Gourmet Gaming

Death, in particular, was evaluated as someone that could go toe-to-toe with Minhyuk. He could summon hundreds of thousands of his undead corps. He also had the power to call and command blue death knights and powerful liches. When it came to group matches, Death completely triumphed over Minhyuk. However, this was not a group match, but a PVP. Necromancers were the most vulnerable class when it came to PVP matches.

Silence engulfed the entire area after the three were forced to log out.

‘That was dangerous.’

Minhyuk’s arm trembled lightly. If the ‘Sword of Absolute Death’ was triggered just 0.7 seconds later, then it would not be them that was forced to log out, but him.

Blood beads rose from the bodies of Carr, Khan and Death. The amount of HP that Minhyuk was able to recover was dependent on the amount of damage that had been dealt. After that, Minhyuk took out some choco pie from his inventory and used ‘Absorption Conversion’ to restore huge amounts of his HP.

“Only through this would things be set straight. Especially when it comes to the king that leads us.” The one that spoke was none other than Golden Mage Ali.

Did a king need to be strong? Well, that was not necessary. However, for the players, their king must be strong. This was so the other players could not ignore them. It was also to ensure that the NPCs would not discriminate against them.

There was both a strange sense of satisfaction and bitterness that welled up in all of the executives’ hearts. However, they did not have the luxury to think about it. They knew that they could not afford to give Minhyuk a break.

[God of Magic’s Descendant.]

[Your magic casting time has been reduced by 50%.]

[Your magic damage has increased by 40%.]

[The radius of effect of various attack magics has increased by 15%.]

[Your magic attack speed has increased by 20%.]

[The amount of mana consumed with every casting has been doubled.]

Baaaaaaaaaaaaang—

Golden Mage Ali’s eyes slowly started to turn gold as a huge wave of magic spread from his body. At the same time, cracks appeared on the ground beneath him. Everyone realized that they had to squeeze out everything they had and pour all into this fight.

“Firestorm! Fire Wall!”

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa—

Crackleeee—

A raging storm of fire and a gigantic wall of fire appeared and blocked Minhyuk’s view.

“Ugh…” Minhyuk groaned lightly.

The damage that Ali’s magic could inflict was at a level where other mages could only dream to have.

That was when Minhyuk realized something, ‘These punks are still…’

They were still not at Level 600.

‘What will happen if they reach Level 600?’

Among them, Minhyuk was the only one that had gone beyond Level 600 and had received various privileges. From what he had gathered, there were some classes that would receive far more special rewards once they reached Level 600.

In Minhyuk’s case, he was able to receive the title ‘First One to Achieve Level 600’ as a benefit for his God class subclass. On the other hand, what if one of his classes got strengthened?

‘Aside from now, there’s no other time where I can win against them.’

Minhyuk made a firm decision.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—

Ali’s magic attacks rained down and created a sea of flames.

[Asura’s Realm has unfolded.]

[All of your stats will be reduced by 20%. Your movements will be restricted.]

[Asura’s overwhelming power is restricting you.]

[Your attack success rate, physical and magical defense have decreased by 30%.]

The bloody red greatsword that was wrapped with buddhist beads was stabbed straight into the ground. At the same time, bloody red energy began to spread out.

[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all kinds of abnormal states.]

With Minhyuk’s Invincible Body, he could easily resist these debuffs. However, Asura’s Realm was a skill that could debuff the opponent while buffing the skill user at the same time. To be honest, the person that Minhyuk was most wary of was Asura. Ascar ran through the flames and swung her greatsword at Minhyuk.

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping—

[Your HP has dropped below 63%.]

[Your HP has dropped below 62%…]

[Your HP has dropped below 61%…]

Minhyuk’s total HP had been cut down by 0.5% with every basic attack from Asura Ascar. That was not all, Ascar also had a passive skill called ‘Six Blows’. This skill came to be because the original Asura was a being with six arms. In other words, Asura Ascar’s one hit would turn into six hits that could easily cut off 3% of Minhyuk’s HP. This was only the basic attack.

‘Crazy…’

On top of all that was going on, Ascar’s speed had also increased tremendously.

“Blood Explosion’s Greatsword.”

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang—!

Ascar triggered the Blood Explosion’s Greatsword, an attack skill that could trigger explosions for two straight minutes and devour an entire three meter radius area, dealing additional 600% attack damage.

Baaaaaaang—

Even if Minhyuk blocked the attack with his sword, the explosions were still triggered.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Minhyuk was forced to take a few steps back from the series of explosions. Seeing this, Ascar could only smile bitterly.

‘I gained this power to protect you from danger.’

This was Ascar’s reason for gaining power and strength. She wanted to show off the power that she had gained, to the person that she wanted to protect. Then, Ascar tried to trigger the ‘Blood Explosion’s Great Bombardment’, an overpowered skill that could deal 8,000% additional damage to a single target upon triggering.

“It’s ov…”

However, before she could finish casting her skill, Minhyuk had already cut down Ascar and went past her.

[Sword of Carnage]

[Movement speed increases by ten times and cuts down your enemy in an instant.]

[The opponent cut down by your sword will suffer from thirty eight sword attacks in one second. Each of the sword attacks will have 2,000% additional damage.]

[You have ignored all of your enemy’s defenses.]

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—!

Blood spurted out all over Ascar’s body. A single attack was enough to decrease her HP at a rapid rate until it became zero. In the end, she could only end her words with great difficulty, her body falling in a heap.

“…er?”

Thud—

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

Minhyuk had been deliberately holding off on using the Sword of Carnage. This was a plan purely made to deal with Asura Ascar.

Each and every single class had their own advantages and disadvantages. Asura might be considered to be a class with the highest damage dealt, but it also had a lower HP and defense compared to other close combat classes.

Swoosh—

Locke threw his huge axe toward Minhyuk as he looked at the disappearing Ascar with a bitter smile. Genie did not let the opportunity go to waste, swinging her flaming whip and creating dozens of afterimages as she tried to pierce through Minhyuk’s defenses.

Ali joined in the fray, using Blink magic efficiently and appearing through the blazing flames and casting dozens, if not more, of AOE magic attacks to try and bombard Minhyuk. There was also Valkyrie Mei Wei. Dozens of swords made of light appeared around her and shot straight toward him.

Minhyuk had only been careless enough to reveal a gap for a split second. However, befitting of their title as one of the high rankers, they took advantage of that slight gap.

When the attacks that were directed at Minhyuk were almost at his nose, He tried to cast the barrier of his skill ‘Let’s Have a Meal.’ However, Mei Wei, who had been preparing to cast a debuff before she even attacked, sent the debuff toward Minhyuk.

[The Restricted One’s Steps.]

[Active Defensive Skills will be unable for two minutes.]

[A Valkyrie’s Steps are special!]

[It can neutralize and ignore skills that can resist abnormal status!]

Only a select few high rankers had the power to neutralize those that could ignore abnormal statuses, and one of them was the best buff specialist and outstanding dealer, Bread Shuttle Mei Wei.

Their attacks devoured Minhyuk’s body completely.

[Steel Skin.]

[Physical and magical defenses have tripled.]

Fortunately, Steel Skin was triggered and the damage that he received was decreased by quite a lot.

‘If the skill wasn’t triggered then I would have died… No, it looks like I will still die…’

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash—!

The attacks caused tremendous damage, decreasing Minhyuk’s HP at a rapid pace. However, Minhyuk just allowed the attacks to land on his body, opting to use this moment to trigger his own attack skills.

“Intangible Sword.”

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping—

Hundreds of invisible sword blades pierced through the bodies of the executives that were still attacking Minhyuk.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

The attacks also triggered Minhyuk’s Slaughterer’s Absorption which restored some of his HP. Unfortunately, the rate at which his HP decreased still far exceeded the rate at which he recovered.

The executives, who knew Minhyuk well, did not let up with the attacks even when their bodies were getting pierced through by the invisible and intangible swords.

‘I want to win.’

‘I want to win against the person standing at the top of Athenae.’

‘It will feel good even if we struggled and fought hard.’

They all hoped and prayed for their victory. The same went for Minhyuk.

‘I want to keep being the best.’

He was unsure of the future. He did not know what would happen once these people reached Level 600. Perhaps one of his guild members might even become stronger than him.

‘I want to keep standing at the top.’

Crackleeee—

Flames burst out of Minhyuk’s sword. At the same time, the executives also prepared their final attacks.

“Priest’s Fury.” Locke slammed his axe on the ground. The ground cracked as a powerful force rushed toward Minhyuk.

“Dancing Sword of Light.” Dozens of swords of light appeared around Mei Wei before shooting straight for Minhyuk.

“Burn.” Genie’s whip engulfed in flames cracked and devoured an entire area of twenty meter radius.

“Meteor. Accelerate.” To top it all off, a meteor fell at the speed of light, its target was none other than Minhyuk.

Several lethal and one-shot kill skills flew toward Minhyuk. He had stopped thinking about not wanting to fight because he felt a bit sorry for them. Instead, he was filled with thoughts of wanting to keep his position at the top. He wanted to remain the strongest.

Filled with determination to become an emperor in Athenae, Minhyuk cast his Overlord’s Technique.

[Double Skill]

[You have a 1.2% chance of triggering Double Skill. Upon triggering, skill’s effects will be doubled.]

[Overlord’s Technique]

[The Overlord’s Fire, with an additional 10,000%~16,000% attack power, will attack everyone within a 120~160 meter radius.]

A blazing flame burst out. Double Skill was a skill attached to the title: Eight Pillar’s Candidate. It would double the power of the skill upon being triggered.

Minhyuk looked at the incoming lethal and one-shot kill skills after he triggered the Overlord’s Technique.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang—

The fire, which was enough to fill the entire transparent barrier that cordoned off the area where they were fighting, engulfed everyone.

Booooooooooom—

The power of the Overlord’s Technique was so strong that it shook the entire capital of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

At the same time, a series of notifications rang in their ears.

[Party Member Ali has been forced to log out.]

[Party Member Genie has been forced to log out…]

[Party Member Locke has been forced to log out…]

[Party Member Mei Wei has been forced to log out…]

[Party Member Crow has been forced to log out…]

Minhyuk listened to the constant notifications that rang in his ears. However, he was only given a small reprieve to rejoice and bask in his delight.

[You have been forced to log out during a PVP match.]

[Because it was during a PVP match, you will not receive any penalty for being forced to log out.]

[You have been defeated by all of your enemies in the official PVP!]

These notifications rang at the same time. Minhyuk slowly fell down almost at the same time as the Beyond the Heavens’ executives disappeared from the flames of the Overlord’s Technique.

“…Crazy.”

Haze was left speechless. She could still see the shockwaves raging from within the transparent barrier.

Meanwhile, the players, who were still on the fence about migrating to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, looked at the barrier silently. They too, were at a loss for words.

Gulp—

The sound of someone gulping dryly rang in the otherwise silent area. Then, someone said, “I… I’m a part of this kind of kingdom? This is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?”

The man that murmured was none other than Bran, the second in the Dungeon Explorer’s global rankings. He was the one that moved to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after making a small deal with Minhyuk.

***

A few days ago, Minhyuk had called for Bran.

—This is the Dungeon Explorer’s Eyes. I think this fits you perfectly.

Bran had been quite surprised when he heard that. The Dungeon Explorer’s Eyes was a God-rank skill book. He was shocked that Minhyuk had readily given him something so valuable.

—Now, you won’t be the second but the first.

Bran had been thrilled when he heard those words, until Minhyuk continued speaking.

—Ah! I’ll also give you your position. From now on, your job is Ingredient Explorer. What do you think?! You like it, right?! Keuhahahahahaha!

Minhyuk had laughed as he asked Bran for the delicious ingredients hidden all over Athenae. Nonetheless, Bran had felt very happy that he was a part of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, even though his job, Ingredient Explorer, was really suspicious. But now, his thoughts were different.

***

The way the Beyond the Heavens’ executives fought, something that he had just witnessed, was truly spectacular and awe-inspiring. It was something that Bran had never seen before. Of course, he also had nothing to say about how Minhyuk fought. He was now thankful that he chose to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

Bran, the second in the Dungeon Explorer Rankings… no, he was going to become the first with the Dungeon Explorer’s Eyes. At this juncture, he was wondering if it was truly alright for him to claim that he was a part of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.