Gourmet Gaming

‘Please. I beg you, do not give us the order to attack…’

They were shaking to their core. Some even felt like they felt like they were going to lose control over their bladder.

“Keuaaaaaaaaaack!”

The comrades that laughed and drank with them just yesterday had fallen on the ground, blood spurting out of their chests. Someone who vowed to receive the Jade Emperor’s apology died helplessly on the battlefield. The desire to live was after all, basic instinct.

The fear had increased, especially after realizing that their victory seemed to be a shot in the dark. The Jade Emperor’s Heavenly Army had superior weapons and defensive equipment and was much stronger than them. They were only 30,000 strong but were killing hundreds of thousands of people each day.

‘I’d rather we apologize to the Jade Emperor.’

Rather than dying helplessly in this battle, they would rather surrender and beg for the Jade Emperor’s forgiveness.

‘I’m exhausted.’

‘We will die.’

‘There’s no hope.’

At that moment, an unknown voice rang in their ears.

[I am the Highest God that wields the Greatest Sword.]

[Look. This is the path to victory.]

“…”

“…”

“…”

The frightened, exhausted and battle-weary soldiers of Edea raised their heads when they heard the voice. There were still 15,000 surviving Heavenly Army troops that were pushing them back. Who was the owner of this voice?

‘Who is that?’

‘No way… God?’

It was rare for ordinary humans to have any opportunities to meet and face God. That was why it came as a bigger shock to them that a god had suddenly appeared here.

Vwoooooooong—

Vwoooooooong—

However, that was not the only thing that surprised them. Their crude weapons and shields vibrated and resonated with something. It was even more surprising for the Heavenly Army, who were wielding far superior weapons and artifacts than the soldiers of Edea. They realized that their sharp swords had lost momentum, and their tough, sturdy armor suddenly felt like flimsy cloth.

The spooked horses had already raised their hind legs and shook them off their backs.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud—

The ground shook and vibrated.

“He, he’s really a god?!!!” Someone’s cry raised everyone’s expectations.

Hope slowly started to bloom in the eyes of the exhausted soldiers of Edea. Their eyes immediately turned and followed the direction of the voice, their gazes landing upon the figure of a man.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

The wind blew fiercely, and the man appeared alone in front of the 15,000 flustered soldiers of the Heavenly Army. The man’s white cape, carrying the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together, fluttered majestically behind him. The black sword in his hands reflected the bright light of the sun and gave off a powerful momentum.

“F, Food God!!!”

Minhyuk was the one who had saved the Kingdom of Eden. Some of the soldiers had seen him personally save and rescue the Bull Demon King. The words ‘Food God’ caused a huge commotion among the troops of Edea. From what they heard, the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal and the Kingdom of Eden’s Aaron had received help from this person. However, those who had not seen him in person would always tend to deny his existence.

Minhyuk turned around, his gentle and soft eyes framed by his dark hair as he looked at the soldiers behind him. He flashed a very soft smile at them before turning back around and charging forward.

“He, he’s alone?!”

There were still around 15,000 enemy troops, but Minhyuk courageously took a step forward.

Weapons, defensive equipment, and artifacts were all very important items. Between a player equipped with a wooden sword of 100 attack and one wielding a sword with 1,000 attack, the one with the wooden sword would be able to reduce their opponent’s HP by 100, whereas the one equipped with the sword of 1,000 attack could cut down their opponent’s HP by 500. This was only the case because the opponent was wearing armor on their body.

Right now, the enemies’ armor and equipment’s defenses all dropped to 1, albeit temporarily. Even their weapons’ attack dropped to 1. Simply put, the fact that their weapons and defensive equipment had been restricted meant that they had grown at least 50% weaker than normal.

“How dare you?! You think you can deal with us alone?!” One of the Heavenly Commanders sneered.

Minhyuk was fully aware that there was only one way, perhaps the best way, to win the hearts of the people in the world. That was to make them witness him in action.

“Die!!!”

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!

The Heavenly Army’s mages unleashed a barrage of magical attacks.

Minhyuk’s magical defense could be said to be very, very high. It was all thanks to the elixirs and medicines that he had eaten before, as well as the special effect attached to the Slaughterer’s Armor that tripled his basic magical defense.

At this point, the staves and wands of the enemy had all lost their magical attack. The mages were beings that did not just rely on artifacts. The damage that their magic attack could inflict would also differ depending on the magical attack of their wand or staff.

A thick cloud of dust rose from the explosion created by the magical attacks. However, Minhyuk walked out of the dust unscathed.

“…!”

Everyone looked at him in shock.

Minhyuk, who was free of injuries, declared, “Intangible Sword.”

Stab—

An invisible sword flew and pierced the heart of the Heavenly Commander standing at the vanguard. He was appalled.

‘H, how…’

The armor that he wore truly felt like it was just a piece of cloth. Perhaps, it would have been much better if he had worn a real cloth on his body. At least then, he would not be forced to fight while carrying the heavy weight of the armor.

Not long after, the Intangible Sword split and turned into hundreds of invisible swords that pierced through the hearts of the Heavenly Army’s soldiers.

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

The Heavenly Army was suddenly plunged into chaos. The armor that usually halved the damage that the soldiers received did not protect them nor prevent the attack from inflicting damage upon them. Of course, the ‘Intangible Sword’ also had the power to ignore all of Minhyuk’s enemy defenses.

However, it did not end there. Another threatening force appeared and encroached upon those who lost the protection of their defensive equipment.

“Stormy.”

Swoooooooooooosh—

A sword with an ego of its own appeared and created hundreds of blades that danced and rained upon the enemies.

Vwooooooooong—!

The enemies fell helplessly against these sword blades.

Clang, clang, clang!

They tried to defend themselves, but their defensive equipment were easily pierced through, the blade cutting through them like sheets of paper.

“Uwaaaaaaaaack!”

“Keuaaaaaaaaack!”

“Keuhaaaaaaaaack!”

The enemies screamed while Minhyuk used his Slaughterer’s Absorption to restore his HP. However, what was more astonishing to the Heavenly Army was the fact that their attacks did not even put a toll on Minhyuk’s body.

Claaaang—

Even though they stabbed their enemy as usual, the attack that should have pierced through the enemy’s armor and stabbed straight through his abdomen was completely blocked by the opponent’s armor. The attacks did not even reach their target.

Minhyuk smirked at the Heavenly Army’s soldier, who was looking down at his sword in confusion. “What’s this, huh?”

“…”

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa—!

Minhyuk easily cut down the soldier in front of him. A Level 550 Heavenly Army soldier died, just like that, blood spurting out of his body. Even though Minhyuk jumped into the ranks of the 15,000-strong Heavenly Army and received the brunt of their attacks, he did not even feel any danger at all.

Crackleeeeeeeee—!

The blazing flames kept the enemies at bay. Originally, the Overlord’s Technique could only injure the Heavenly Army troops and not kill them. However, it was very different right now.

Crackleeeeeeee—!

A huge storm of fire spread out and covered everything the moment he swung his sword and released Overlord's Technique. At the same time, the enemies that were caught by the raging Overlord’s Technique had their flesh and bones burned down until only ashes were left.

[You have gained 11,013,000 EXP.]

[You have gained 13,154,167 EXP.]

[…EXP.]

[You have gained 17 platinum.]

[You have gained 19 platinum.]

[…21…]

As expected, the high-level Heavenly Army troops were truly in a different league. Each of the soldiers dropped around 20 platinum, while giving him a huge amount of EXP.

Swooooooosh—

No corpses could be seen on the ground where the flames were slowly dying down. Everything was reduced to ashes and had disappeared into nothingness.

“…”

Fear slowly started to appear in the eyes of the enemies while hope started to sprout in the hearts of the allied forces of Edea. These were the Heavenly Army soldiers that they could not even deal with earlier. Yet, this lone man overwhelmed them completely without the help of the allied forces.

“Hiiiiiiik…!”

In the end, the great and majestic Heavenly Army ran away from Minhyuk as if they had seen a ghost. The one-sided battle that unfolded in front of them caused their morale to plummet, which made it even easier for Minhyuk to deal with them.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash—!

Minhyuk chased after the enemies with his black sword carrying the golden symbol of ‘Explosion’ on its blade. He dashed swiftly and swept the enemies around him.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash—!

The soldiers of the Heavenly Army died under his sword one after another as he cut through them. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Commanders made a decision. They wanted to kill Minhyuk somehow. They did not know how long the restriction on their weapons and defensive equipment would last; that was why they were very reluctant to do this.

They all approached Minhyuk and pulled out their weapons. They moved to cut him with their swords, stab him with their spears, and shoot them with their arrows.

[The Heavenly Army’s Faded Sword has started regaining its original power.]

[The Heavenly Army’s Faded…]

That was when the momentum of the swords that disappeared slowly began to return, causing the swords to light up brightly. While this was happening, all of the soldiers that were spread out over the place had flocked to one area. They had somehow ended up with Minhyuk standing in the middle of everything. Now that they had their sharp swords and spears, they could kill this bastard!

However, there was a grin on Minhyuk’s face. Sparks started to dance on the blade of his sword.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

Baaaaaaaaaaaang—!

The swords of lightning created by the ‘Sword of Absolute Death’ fell down from the sky and killed the Heavenly Commanders. At the same, hundreds of lightning bolts rained down and swept away the enemies that gathered around him.

Defensive equipment did not matter at this point. The 5,000% additional damage of the Sword of Absolute Death far exceeded what those defensive equipment could handle.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash—!

The Heavenly Army soldiers were all helpless under the onslaught of the lightning strikes that fell constantly upon them.

[The faith of Edea’s residents in you is increasing.]

[They have started to deify you!]

[You have acquired the Title: Heavenly Army’s Slaughterer.]

He was also able to obtain a special title that could help increase his attack power by 8% whenever he was fighting against the Heavenly Army.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

The wind blew fiercely after the Sword of Absolute Death ended. The time it took for Minhyuk to cut down all 15,000 surviving troops of the Heavenly Army was only three minutes.

‘I didn’t expect that the effects of losing the power of all artifacts would be this great.’

Minhyuk could not help but be in awe.

Meanwhile, the residents and troops of Edea felt like they had caught a small glimpse of hope once again as they cheered loudly.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

However, amidst the cheering troops, there was one person who had broken out in cold sweat. This person was none other than Zhu Bajie.

***

The Allied Forces of Edea cheered loudly.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

“Food Gooooood!!!”

“Thank you! Thank you for staying by our side!!!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

The soldiers of Edea shed tears of happiness as hope started to bloom in their hearts once again. With the sword’s resonance, the Heavenly Army was forced to become helpless in front of a god.

“…”

Zhu Bajie, who watched this scene, could not help but be surprised.

Meanwhile, the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal murmured, “He has grown stronger.”

Zhu Bajie groaned. How could a god like that have that much momentum and might? However, he was worried about something else.

[You have lost the bet against Beyond the Heavens’ King Minhyuk.]

[You will have to listen to one thing that he wants as long as it does not cross the line.]

Cold sweat slowly dripped down Zhu Bajie’s pig face. However, he shook his head and thought, ‘Even if he won against the enemy like that, he should not dare to beat me, a king of a nation, right?’

Zhu Bajie thought that the Runt Kingdom was a very important force in the fight against the Jade Emperor. He believed that Minhyuk must have said those words just so he could keep him in check. At that moment, Minhyuk climbed up the walls once again. Zhu Bajie confidently said, “I, the king of Runt Kingdom, has made a promise with you. I will grant you one thing that you want!!!”

Then, he added, “I have seen everything. Your strength might be more than enough, but!”

Thud—

Zhu Bajie slammed his trident and continued, “Your performance in the battle against the Jade Emperor still remains to be seen. Alright, what do you want?”

Zhu Bajie was clearly the one who had wronged Minhyuk. Minhyuk had greeted him and showed him courtesy first. As a king of a nation, would he act politely if it was for nothing? However, Zhu Bajie had forsaken the courtesy between them. In fact, he did not even want to acknowledge him.

“Money? Artifacts?”

Zhu Bajie still believed that this man would not beat him.

“Wait. Walk.”

Minhyuk led Zhu Bajie away. Zhu Bajie, who was trying to maintain his pride, followed him,

“I don’t think you meant what you said before. You wouldn’t beat a king of a nation, no? So, tell me what you want.”

“But that’s what I want? Hmm.”

Minhyuk pondered deeply as he walked with Zhu Bajie.

‘As expected, it was a bluff.’

Zhu Bajie chuckled to himself as he continued to walk with Minhyuk. Then, Minhyuk suddenly put his hand on the king’s shoulder and stopped him.

“We’re here.”

Zhu Bajie looked puzzled. He was also busy thinking to himself while he walked with Minhyuk. However, he found himself inside what seemed to be an armory in a deserted part of the castle walls.

Creaaaaaaaaak—

Minhyuk grinned as he closed the door. Then, he whispered, “No one will know if I beat you up in this place.”

“…”