Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 573: Battle of the Thrones (Middle)

The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the South Korean rankers clashed with the 27 kings. They already knew that this battle would be their final battle to determine their position in the Battle of Thrones event.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

“Save Khan and Ares!!!”

“Save Beyond the Heavens!!!”

Plenty of people from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had taken the lead and grabbed their enemies wreaking havoc on the walls and dragged them down to protect South Korea. So, this time, they wanted to be the ones to save the fallen members of Beyond the Heavens.

They began a war with numbers, pushing the enemy back with their overwhelming number of munitions and supplies. At the vanguard stood the Emperor of the Sword Carr, shouting, “Ready!”

Hundreds of swordsman-class players followed behind Carr, all of them rankers that dominated the Korean ranking boards. They held the hilt of the swords on their waists in unison and…

“Quick Draw.”

“Quick Draw.”

…used their AOE skill that allowed them to quickly draw their swords at the speed of light to sweep away the enemies in front of them. Hundreds of troops charged forward and blocked the kings, breaking their formation. Master Archer Root was also seen charging toward Vietnam’s Miáo with hundreds of archers behind him.

Thuuuuump—

Whenever Master Archer Root shot an arrow, Miáo would split it in half mid-air.

Dash, dash, dash, dash—

They both charged forward while firing arrows at each other. Immediately after that, the hundreds of archers behind Root used their skills and fired them toward Miáo.

“Triple Shot!!!”

“Random Shot!!!”

“Fire Arrow!!!”

“Energy Arrow!!!”

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

However, a mysterious golden shield was formed right in front of Miáo. This shield was created by the number one in the Global Tanker Rankings, the one hailed as the God of Shield, Italy’s Valentino. It was a skill named ‘King’s Shield’, and it could protect up to thirty of Valentino’s recognized allies. On top of that, Valentino’s defense was beyond anyone’s imagination. Despite the baptism of the archers’ skills, the shield still stood tall and strong. And then…

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

“Euaaaaack!”

“Keuaaaaaack!”

“Keok!”

The archers running behind Root died one after another, from Miáo’s arrows.

“Damn it!”

This was the difference in strength. Now, they knew what the ordinary players felt whenever they saw them get hit by Root’s arrows.

They already expected that a huge army would soon arrive here. At the very least, they wanted to choke these damn kings and hit them hard before the army arrived. But even that was considered difficult.

“Haa… Haa…”

“Heok… Heok…”

Khan and Ares were barely able to support themselves after drinking a bottle of potion each. This was a gruesome battlefield. Tens of thousands of rankers had charged at them, but the 27 kings were not even fazed by their might at all. Thankfully, Elpis and Gorfido were able to keep Alexander tied. But even that seemed like it was very difficult.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

Kentaro swiftly dashed around and stabbed the rankers in their necks one after the other. Master Archer Miáo had almost wiped out the archers. On top of that, Valentino’s shield had made it hard for them to attack the kings. Just one clash had forced 3,000 of the 35,000 rankers to log out.

Slaaaaash—

As Genie continued to charge toward the kings, she watched one ranker after another fall down with blood spurting out of their necks as Kentaro killed them. In front of her, there were rankers whose bodies had exploded under Qigong Master Demetrys’s attacks. Tens of thousands of people were left at a loss in front of a few dozens of kings. This was a gap that they could not close. The sense of frustration, coupled with the overwhelming loss, was devouring Genie. In the world outside of Korea, there were beings like them that were far stronger than them, people that they were helpless against.

Everything seemed to slow down in Genie’s eyes. Even her breathing sounded loud in her ears, “Haa… Haa…”

She felt the nausea creeping up on her as she heaved dryly, “Uuuuuuuuurk!”

Genie knew that things were now over. She wanted to show Minhyuk what they could do. Especially after he said this to her before, ‘Genie, I trust you. Although I hope it doesn’t happen, if things go wrong someday with my illness, I feel relieved that you’re here.’

As his friend, all she could do was laugh bitterly at Minhyuk’s words. Because of that, Genie wanted to show Minhyuk their power so he could be at ease, even when he was not with them, so that they could relieve him of his worries. But the enemies were too strong. They were like a few humans against the great demon.

Genie fell on the floor, gasping as she tried to catch her breath. Her face turned white as a sheet as she watched the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom die one after the other.

Will things end here for us?

But then…

Grab—

…a callused yet warm hand, warmer than anybody else, grabbed her own and brought her back to her feet. Spear God Ben stood in front of her with a kind smile on his face.

One would wonder why Spear God Ben did not move to stop the kings, right? The answer to that was because he could not do so. He had fallen into a deep sleep since he had exhausted all of his stamina after fighting so many battles. His body might have become stronger after he had reached the demigod level, but the power that he could wield as of the moment was at the level of a god. Because of that, every move gnawed at a large chunk of his stamina, which made his body unable to withstand it.

“Genie,” Ben called her name, something that he never did often since he always called her as ‘Vice Guild Master’, softly, “We never learnt to back down.”

“…!”

Ben’s words struck a chord deep within Genie’s heart. That was right. They had to fight until the very end before they could afford to wallow in this frustration. It was something simple, but Spear God Ben had to speak up for her to realize that. Then, Spear God Ben disappeared like a ghost only to appear…

Baaaaaaaaaaang—

Crack!

“Wh, what…!”

…where Alexander was, who was horrified to see that his sword, which he raised at the sudden attack, was now gone. The skill that Spear God Ben used was Dancing Spear, a skill that he could only use.

Baaaaaaaang— Baaaaaaaaaang—

Alexander’s entire arm trembled from the impact of the attack. It had to be known that the kings were currently 1.5x stronger than usual, but the attack still had that much impact on him.

Baaaaaaaaaang—

In the end, Alexander was sent flying back. The kings all turned toward Spear God Ben after realizing the direness of the situation. With a ‘poof!’ Kentaro disappeared as dozens of people charged at Ben.

Master Archer Miáo nocked four arrows at once and shot at Ben. Calauhel swung his sword and fired sword lights. However, none of them could stop Spear God Ben. Ben alone could cross blades with 27 kings.

“How…”

“He’s alone.”

“But he won’t last for long.”

One of the rankers got it right. Spear God Ben’s stamina consumption was high and his enemies were 27 people. If he continued to use his overwhelming power to stop them, then it would be Ben who would collapse in the end.

At that moment, they saw more than 200,000 rankers starting to gather where the kings were and close in on them.

“F*ck…”

“We’re done for.”

“We lost.”

“We’ll all be swept away here.”

They could see the archer and mage rankers preparing for an attack at the vanguard of the 200,000 troops. They would be able to send more than tens of thousands of arrows and thousands of magical attacks. None of the Korean rankers had the confidence to endure and withstand that attack. Besides, even if they survived that, they would still be trampled on by the 200,000-strong troops. But…

“So, are you just going to offer your neck to them to die?”

…a woman stood in front of them. The woman was Beyond the Heavens Kingdom’s vice guild master and the object of envy of all the Korean rankers. She was none other than Genie.

“Or are you going to die fighting?”

Genie’s voice had a mocking tone to it. That was right. It was just as she said. Would they just stand there dumbly and wait for their deaths?

“The moment we left those gates, we were already prepared for this to happen, right?”

Yes. They were already prepared for whatever it was that would come at them. They were frustrated by the difference in power that they had forgotten their resolve for a moment.

The sun hanging high up in the sky gradually began to set, dyeing the battlefield with a beautiful hue.

“Let’s exit beautifully.”

Genie and the surviving rankers charged at the 200,000-strong troops.

Meanwhile, in front of the 200,000 troops, a man ordered, “Fire.” as tens of thousands of arrows rained down on the Korean rankers. But the Korean rankers continued to charge forward.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

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

***

South Korea.

Everyone turned mute as they watched the scene on their screens. Even the ones sitting around the large screen of the television in the sauna were left speechless as they watched a complete massacre in front of their very eyes.

[Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—]

[Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!]

Tens of thousands of arrows and thousands of magical attacks were sweeping away the Korean rankers. But the rankers that fell down continued to stand up and charge forward. One of the rankers was doing so despite the arrows stuck deeply in his back.

There were countless people watching this scene on their smartphones as they walked on the streets.

[Ah. Korea’s collapse is just right around the corner!]

[The Korean rankers are completely helpless, they are the only ones dying. The Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God has not even joined yet. It seems like their castle will fall before he even comes.]

[They’re literally being slaughtered. What a pity… what a real pity…]

One of the commentators could not even finish his words, choked by the overwhelming emotions that he was feeling.

On the TV, the rankers continued to struggle, standing up despite their comrades dying one after another. They stood up whenever they fell and continued on the cycle until they could not do so anymore. Somehow, they were able to reach the enemy troops and cut down those standing at the vanguard.

For those watching, they could not understand why they found these people cool, pride welling up in them, despite their helplessness. Perhaps, it was because the rankers made them think, ‘Can I be a ranker like that too?’

The viewers’ passion burned as they continued to watch the slaughter. Although most of the rankers have died, with only 11,000 of them left, the fire burning in their eyes was still alive and well.

And not long after, a notification rang for the entire world that made all of the Koreans cheer…

[Beyond the Heavens’ King Minhyuk has entered the ‘Battle of Thrones’!]

***

It was hell on earth. Of the 30,000 surviving troops that charged at the 200,000 enemy troops, 20,000 had been slaughtered. However, they died heroes. Despite being surrounded by 200,000 enemy troops, the Korean rankers put their backs against each other and glared at their enemies, prepared to fight until the very end.

Still, many of the Korean rankers had sustained heavy injuries. If these 200,000-strong troops were to go on a rampage, they would be completely wiped out. Genie, Khan, Locke, Elpis, and Gorfido were barely able to stand now, their breathing ragged. All of the potions that they had received as a special privilege before had been used up, and they only had a bit of their HP left. Even Spear God Ben was fighting a precarious battle with his stamina that was almost running out. Even though everyone could see that they would be wiped out any moment now, Genie still smiled, “We did our best. Do you have any regrets?”

Everyone finally felt relieved after hearing Genie’s words. The only thing that they found a pity was the fact that they were so weak that they could not even reach the toes of their enemies. All they wanted to do was feed these kings some big shit.

Then, the enemy troops’ commander slowly raised his hand to signal the final attack. But then, at that moment…

[Beyond the Heavens’ King Minhyuk has entered the ‘Battle of Thrones’!]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

All of the kings held their breath. The Beyond the Heavens’ King was such a powerhouse that it caused them to be tense and nervous at the mere mention of his appearance. All of them were on edge.

But then, Miáo said, “He’s alone.”

“He should not have come.”

“No matter how strong he is, he cannot do anything against us by himself.”

Only then did the kings feel relieved. In the end, even if ‘he’ appeared, he was still alone. But while their words were such, they still did not relax.

“Over there…” Master Archer Miáo, who was standing on the top of the walls, pointed at Minhyuk as he appeared on his throne with a flash of light.

All eyes turned to Minhyuk. And Minhyuk, who was sitting on his throne, turned to the kings and said, “I’m sorry but…”

Minhyuk looked at the crowd arrogantly. The arrogant glint in his eyes made some people snort, some tensed up, while others laughed. But then, a dish suddenly appeared in front of Spear God Ben, who was standing right in front of the kings.

Flash—

“Huh?”

“A dish?”

“A dish in this situation? What…”

The Food God’s dishes were known for their outstanding effects and flavor. That was a fact. However, what could one dish do? Not long after, the same dish that appeared in front of Spear God Ben suddenly appeared in front of Khan with another flash of light. The same dish appeared in front of Genie, Elpis, Conir, Ares, Locke, and all of Minhyuk’s guild members.

Flash—!

Flash—!

One after another, the same dish appeared in front of all of the Korean rankers. The total number of dishes that appeared exceeded 10,000. It was a completely ridiculous power that no one had ever heard of. The light emitted by the more than 10,000 dishes shone brightly on the battlefield.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

Minhyuk laughed arrogantly, showing his greatness and majesty like a true and genuine king, as he finally finished his words, “…I’m not alone.”