Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 244: Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

Baran’s face crumpled in annoyance.

‘In just two minutes, my troops consisting of low-ranking, but elite, demons were annihilated?’

It was clear to him that something had gone wrong. Baran began to keep an eye on the map. After the 3rd Army search-and-attack teams were wiped out, demons and demonic monsters also started to disappear from the map at great speed.

“Cra…crazy…!”

‘What kind of human has come to this place?! No, it seems like what’s happening right now is beyond common sense!’

Thoughts ran through Baran’s head, because the demons and the demonic monsters only lasted for less than five minutes against the human and his troops.

***

Ten minutes ago, Cania and Minhyuk began to lead the troops forward.

Boron and Kirun, leaders of the 3rd Army’s search team and attack team respectively, also began to move rapidly.

“Kirun, the time has come for humans to realize how weak they are.”

“Humans are known to be the weakest among all the races. How dare they think of taking Prince Argon away?”

The demons were said to be born for battle. From the perspective of the demons, the actions of humans were just too ridiculous.

They had a rough estimate of the troops that invaded Zone 3. According to their information, there were about 150 soldiers. Their own numbers were around 200, so they thought that they could easily overpower them. Hence, they urged their troops and advanced rapidly.

Not long after, the demons finally came across the human forces after both sides did not take a moment to slow down.

“Show the humans how fearsome we are!!!”

“Kill!!!”

The 200 low-ranked demons that were specially trained and placed in the 3rd Army ran towards the humans with confidence.

***

‘Are those demons?’ Cania thought, as she looked at the demons in front of them while marching with Minhyuk and his troops.

.

“De…demons…!”

“Demons…!!!”

“Hiiiik!!!”

The demons had long established themselves as something that humans feared.

Cania’s pupils shook. She guessed that Minhyuk would take a detour and bypass the incoming demons, but Minhyuk just told his troops that it was not necessary.

‘Why are you so reckless!!!’

Cania thought that the commander was excellent, but he was excessively stubborn.

That was when the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

[Mission!?Win against the 3rd Army’s Search Team and Attack Team within 30 minutes!]

1?If you win quickly: + contributions

2?If the damage your troops receive is minimal: + contribution

3?If it exceeded 30 minutes: - contribution

4?If the damage to your troops increases: - contribution

‘Mission?’

It was probably a special reward from Joy Co. Ltd. for the large-scale war that was happening. Through these missions, the players would try to hunt faster and they would become more reliable. The better his performance, the higher his contribution would be.

Just like what Cania said, Minhyuk believed that the reason for her not wanting to go against them was simple. However…

‘If I do that…’

He would earn lesser contribution points. Each mob that they hunted would increase his contributions. Furthermore, there were still six hours for them to rescue Prince Argon, and Minhyuk believed that he could do that within that time frame.

“Kill the humans!!”

“Kikikikik!”

“How dare you come here! Where do you think you are?!”

As the demons started to run toward them, the knights could see that the weapons that they wielded were not that much different from theirs. The only difference was the color of their skin and the horns on their heads, which were even small in size.

‘Huh. Shall we try it once?’?

Minhyuk raised his hand. Along with his hand, the 150 men of his troops pulled their bows in unison despite their fear. At the same time, Minhyuk also tore the parchment in his other hand.

[You have torn the Elf’s Blessings Parchment.]

[The physical attack and defense, as well as the magical attack and defense of you, party members, guild members and soldiers, will increase by 20% against beings from the Demon World. Stacks with all buffs.]

The soldiers’ bodies were wrapped in soft and warm light. Then, Minhyuk lowered his hand.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

Their arrows flew towards the demons, who looked like they were laughing their heads off, already relishing the thought of slaughtering humans! Kirun and Boron, the commanders of the 3rd Army teams, even burst out in laughter.

“You think you can pierce through the skin of our race with just your puny wooden arrows?!”

“Ridiculous! Your arrows will be split before they can get stuck on my body!”

Just like that, Parmal, a member of the demon that was running forward, tried to calculate the time so they could split up and avoid the arrows.

However, at that moment…

‘F, fast…’

Stab!!!

Spuuurt!!!

“Keuaaaack!!!”

Parmal could not help but stare in horror at the arrow that struck his chest. He could feel that he had received a huge amount of damage from just this one blow.

‘I…impossible!’?

He fell down. Not long after, the rest of the demons began to fall down after they got struck by the arrows, one after the other.

“W…what the hell?!!!!”

“How can something ridiculous like this happen…!”

The humans that the demons had to deal with were knights exceeding levels 400~460 according to Joy Co. Ltd.’s settings. These lower-ranked demons’ levels were similar to theirs. However, the knights had released extremely overwhelming attacks.

After all, Minhyuk had fed them his buffed dishes. And in addition, all of their attacks and defenses were increased by 20%, thanks to the parchment that was purchased in the Rank A shop. That was not all. Even though Minhyuk was still unaware of it, the antarinium had increased all five of their basic stats by 15%. It was also thanks to that mineral that their special stats that could not be easily increased with special points, were also increased by 20%. In addition, his newly acquired viridite also had the additional effect of increasing the five basic stats by 5%. Just taking all that into consideration, they had already become 1.4x stronger than their normal selves.

Combining the 1.4x increase in their strength, with their numbers at 150, it could already be said that Minhyuk had literally twisted what Joy Co. Ltd. had designed for the overall scenario.

“Keuack!”

“Graaaaack!”

Then, something amazing happened. Just a moment ago, the demons were laughing their heads off and running toward the humans to slaughter them. Tet now, they started to back off.

At that moment, they saw the human at the forefront turning a millstone.

Turn, turn, turn—

With every turn of his millstone, dark clouds came on top of the demons. Then, lighting began to fall.

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

“Keuhaaack!”

“Ugh. Aaaack!”

“Load! Fire!”

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

“Keuaack!”

As the lightning struck, the demons started to fall down one by one. Even Kirun was struck by the lightning.

“Keuaaaack!” Kirun shrieked from the extreme pain that ravaged his body.

‘H…how can those weak humans…! I have to quickly inform Commander Baran…!’?

Then…

Fwoosh!

…an arrow that was fired from a distance accurately pierced Kirun’s neck and incapacitated him.

Boron, who was standing right next to Kirun, stared with wide eyes. He could see that the arrow was shot by the human commander from afar.

At that moment…

Bang!

“Keuaaaaack!” Boron shrieked. At the same time…

Fwoosh!

…the enemy commander tugged at the strings of his bow.

“N…no…”

The human troops that they mocked and underestimated, had now become the object of fear for all the demons present.

The humans continued to nock their bows with their arrows, before pulling their bows tight and let out rains of arrows toward them. Boron could not escape this situation, and his head was pierced accurately by one of the arrows.

Spurt!

Darkness encroached on his vision.

***

The reason why Minhyuk was able to use his Lightning Millstone even though its cooldown had not ended yet, was simple. It was all thanks to the Limited Edition items that he had received from upgrading the shop to Rank A.

‘Elf’s All Skills Cooldown Reset Parchment.’

The item had very surprising effects; it allowed a reset of all of Minhyuk’s skills’ cooldowns. Scattering Sword, Rampant Sword, Splitting Sword, ?Fluttering Sword, Lightning Hell, Darkfire Storm, Gryphon’s Cry, Rain of Kitchen Knives, Saint’s Protection… all of his skills were reset. The parchment could be considered a truly ‘fraudulent’ item.

Just a moment ago, he pierced the neck of one of the demons with his arrow.

[You have hunted the 3rd Army’s Attack Leader, Kirun.]

[You have acquired a Centurion Totem.]

‘Huh? Centurion Totem?’

Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He did not even step forward to acquire the item, but it automatically entered his inventory. Although he had not confirmed its uses yet, he was sure that the day would definitely come when he had to use it.

Then, Minhyuk once again pulled his bow as he aimed for the demon beside the leader. He had assumed that the demon was also a leader.

[You have hunted the 3rd Army’s Search Leader, Boron.]

[You have acquired a Centurion Totem.]

He had received another one. By the time the Lightning Hell had ended, all of the demons that were rushing forward were wiped out.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal, right?”

“What the hell? You haven’t got a single one?”

“Why did those bastards act up earlier!!!”

“…”

As for Cania, who watched everything unfold in front of her, she was left speechless.

‘Who in the world are these humans…?’

She had no choice but to think like that since the demons they faced were clearly strong, even though they were just low-ranked demons. Just like what was mentioned before, they were originally stronger than humans or elves. They were born to fight. However, against all common sense, they were easily wiped out within two minutes.

At the helm of it all, Minhyuk was the one responsible for making a supposedly fierce battle into a child’s play. Since he already skimmed through the Rank A shop that no one else had seen, all the arrows that his troops had used were purchased from the shop. He even purchased plenty of other items that made them almost invincible.

Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk’s head.

[Mission! You have completed and won the fight against the 3rd Army’s Search Team and Attack Team.]

[You took 2 minutes and 48 seconds to finish the mission.]

[Your mission accomplishment rating has reached a ridiculous level.]

[You have earned 50,000 Contribution Points, the highest amount of contribution that you can get from this mission.]

With that notification, Minhyuk realized that he had consumed a lot of contribution points. This meant that his contribution points were not enough to upgrade his shop to a Royal Shop.

‘But what if I clear the missions quickly?’

Missions were more likely to appear in every area. The corner of his lips suddenly pulled up. He would blitz through those missions faster than anybody else.

***

“Player Minhyuk has broken through the 2nd Army’s 400 demons and demonic monsters in just five minutes. He has cleared the second mission and achieved a new high!”

“Player Minhyuk has broken through the 2nd Army’s 500 demons and Demon World Golems in four minutes! He had slaughtered them alone with his Fluttering Sword and Rain of Kitchen Knives! He has achieved 400,000 contribution points!”

“Player Minhyuk has achieved the best result for the third mission. After he had used all of his skills, he once again used the skill reset parchment! His contribution has reached 600,000!”

Lee Minhwa continued to report to the other members in the room. Inside the Special Players Management Team’s office, other than President Kang Taehoon, the various team leaders, including the production team leader, and the event planning team leader, were present.

“…”

“…”

“…”

All of them were left speechless. After a moment of silence, President Kang Taehoon opened his mouth and said, “Crazy. He’s too strong. He’s really doing everything on his own.”

What was even funnier was…

“You can’t even call this a bug. Ugh…”

Kang Taehoon supported his forehead with his hand.

‘My god. This wouldn’t even have happened if Minhyuk did not absorb the soldiers from the Iron Blood and Reapers company.’

Just by gaining an additional 100 men, Minhyuk was able to acquire a tremendous amount of contribution points, allowing him to look through the Rank A shop and arm his men with ridiculously strong items. Soon enough, he already racked up another 600,000 points again.

“This… He’s not going to open the Royal Shop, right…”

Kang Taehoon sighed deeply as Team Leader Park said, “Commander Baran is going to establish a barrier.”

“Right. If they set up a barrier, then those 150 men will not be able to get to them.”

Commander Baran used Verus’ powers to set up a barrier. It was somewhat like another mission. Then, words flashed up on the screen.

[The final mission for Player Minhyuk has been given.]

[Mission!?Go in the barrier alone and rescue Prince Argon!]

If he had not shown such an enormous display of strength, then his last mission would have allowed the entry of his entire troop, without having the need to break out Prince Argon alone.

For Baran, who had set up a barrier, he believed that it was an ‘impossible’ task to fulfill.

***

Argon was pinned on the cross. He thought, ‘If I hadn’t let my guard down, then…’?

Argon was the only child of the Elf King, and a powerful man. In fact, his father was not as strong as him. That was the reason why the demons immediately attacked the sleeping Argon as soon as they invaded the Elven Forest.

They tied him up with things crafted from one of the finest minerals in the Demon World, ‘Ballacanium’. One could never remove them if they did not have the key.

‘No, it’s not entirely bleak… I heard that it’s possible if a human has as much holy power as the Pope or the Saintess.’

Grin—

A subtle smile formed on his lips. It was because the demons around him were busy trying to save themselves.

As for Baran…

“Construct the barrier now!!”

“The barrier? That would drain more than 30% of our demons’ demonic energy.”

“This would be for the better. If we set up the barrier, we can buy 30 minutes of time. We can proceed with the execution and get out of here with that amount of time.”

The barrier that they set would limit the number of enemies that would come inside. This was one of Verus’ excellent barriers! Although it would deprive the demons of their demonic energy, it was an inevitable choice at this point.

However, at that moment, Baran heard bells ringing suddenly.

Riiing—

Riiiiiing—

It was the alarm alerting them of an enemy invasion. He quickly hurried out.

“The enemy?!”

“Th…that…”

Not long after, his subordinate mumbled the end of his sentence weakly. Baran’s forehead crumpled in annoyance.

“There’s some kind of pig.”

“…Huh? Pig?”

Baran looked at the lesser demon, wondering if he was mentally alright. After moving along, Baran could finally see. There was a little pig that stood in front of a group of 100 demons.

The baby piggy, Beanie, had taken on a serious mission from Minhyuk. If he accomplished the mission, he would receive a delicious ‘Choco Bar’. That was why he decided to do his best. His only mission was to provoke the enemies.

‘How should I provoke you? Ah…!!! I have a good idea.’?Beanie thought.

“What the hell is that pig?”

“It’s a baby piggy.”

“It’s a baby piggy, but… it looks a bit cheeky.”

“…Did you just ring the bell for the enemy invasion, for this trifling matter?”

At that moment, Beanie looked at them arrogantly. Then, Beanie turned around as he pushed his curly tail towards the demons. Then—

Pooooooot—

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Beanie farted. An incredibly loud fart burst out of Beanie’s tiny body.

“Oink!!”

Then, Beanie wiggled his butt and swayed his body. He turned around to look at the demons with his hand fanning his nose.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Veins popped out on the foreheads of all the demons present.

Beanie’s provocation was truly an active, max-level, excellent aggro skill! It was at that moment when his ‘Great Fart’ was triggered!

Fwwwiiiiip!

Another fart came from Beanie’s butt involuntarily, when he suddenly applied the wrong amount of strength to his sphincter.

“I’m…I’m coming for you!!!”

“Catch it!!”

Beanie ran away.