Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 1056

At that moment, another notification resonated all over the world. It was another message signaling the advent of Magic Across All Eras. Then, Ali, floating above them, used Compress and gathered all of the Spears of White Flames in his hands. With the Spears of White Flames in hand, Ali grabbed seven and threw them toward the magic tower. As for the remaining one, it was sent toward Helenia.

The people witnessed the high durability and defensive power of the magic tower.

Bang, bang, bang–!

Then, with each hit of the seven Spears of White Flames, a huge crack appeared on the tower's walls.

Rumble–!

When the seventh spear fell upon Helenia’s Magic Tower, its walls began to crumble and fall apart.

Even though Helenia had witnessed it with her own eyes, she still could not believe it. Whether it was in the past, the present, or the future, she was convinced that no mage in the world could surpass her.

“W- what...!”

What was more shocking was that the eighth and final Spear of White Flames was falling upon her.

Bang–!

A bright light flashed the moment the spear made contact with her body.

At the same time, Ali’s white hair changed. Everyone thought it would return to its golden splendor, proving he was the “God of Magic.” To their surprise, Ali’s hair turned black.

Then, another set of notifications rang in the world.

[The God of Magic has used dark magic.]

[The God of Magic has been deprived of his position as the God of Magic for breaking the taboo.]

The entire world was left in shock. Even so, Ali still smiled as he looked at Minhyuk. Of course, Minhyuk was broadcasting live in cooperation with Apel, so everyone could see Ali’s smile through his eyes.

‘Of course, I know.’

As Ali said, he might become the Eight Pillar Immortal Sorcerer if they won this war. The problem was that it was just an assumption, and there was only a slight possibility of that ever happening. Even right now, they did not have any certainty that they would win. Minhyuk knew that Ali had sacrificed for them.

Meanwhile, everyone was left in shock. They did not expect the magic tower to be broken, even if Ali had made that sacrifice.

“I will become the Immortal Sorcerer–” Ali tried to make a declaration to the world.

Stab–

At that moment, a light spear shot from a distance and stabbed Ali straight through the heart.

“If you kill me, then you might have the chance. So, did you give up your position as the God of Magic for that?” Helenia scoffed.

Everyone in the world understood that Ali had a new dream after his sacrifice.

“Did you even think for once that it’s possible? Do you think that you can kill me?!”

Dozens of Disses stabbed through Ali. Ali’s body, which was riddled with gaping wounds and was falling helplessly on the ground, seemed to tell people that, in the end, no one would be able to stop Helenia.

Despite the situation that he was in, Ali spoke with conviction. “We will win.”

Swoosh–

[Beyond the Heavens Empire’s Ali has died.]

Ali turned to ashes and disappeared with the wind. Right after that, a light flashed, and a figure appeared above Helenia.

He was first called as Black Mage Ali. And just like his name back then, his black hair fluttered with the wind.

“Frieeeeeeeend!!!” Ali cried out.

Meanwhile, the entire world was left in confusion. They certainly saw Ali being forced to log out just a few moments prior. However, with a flash of light, he appeared once again. This was because of the rare potion created by the God of Alchemy Mandala.

With Apel’s sponsorship backing them, the Beyond the Heavens Empire brought the most valuable and useful items. One of those materials was the “Repeating Sprig.”

The Repeating Sprig deleted the time one could not access the game after a forced logout. In exchange, one received twice the penalty that they would usually receive.

Thanks to the excellent manufacturing skill of God of Alchemy Mandala, the double penalty has been changed. Instead, the penalty would increase from 1.3x to 1.6x to 1.9x, and so on.

Even so, Minhyuk still said.

–If possible, don’t use it.

Getting 1.3x the usual penalty, with the penalty increasing the more one used the potion, was just too much. Besides, even if they came back to life right away, Minhyuk knew that there was a high chance that they would just be targeted once again, which meant that they would continue to die. This was the reason why he told everyone not to use it as much as possible.

But this game meant the world to Ali.

All of Ali’s magic from when he was the God of Magic had disappeared. Thankfully, the dark magic Black Drain did not disappear. The mages, who had started preparing immediately, sent their mana at him again.

Rumble–!

The other mages’ mana drastically reduced the casting time. In addition, a gigantic meteor that he couldn’t normally create appeared.

[Great Meteor.]

Several meteors seven times bigger than ordinary meteors and comparable to Helenia’s own meteors appeared and fell among the monster corps.

Helenia’s red shield bloomed above the monsters and stopped most of the explosions to protect the monsters.

Sitting back and watching the situation, Barbarian hurriedly opened an unknown net. The monsters rushed inside the net, but the meteor's fall speed was much faster than their speed at running to refuge. Furthermore, Barbarian was also forced to enter the radius of effect because he spread that net.

BANG!!!

The fall of the Great Meteors, a skill that had never been seen before in Athenae, shook the entire world and made everything and everyone stop in their tracks.

Stab– Stab, stab–!

In this frozen world, Ali died once again.

Flash–!

Then, another light flashed. Most of the mages had already depleted their mana. It was now impossible for them to use any more magic.

“Fire wall. Fire wall. Fire wall. Fire wall. Fire wall.”

Crackle–!

A massive wall of fire blazed into existence and burned the running monsters.

When the Great Meteor hit Barbarian, he fell to the ground and could only groan. Because of this, he failed to reopen the net and help the monsters escape.

Stab– Stab, stab–!

During that time, Ali continued to receive the baptism of Helenia’s attacks. Ali could not kill Helenia because he could not pierce through the barrier that was protecting her. So, he died and came back with a flash of light—over and over again. He became the most brilliant light in the world.

“A- Ali, enough!!!” Minhyuk shouted.

By now, his penalty would have been more than three times, which meant that his level must have dropped by at least twenty.

Alas, Ali just shouted in response, “FRIEEEEEEEND!!!”

The troops of the allied forces could only gulp dryly as they watched him cry desperately.

Duke Laghman, who was serving as the commander of the Luvien Imperial Army, supported Prince Cardin for the longest time. In recognition of his work in protecting the current emperor of the Luvien Empire, he rose to the position of duke.

Duke Laghman shook his head. “The number of monsters killed by that mage’s attack is around ten million.”

This was mostly because Barbarian hid them under an unknown net. Since most of the monsters were now hidden, most of Ali’s attacks fell on Helenia. Ali was constantly sending attacks and dying repeatedly.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“No. He’s wise, astonishing, and very admirable.”

“Yes?” Duke Laghman asked as he turned to look at the previous emperor, Nerva.

Nerva participated in this war with him because he judged that Emperor Cardin was still too inexperienced to participate in it himself.

Laghman looked at Nerva in confusion.

“Great Mage Ali is a foreigner. He had used something that allowed him to experience these repeated deaths. For foreigners, one has to have a burning will to do so. Of course, Ali is not the only one who has that item. There should be a considerable number of them. With his noble and sublime sacrifice, they would also give their all in this fight.”

Even so, Laghman still could not understand.

“The ones you should fear the most are those who have nothing to lose.” Nerva looked around. Those who have nothing to lose can do anything.

So, what about those who have a lot to lose?

“One is bound to lose a lot of things. But, what if...”

Nerva looked at the left arms marked with the symbol X rising above the allied forces. Those arms belonged mostly to the foreigners.

“What if those with a lot to lose decided to do anything and everything?”

“...!”

Not long after, Laghman saw the unknown left arms marked with the symbol X. More than a hundred million of those arms were lifted high up in the sky. Some of them lifted their arms just because the others lifted theirs.

‘Ali is doing this for Athenae.’

‘If we lose this war, then Athenae will be doomed!’

‘I can’t lose this game.’

Most of the players decided to give their all and fight for everything. Ali looked at them with a faint smile on his face. Then, Minhyuk saw something.

[Guild Member Ali’s level has dropped below Level 600.]

If there were sudden and significant changes in the levels of the guild members, a notification would be sent to the guild leader, Minhyuk.

Ali, who had recently gone beyond Level 650, had suffered a significant drop in levels. With his level below Level 600, his magic could no longer reach Helenia. Now that he realized that he had already ignited the will of all the players present, he realized that whatever he would do next would be meaningless. So, he logged out completely.

Now, there was another problem.

“These bastards, really...”

The old man, Barbarian, who collapsed after being hit directly by the Great Meteor, stood up and stared at the allied forces with ugly expressions on their faces. Barbarian had yet to show them the cards up his sleeves. He was deliberately sitting on the sidelines and watching the entire situation.

‘They have a stronger will to protect their world than I thought.’

For someone like Barbarian, who had lived a long time, he knew it was necessary to break that will.

No matter how brilliant and powerful Helenia was, her magic tower was still destroyed.

‘From what I know, her magic tower can only be created after using 70% of her mana.’

And it was also thanks to that mana that she could recover her injuries. Things would be different if Helenia went into battle without recovering her mana.

‘It will be dangerous for her.’

Helenia was an essential piece in Barbarian’s quest to kill Athenae.

As for Helenia? She was also aware of the situation and hid behind her barrier to restore as much mana as possible.

The quick-witted Minhyuk noticed that this was a rare opportunity. If they took this opportunity, then they might just be able to kill Helenia. He quickly looked around. There, he saw Alexander, the Level 650 players, and the Beyond the Heavens Empire executives. They were all holding a bottle of potion in their hands.

“Ha...

”

“Why are you sighing while holding that potion?”

“I’m going to drink it.”

From the beginning, Minhyuk planned to drink the same potion Ali took. No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not think of a way to beat Helenia without drinking this potion.

However, the other players wanted to avoid taking potions as much as possible.

‘Akhan’s Regression will not give us any penalties.’

However, the Origin Authority Regression in Akhan’s hands was reserved for the NPCs.

Just when Minhyuk and the other players were about to drink the potions...

[The Monster Net has been released.]

[Everyone’s time will slow down, while Barbarian and the monsters’ time will remain the same.]

[The duration of the skill is five seconds.]

Minhyuk saw the other rankers, who were about to drink the potions in their hands, move as if in slow motion. Of course, the same was true for him. On the contrary, Barbarian and his monsters were moving swiftly because they maintained their original speed.

Minhyuk caught sight of Barbarian raising his arm and spreading the net in his hand like a fisherman. Just like that, Barbarian’s net spread in the air above them. At that moment, the tens of millions of monsters hiding underneath the net poured out and charged toward the allied forces.

Crack–!

That was the sound of Locke, who was right next to him, being crushed by one of the monsters. And not far from them, Alexander and the players, who could not drink the potions, were all torn apart by the monsters’ teeth.

[2 seconds.]

Many players died, with the players stuck in slow motion and the monsters moving at their original speed.

[1 second.]

“A- aaaaaack!”

“Keuaaaaack!”

“Q- quick! Drink the potion!”

“If you don’t drink the potion and die now, then you will not be able to revive right away!”

Pandemonium unfolded in front of Minhyuk, and tens of millions of monsters fell among the allied forces. It was far too much for them to handle.

Minhyuk hurriedly tried to drink the potion. Just when he was about to drink, a notification that shouldn’t have rung–no, perhaps it was only natural–rang in his ears.

[The capsule has detected that the player is in a bad condition.]

[Please log out right away.]

[The capsule has detected...]

Minhyuk gritted his teeth. Indeed, he was in desperate need of rest even before Beradon’s death. This was because he had been playing games for a very long time, reducing his sleep greatly. In addition, with the death of Old Man Beradon, he was overcome with hatred and had chosen to ignore the signs. He even went so far as to spend a few more days preparing for the fight against Helenia without taking much rest.

‘N- no...!’

Minhyuk’s vision started to spin. This was a completely different phenomenon from being attacked mentally in the game. He shook his head and tried to hang in there.

Thud–

In the end, Minhyuk lost consciousness.

[You will be forced to log out.]

[The capsule has detected that the player is in danger. Alarm bells will ring.]

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A deafening sound rang in Minhyuk’s hazy consciousness.