total damage dealt was still substantial. Then, he pointed his sword below, slamming it into the undead below him.

[Continent Destroyer]

[The moment the sword gets stabbed into the ground, everyone within a 35 meter radius will incur an additional 500% damage from powerful shockwaves.]

[Lava will rise five meters from the ground and cause an additional 1,600% damage to anyone that it touches and will continuously incur additional 100% damage.]

Crackleeeee—!

The ground twisted and turned, devouring and melting the undead as lava shot up from the ground and reached a height of five meters. With the additional 1,600% attack, the undead turned into black ashes.

[Food God’s Swordsmanship.]

[Your attack speed and movement speed have increased by 40%. Your physical and magical defenses have increased by 30%.]

[Your cutting power has increased by 60%, sword attack power by 30%, and all sword-related skills’ damage by 20%.]

[Your critical hit rate has increased by 50%.]

[The skill duration is eight minutes.]

Minhyuk did not stop there. He quickly triggered his buff skill.

“Stormy.”

Bzzt, bzzt—

A single sword with an ego created hundreds of sword blades that swept and cut down the undead. Death’s expression turned ugly when he saw his undead get easily swept away.

Then, at that moment, two rankers who had hidden among the undead crept toward Minhyuk. They were none other than Carr and Khan. Both men were hailed as the dealers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

“Emperor’s Stab.”

Shwaaaaaaaaa—

A gigantic wave erupted from Carr’s sword as he stabbed toward Minhyuk’s vital point. Originally, such an attack would be blocked by the armor on Minhyuk’s body. However, the attack went through thanks to the influence of the ‘ignore all defenses’ attached to the skill.

Staaaaaaaab—!

[Your vital point has been stabbed!]

[Your HP has dropped below 56%!]

Even Minhyuk was shocked at the huge amount of damage that he received. Just when he was about to launch a counter, Khan appeared right below his vision.

“Giant King’s Uppercut.”

Baaaaaaaaaang—

‘Giant King’s Uppercut’ had changed after Khan reached Level 550.

“Kghhk!”

Minhyuk was sent flying upward by the punch. At the same time, he saw his HP fall below 40%.

‘Everyone has truly grown tremendously.’

He was quite happy to know that he was not the only one that grew. The fact that his comrades had grown stronger was a cause for celebration. Seeing him fly upward, Carr immediately leapt to the sky and followed right behind him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Carr’s shining sword immediately went back to its sheath.

“Quick Draw.”

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash—!

Seven consecutive crescent sword lights flew and slashed Minhyuk. At the same time, the image of Khan’s arm appeared beneath him and connected.

“Giant King’s Consecutive Attacks.”

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The fists, which could swing six times every second, swung at Minhyuk for three straight seconds at a fierce speed.

[Your HP has dropped below 30%.]

[Your HP has dropped below 28%.]

[Your HP…below 26%.]

However, the attacks were not over yet. Death’s staff suddenly transformed and turned into a scythe.

“Death Scythe,” Death murmured as several blue death knights got sucked into the blade of the scythe.

This was Death’s close combat skill, and it could only be swung once. However, it could deal an attack with an additional 23,000% attack.

Unfortunately, due to Death not being a close combat player, his normal damage was too low. Even so, a 23,000% additional attack was more than enough to compensate for that.

Shwaaaaaaaa—

The Death Scythe sliced Minhyuk’s body.

[Your HP has dropped below 11%!]

[Danger!]

They could do it. They could knock down the existence standing at the top. Carr, Khan and Death shuddered at the thought. They wanted to reach such heights too. They wanted to compete with him and win at least once.

Minhyuk had become their driving force, their motivation. His existence allowed them to grow even further. They might be able to win, even if they fought him as a group, it would be a win nonetheless. Their victory was almost at hand. Carr just needed to trigger his skill and strike him with this.

Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt—

“…?”

“…?”

“…?”

The three froze in place when they saw the spark dancing around Minhyuk’s blade. They knew what that was. It was the power of the ‘Sword of Absolute Death.’

“He has Save!!!”

Indeed. Minhyuk had the skill ‘Save’ in his arsenal. In the case of the skill ‘Save’, the user could save their skill and use it once without caring about its cooldown.

“Sword of Absolute Death.”

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

Lightning swords fell down from the sky and rained on the heads of the three people in front of Minhyuk.

***

All of the executives stood frozen as they watched the downpour of lightning swords fall down from the sky.

Slash—

Minhyuk cut them down one after another after they had fallen into a stunned state.

[PVP Party Member Carr has been forced to log out.]

[PVP Party Member Death has been forced to log out.]

[PVP Party Member Khan has been forced to log out.]

“…”

“…”

“…”

Silence enveloped the entire area.