Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 854

[Your EXP has dropped by 533,314 points.]

[Your EXP has dropped by 568,413 points.]

[Your EXP...]

[Your CHA...]

Minhyuk, who used the Battle God’s Immortal Knight Order without any hesitation, finally experienced firsthand how drastic the penalties were. He could only summon the Immortal Knight Order for four minutes. Unfortunately, almost 300 points of his CHA and 21% of the EXP he needed to reach the next level had disappeared by the 3-minute 30-second mark. He had expected it to be bad, but facing how vicious and heinous the penalty was for using the Battle God’s Immortal Knight Order made him rethink using this skill carelessly.

Fortunately, they were in a situation where the benefits outweighed the penalties, which Minhyuk was looking forward to.

Elise and the other kings and emperors felt relieved as they watched the dozens of warriors charge toward the plain and ordinary-looking knight.

‘I will now be able to get my talents back.’

‘Fortunately, we will be able to get back our funds.’

‘The Beyond the Heavens Emperor does not seem to want to beat us.’

‘It seems like we might even have to ask him to teach us a lesson properly.’

‘More than that... I feel sorry for that knight. It seems like the Beyond the Heavens’ Emperor is working his men harder than what we’ve heard?’

That would probably be the case from someone else’s point of view. How wretched would that man be for his emperor to send him forward to get beaten like that? Of course, they did not truly care about that man’s welfare at all.

At that moment, a knight by the name of Johan could be seen running at the forefront. He was from the Pallotin Kingdom and was at Level 585. Approaching the ordinary-looking knight, Johan immediately raised his sword to hack him.

Vwooooooong–

To his shock, his attack hit nothing but air. The ordinary-looking knight easily evaded his attack just by twisting one of his feet. However, what happened next was far more surprising. The ordinary-looking knight slammed the hilt of his sword on Johan’s face.

Baaaaaaaaaaaang–

Johan soared to the sky, before hitting the ground a few meters away from where he initially was.

“Ughhhh...”

At the same time, the ordinary-looking knight, in other words, Sword God Valen, finally made a move.

‘I was told that I should not kill.’

The reason why Valen had not yet crossed the River of Reincarnation was because he felt like he still had quite a lot of things left to deal with. Besides, if he crossed the River of Reincarnation, he would no longer be able to see Minhyuk. To be honest, it was more so because he always felt happy to see Minhyuk.

“...!”

The kings and emperors finally realized that something was wrong after they witnessed the ordinary-looking knight overpower the Knight Commander of one of the kingdoms just by slamming the hilt of his sword. However, this realization came far too late.

One of the spearmen tried to stab Valen with his spear. This spearman was hailed as the greatest since the establishment of the empire he belonged to.

Ting–!

Valen easily blocked the spear's tip with a light swing of his sword before narrowing the distance between them.

Craaaack–

The spearman flew back after being hit by the hilt of Valen’s sword. Around fifteen warriors rushed toward Valen at the same time. However, none of their attacks reached him.

Craaaaaack–

Clack!

Crack, crack!

The kings' and emperors’ mouths dropped open as the sound of flesh being hit continuously rang in their ears. How many times would mere humans be able to witness a god’s momentum and might? They had only heard rumors of Spear God Ben’s deeds and acts. Sword God Valen was almost on par, perhaps even stronger than Spear God Ben.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom–

In just an instant, the fifteen mighty soldiers who were the pride of their kingdoms and empires collapsed all at once. But the onslaught on Valen did not stop, as twenty more people charged at him.

“Over– overpower him somehow!”

“We have to subdue him!”

“We have to hold him back even if it means risking our lives!”

Everything would be over if they could not overpower that man. They would not be able to bring back their talents and huge amounts of money would be lost to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The twenty warriors charged at Sword God Valen, filled with the determination to give up their lives. However, their numbers could not narrow the gap in skills.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash–!

With every swing of Valen’s sword, a soldier would fall down. Valen’s attacks moved at a much faster speed than the attacks of the soldiers. Soon, the summoning time of the Battle God’s Immortal Knight Order ended.

[The Battle God’s Immortal Knight Order has ended.]

[All of the knights will be sent back to where they were summoned from!]

[Your CHA has decreased by 413.]

[Your EXP has decreased by 26%.]

Just like Minhyuk expected, the penalty was truly too vicious and heavy. However, the gains truly outweighed those penalties.

[The Beyond the Heavens Empire was promised a price of 300,000 platinum and one Authority Herb per person that fought against the knights of your empire.]

[You have been promised 15.34 million platinum!]

[You have been promised 96 Authority Herbs!]

However, it did not end there. After all, Haze was now a god.

[Abundance Authority has been triggered.]

[The God of Devotion will be able to get 1.5x more.]

“...!”

Minhyuk could not help but be surprised. After all, he would be able to receive 1.5x more rewards if he obtained it through Haze.

‘Isn’t this a total scam...?’

Minhyuk was fully convinced that there was no other non-combat god that was more powerful than the God of Devotion.

‘What if this gets triggered all the time?’

This was comparable to having a 1.5x increase in artifact drop rate for other players.

The fighters who collapsed on the ground were all groaning in pain. Even if they had seen everything with their own eyes, the kings and emperors still could not bring themselves to believe the situation.

Gulp–

Someone gulped dryly. At the same time, their resentment toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire grew even more. However, on the other hand, they had to think carefully before they could even make another move.

‘I would have to be prepared to lose everything if I ever want to bring down the Beyond the Heavens Empire.’

Even though they would face a newly established empire, they knew that they had to prepare themselves to lose everything if they wanted to fight against them.

“You! You did it again...!”

The kings and emperors realized that they had been in the palm of Minhyuk and Haze’s hands.

However, Minhyuk just looked coldly at them as he said, “This is the price that you have to pay for touching this emperor’s people.”

The truth was, Minhyuk wanted to beat the shit out of all of these kings and emperors regardless of the benefits or whatever it was that he had to gain. After all, he saw Haze as his younger sister.

“A war? Sure. I can accompany you for as long as you want if the need arises.”

“...”

“...”

“However, I will order my men...”

Minhyuk grinned before continuing.

“...to kill all the kings and emperors present here first.”

“This– This bastaaaaaard!!!”

“Bastaaaaaaaaard!”

“Im– im– impudent!!!”

However, despite their enraged screams, the kings and emperors did not really dare to step forward. Their strongest men were all sprawled on the ground. Just the thought of having Spear God Ben and Brod coming to assassinate them should a war break out was enough to make their visions turn dark.

“Let’s go, Haze.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Minhyuk and Haze stood up and turned around to leave.

***

The following notifications rang for everyone in the Beyond the Heavens Empire:

[Prime Minister Haze, an ordinary human being, has become the God of Devotion!]

[As the most devoted person to her empire, she bears the name of the most noble god, the God of Devotion!]

Despite the grandness depicted by the voice that rang in the empire, Haze was worried. It was easy for people to get jealous. Jealousy and envy were terrible, terrible things.

A mere human being who was good at lying had risen to the position of a god. This was an achievement that even those who trained their whole lives, or seen everything and had pursued something for as long as they had remembered, might not be able to achieve at all. In contrast, Haze was able to achieve it because she was good at lying.

Because of her crippling social phobia, Haze no longer went out of her room to wander around the Beyond the Heavens Empire for her private matters. It had been years since she last went out for herself. However, His Majesty told her when he grabbed her hands that the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had grown to love and cherish her after seeing how devoted she was to the people and the empire.

Was that truly the case?

After they had returned, Haze slept in her room for one whole day. Finally, after hiding in her room for several years, she gathered her courage and decided to go out. Even so, she was still very worried. What if the people looked at her with eyes filled with envy and jealousy?

But when she walked out of the castle, she met the gaze of one of the maids. Shockingly, the gaze that the maid used to look at Haze was different from the gaze that she was very familiar with. The maid’s gaze was filled with genuine concern as well as respect and admiration.

“Prime Minister, isn’t it better for you to get some more rest? I heard about what happened.”

“Ah, I’m alright.”

The maid that was now looking at her with concern was once the maid that had looked down at her.

‘Isn’t that Liar Haze?’

‘She’s already so good at lying despite being so young?’

‘She’s nothing but a mere commoner.’

But now, the maid’s gaze was truly filled with concern and respect. Haze slowly walked out. This time, she ran into some of the soldiers of the empire.

“Prime Minister! Are you alright?!”

“I will not let those goddamn bastards go!!!”

The soldiers roared furiously, their faces turning red from anger, as if they would go out to invade the kingdoms and empires right away. They were also the same soldiers who had looked down on and hated Haze before.

‘A young girl like that is giving us orders?’

‘That’s ridiculous.’

But now, they were very worried about Haze. They were even ready to give up their life just to take revenge for her.

Haze slowly gained confidence to go out. She took one step after another and finally stepped out of the imposing walls of the castle. At that moment, the beautiful scenery of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, a scenery that she could only get a vague glimpse of before, finally appeared in front of her eyes. She would often look down on the ground to avoid the gazes of the people around her whenever she had to leave the castle. Because of that, she failed to see the true beauty of the empire that she loved so much!

When the people saw her, they immediately ran to her.

“Lady Haze! Are you alright?”

“Did you get injured?!”

“I will not let those bastards go!!!”

“Aaah! They damaged your silky smooth skin...!”

“Are you really fine?!”

Haze kept walking amidst the concern of the residents of the empire with many of them carefully asking about her well-being.

“Noona! Are you okay?”

“Haze noona, did you get hurt?”

“I heard about what happened, Unnie. You endured even though those kings and emperors pointed their swords at you, right?!”

As Haze rubbed the head of one of the girls, another girl declared loudly, “Noona! My dream is to become someone like you!”

Haze kept on walking.

“Haze!”

“Prime Minister Haze!”

“Hazeeee!!!”

People kept on calling out her name. They showed their concern and felt relieved when they saw that she was fine.

‘It seems like I might have cut myself off from the kingdom.’

The things that she had done before when the Beyond the Heavens Empire was still the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were completely unknown to the world. Back then, the people did not know the purpose of her lies. Haze had been shackled by what she experienced in the past, thinking that everyone would hate and loathe her for what she did. But that was not the case at all. As time went by, the Beyond the Heavens Empire grew to care for her. They even worried for her. They would even go so far as to comfort her to the best of their abilities.

The God of Devotion was a god that did not possess God’s Voice. However, the God of Devotion had a special power called The God of Devotion’s Story. It could broadcast her achievements and the progress that she had made through the voice of Athenae, the greatest god. Through this skill, Athenae would read her achievements as if she were reading a fairy tale. And right now, this God of Devotion’s Story was triggered.

[Among the many gods, the God of Devotion was considered the most ordinary.]

[Among the many gods, the God of Devotion had the least number of skills in their repertoire.]

[However, the God of Devotion was the god that was loved the most by the gods.]

[Among the many gods, the God of Devotion was the god that mostly lived for the sake of the other gods.]

[The young and petite woman took small steps on her journey, with her first step for the benefit of the people.]

[The woman took the second step in hopes of protecting her kingdom.]

[The woman took the third step in hopes of bringing a life of abundance and prosperity for the empire that they had established.]

[She might be the most ordinary god.]

[But she is the most precious god.]