Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 417: Death’s Performance

Bastien felt his head turn blank as he watched the summoners surround him for an attack. He could already tell that the booing and mockery from the French spectators would tarnish his honor, and even Calauhel’s, since he was working as his right-hand man. The disgrace that he would feel from Death literally sitting there without lifting a finger to deal with him would be tremendous.

“You bastaaaaaard! Bastaaaaaaard!” Bastien roared in anger. But at that moment, the Ogre Troll slammed its ax down on him.

Baaaaaaang—

The two-meter King’s Guardian equipped with a full-plate armor and a helmet appeared in front of Bastien with a huge greatsword in hand to block the Ogre Troll’s ax.

“Everyone, stand back!”

“We have to deal with Bastien first!”

One of the summoners sent out their Orc Great Mage, which brandished its staff and flew up in the sky.

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

A huge magic spell fell down and engulfed Bastien and his summons.

“Attack!!!”

“Wyverns!!! Focus on attacking!”

The summoners sent one fierce attack after the other. However, Bastien was not known as the summoners’ king for nothing. He not only had two legendary monsters, he also commanded hundreds of epic and unique monsters.

“Keuhaaaaaaaack!”

Gigantic beasts sprang up from the ground and surrounded Bastien. He did not call for all of his summons, only the gigantic leopards and hyenas. Their bodies reached four meters in height and their entire body was shining brightly, as if they were wearing armor. They were the epic monsters: ‘Steel Leopard’ and ‘Hyena of Death’, monsters that lived in the Sky of Death. Bastien had tamed these monsters and created a small army of his own. And with their power, these monsters were not something that his enemies could take for granted.

“Keuhaaaaaaack!”

“Keuhaaaaaack!”

The beast-type monsters jumped up and bit the Ogre Troll. The Siren’s Knight also took advantage of the split second when the wyverns would swoop down to attack and cut them down. Yes. They were literally even in terms of power. Bastien might be fighting a bloody battle alone, but he was not losing his ground against dozens of players.

Baaaaaaaaaang—

Bastien personally slashed the head of one of the wolf-type monsters rushing towards him with an ax. It was not easy for his enemies to deal damage to him, but it was different for the other players. However, there was one obvious reason why they still tried to attack Bastien with all their might, despite knowing that they would suffer great damage in the process. This was because unlike Death, Bastien was within their reach. The problem was that Bastien went beyond their expectations and fought fiercely against them.

“Hing, hing, hing!”

“Heeeeeeeng!”

“Keuhaaaaaaack!”

Bastien started to get pushed back as his summons started to collapse and fade to gray. However, the other players also suffered significant losses. Bastien was able to kill at least ten monsters on his own.

“He’s just one guy, we can take him down!!!”

The fight between Bastien and the other players continued. By the time their battle reached its peak, around 40% of the total number of summoners had disappeared. Bastien had no choice but to hide behind his summons the moment his Siren’s Knight and King’s Guardian reached their limits and were unable to fight. He knew that he would last for another minute at most, but at least he was able to take down a lot of people with him.

“Keukeukeukeukeu!”

And once again, another wild and menacing laughter rang loudly in the stadium. The bleeding Bastien, who was supporting himself with his ax, turned to look at the direction of the laughter. There, he saw Death still sitting on his throne. However, something has changed from earlier. A bloody red energy crept up and surrounded his small kingdom. Hundreds of plants then sprouted. And instead of flowers, the plants had spears and arrows.

Fwoooosh—

Fwoooosh—

Fwooosh—

Dozens of arrows flew out from the plants. The Siren’s Knight and the King’s Guardian squeezed their last power to block the incoming arrows. However, there were still a few arrows that got past them and struck Bastien’s body.

“Keuaaaaaack! You coward!!! Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t lay a finger on us while we’re fighting?!”

Death had made a promise in front of the world, but he broke his own promise and attacked Bastien. Death tilted his head at Bastien as he reiterated the words that he uttered earlier, “You’re talking about the words: ‘How about I make you a deal? I will not make a move on you while you’re fighting Bastien.’, right? But I was talking to ‘them’ and not you. You aren’t included in that deal, you know?”

“…!”

Indeed, the ones that interpreted it freely were Bastien and the other players. Death never said that he would not make a move against Bastien. With the addition of what seemed to be poisoned arrows, Bastien’s death was fast approaching. But before he faded into gray, Bastien was given another shock. He shot his mouth off saying that he would take another guy with him and he really did take down a lot of players. But the problem?

‘It… it increased Death’s chances of winning…!’

Bastien, although unwilling, became Death’s puppet and moved according to his will and helped him deal with his opponents. It brought a bitter taste to his mouth. It was extremely hateful. Finally, Bastien turned gray and disappeared from everyone’s sight. And Death, who sent the final blow, was recognized as the one that destroyed Bastien’s Ruler’s Bracelet.

[You have destroyed a Ruler’s Bracelet.]

[Bastien’s Ruler’s Bracelet remains unused. His bracelet has three Summon Strengthening Decrees, two Summon Healing Decrees, and a 20% HP and MP Recovery for All Summons Decree.]

[You have destroyed an unused bracelet. The privilege hidden in the destroyed bracelet will be added to your own bracelet.]

[The Ruler’s Bracelet’s ability will take ten seconds to be applied. In the case of an attack, the time will be reset.]

Bastien had killed a lot of players, which meant that he had destroyed countless Ruler’s Bracelets and gained plenty of abilities. However, he was not given the opportunity to use all of the abilities that he gained. After all, he was struggling to avoid the other players’ attacks. But considering the pitiful amount of abilities left in his bracelet, it seemed like Bastien was still able to use quite a lot of them.

However, it did not matter, as all of the abilities that he had gathered were left to Death. It was like killing two birds with one stone. On top of that, Bastien and Death were in completely different circumstances. Bastien was under siege, while Death was sitting alone in his kingdom.

Then, Death used the bracelet’s powers.

[You have used the Ruler’s Bracelet’s power to strengthen Death Knight Ondoen.]

[Ondoen’s attack and defense will increase by 8% and his HP and MP will increase by 5%.]

[You have used the Ruler’s Bracelet’s power to strengthen Death Knight Baroque.]

[Baroque’s attack and defense will increase by 8% and his HP and MP will increase by 5%.]

[You have used the Ruler’s Bracelet…omitted.]

Death strengthened his Death Knights just like that. At first, this game looked disadvantageous for one player being attacked by a group of enemies, but reality was different.

What would happen if Death continued to take his opponents’ bracelets to strengthen his army? And what if, unlike Bastien, he could freely use these bracelets, since he was not subjected to his enemies' siege? Then, his chances of winning would increase even further.

Death was also really smart. While they were busy fighting against each other, he silently used the ‘Kingdom of Death’s Wrath’. The skill’s casting time was very long, it actually needed fifteen minutes before it could be casted. He would not be able to use it right away with encroaching enemies, but once he successfully cast it, it would be able to make his Kingdom of Death stronger.

Death had also used another of his abilities and spread it around his Kingdom of Death. It was none other than the ‘Death Zone’, the same ability that he used in his fight against Minhyuk in the past. It could restrict anyone and everyone from using their skills, as long as they were inside its area of effect. He even used the buff skill ‘Undead’s Evil Energy’, a skill exclusive to necromancers that could be used in battle. He had strengthened all of his weapons ahead of his fight.

Now, everyone’s target had finally changed from Bastien to Death. But even if that was the case, they would not be able to do anything. After all, Death had already strengthened himself as much as he could.

“Slaughter them.”

Baaaaaaaang—

Following his command, Death Knight Baroque moved at the speed of light and cut down the summons and its owner. And just like that, another Ruler’s Bracelet had been destroyed.

[You have destroyed a Ruler’s Bracelet.]

[You have destroyed two bracelets and will receive a special privilege. You have acquired a 50% HP and MP Recovery Decree.]

In fact, the management had set a ten second casting time for each of the special privileges that the player would get to prevent one player from destroying and hogging plenty of Ruler’s Bracelets. However, Death was already in a place where his opponents could not touch him easily.

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping—

“Keuaaaaack!”

“Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!”

“Urk, Uaaaaaaaaack!”

The undead slaughtered the summons and their owners mercilessly, destroying their Ruler’s Bracelets, while Death reaped the special privileges.

“Strengthen, recover, strengthen, recover! Kikikikiki!”

Death instantly recovered the Death Knights with significantly lower HP and MP. He also further strengthened the already overwhelmingly powerful Death Knights. Even if Death was already powerful, some of the summoners would use their special skills, sending their summons near the Kingdom of Death. However, once they did so, a terrifying notification would ring in their ears and bring them deeper to the depths of despair.

[Your summons have stepped into the Death Zone.]

[All skills cannot be used.]

The good thing about having a named monster for a summon was that they had skills on their own. But once these monsters stepped into the Kingdom of Death, they would just be turned into monsters slightly stronger than ordinary mobs in terms of attack and defense. These monsters then became prey to the undead prowling around the Kingdom of Death.

“Keuhaaaaaack!”

Another wolf-type summon had been killed once again. The plants growing around the strengthened kingdom started to attack Death’s enemies. And just like always, Death…

“Strengthen, recover, strengthen, recover!

However, none of them could accuse Death of being cowardly. After all, Death was all by himself while they were fighting him with their numbers. Besides, Death might have vowed to make a change, but he was never interested in playing the hero. What he wanted to do was to sprint forward and aim for a brilliant future.

Even so, the summoners still represented their own countries. In other words, they were very strong! They tried to enter Death’s kingdom by using a systematic approach and knocking down one undead after another. But as if he was waiting for them, Death opened his mouth and said, “Resurrection of the Dead.”

Crack, crack, crack!

Craaaaaaaack!

Crack, crack, crack, craaaaack!

Death resurrected the summons that had died. The bones of the summons that were originally theirs sprang up from the ground and headed towards the Kingdom of Death. They lined up and became Death’s shield.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

At that moment, all of them felt that they would not be able to win. He was an absolute monster. Thirty minutes later…

[1st Place: South Korea. Death. Gold Medal.]

The world was in shock. However, there was one fact that brought them more shock. The moment he sat on his throne, Death did not stand up at all. In other words, he won without fighting personally. The reporters immediately flocked around Death, who was wearing his white mask, after the game.

“Mister Death, please say something!”

“Did you expect the result of this game?!”

“The entire world is looking at you right now. Plenty of them are saying that the Summit Five had become the Summit Six right now. Please leave us some words!”

“Moving forward, are you also going to establish a kingdom?”

Death looked around the hundreds of reporters that surrounded him. His words were simple and concise. He said, “I dedicate this honor to Food God Minhyuk.”

That was the end of his words. However, the impact of his words was huge. This was because he did not mention anything else aside from dedicating his honor and glory to Food God Minhyuk. And when they looked at where Death was headed, they saw Minhyuk standing there, waiting for him with his hand stretched out and a small smile on his face. Death grabbed his hand and said, “I… Please accept me as a member of Let’s Eat Sect.”

“Woaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“This… this is a scoop!”

Click, click, click, click, click!

The King of Death declared his intentions to join and work under Minhyuk’s command, causing the whole world to go into another uproar.