Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 209: Making Charcoal Out of the World Tree

Baaaaaaaaaaaang!

The loud roar shook the entire ant cave, as well as the ground above them. Then, Locke grabbed something from the ground with his hands. It was none other than a net.

[Jeffrit’s Net.]

[A red net will penetrate through the ground and drag in anything and everything within a five-meter radius.]

Whether it was the walls of the cave, or the termites hidden underneath them, anything within a five-meter radius around Locke was trapped by the net and dragged out when he pulled it off of the ground. At that moment…

Peeeeeeng─

…the red net shrank in an instant and dragged dozens of swarming termites. Then, Locke pulled out another ax. Anyone that saw the axes in his hands could tell that it was too heavy to swing with just one hand. However, he was swinging it easily. He drew all his strength as he struck both of his axes down. Then, the net that dragged the surrounding termites disappeared. However, their freedom did not last too long. Everything was too late for them.

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

The red energy that extended from the two axes racked up a huge amount of dust as it devoured and engulfed the termites. As soon as the dust settled down, the only thing left in sight were the shattered and broken carapaces of the termites.

“…Hi…hiiiik!” Carlo, the person who wanted to ignore Locke, hiccuped at the shocking scene.

[E…eleven! Player Locke hunts 11 termites at once with his overwhelming move!]

[Ah, just now… Player Locke’s two axes were covered in some sort of red energy.]

[This is a completely different look from the Locke that we knew!]

[This is the beauty of this competition! Each and every player has definitely hidden their growth and strength ahead of the competition!]

Not too long ago, Locke was able to do a second class transfer. The name was the same as the Crazy Priest. However, the power of the class was no less than a god class. This was also the reason why he represented ‘Legend Guild’ in this competition.

Locke quickly acquired the ‘spirits’ before running. He looked at the map floating on the upper left corner of his vision. The map was showing the location of the ant cave where he was currently at as well as the location of the World Tree.

“Kiiiiieeeeeeeee!”

“Kyaaaaaaaaa!”

Slash!

Baaaaaaang!

Locke easily dealt with another two termites before dashing off at a fast speed. Not long after, he arrived at the World Tree.

[You can now inject spirits into the World Tree.]

He immediately injected the spirits that he had gathered into the World Tree.

Stab!

Glug, glug, glug, glug!

A transparent liquid began to flow down the World Tree. Along with the flow of the liquid, Locke saw…

[1st place. Locke. 11 Spirit Injections.]

[2nd place. Carr. 5 Spirits (Not injected).]

[3rd place. Khan. 2 Spirits (Not injected).]

…an overwhelming difference.

Locke smiled broadly. He thought,?‘Me too…’

He also wanted to be?Athenae’s MVP.

***

“Waaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Locke! Locke! Locke!”

“Crazy! Crazy!”

The Legend guild members sitting in the stands burst into cheers.

“Big rock-face Locke! You’re cool!!!” Ace shouted as he jumped and clapped. However, some of the players in the stands had grim and serious expressions on their faces. One of them was Genie. She said, “It’s definitely good to take the lead. But…”

She knew that Locke was more likely going to become everyone’s target from here on out, especially because this War of the World Tree did not allow the players to use potions. If he suffered from a fatal injury even just once, then he would be in big trouble. In addition, Locke’s abilities consumed a huge amount of mana. What was worse is that this competition…

‘The blessings of the World Tree can be triggered any time…’

As soon as the blessings of the World Tree were triggered, all the players would depend on their control and ability to fight. Their biggest issue was…

‘Carr won’t stand still.’

Genie had also heard about what went down yesterday. She turned to look at the screen.

‘What, that person?’

There were some unofficial rankers in the competition. There were even some players whose faces were completely unknown to the public. Those players were now moving fast towards where Khan was.

“What’s happening…?”

Khan was also gathering spirits quickly, but it was not enough for people to be wary of him. So why were they moving towards Khan? When she saw the expressions of the two unofficial rankers… she seemed to realize that they were not that interested in the competition.

“…Don’t tell me.”

Genie’s eyes widened in shock. She said, “Blackstone?”

***

A man was watching the Korean War with a grave smile on his face. Not too long ago, he was given the shock of Kaistra turning away from Blackstone. Even Pharaoh’s Envoy failed to deal with the Frying Pan Killer, and even received backlash for trying to deal with the Frying Pan Killer. After all, Sword Emperor Ellie was protecting the Frying Pan Killer.

‘A player under the Empress’ protection…’

It was quite an interesting tale but that was all. He had no intention of letting his opponents walk freely in?Athenae.

[Ah! Player Carlin and Player Aegis started attacking Player Khan!]

The two people that attacked Khan were members of Blackstone. Even Carr was a part of Blackstone. The man continued to watch the game while signing approval letters. The name that the man signed was ‘Rausch’. And the family name written above it was…

Rothschilde. Rothschilde was a world-class aristocratic family that had accumulated large assets in the financial sector. The person sitting at the highest position in this family was none other than Calauhel, or Rausch.

His family was estimated to be among the top five families in the world with the most wealth. Of course, it was the family property, but it was still a fact that Rausch was among the world’s greatest billionaires.

Rausch stood up to access?Athenae. He thought,?‘The competition will be resolved without me watching over it.’

The blessings of the World Tree was not a problem for them. He was sure that Carr would win this competition. After all, Carr was an Olympic gold medalist. He was even superior to Kaistra in?Athenae. It was only natural that he would stand out even if the blessings of the World Tree were triggered.

This was how Calauhel made his decisions. He used all the financial power and information that he could get his hands on. Notifications went off as he took a step forward.

[You have become the first player to step into the Demon World.]

[You have gained 300 REP.]

***

Locke could see that Carr’s performance in the competition was in hot pursuit of his own.

‘Maybe…’

He was an extraordinary punk. What worried Locke the most was the ‘Blessings of the World Tree’ that could be triggered anytime. He knew that Carr would definitely go after him once that happened. So, Locke just ran after the spirits again. However, he was soon forced to stop.

“Huh…?”

There were four players blocking his path. In a way, the situation that Locke was in was already a given. After all, the others would definitely try to keep Locke, who was going up to the top quickly, in check.

‘But four people? There’s obviously a different reason for this.’

[Player Khan, Player Carlin and Player Aegis have collided. This is surprising! Player Khan is too overwhelming! He’s overwhelmingly strong! He doesn’t even fall behind against two players that are on the same level as him!]

[Player Locke is also being surrounded by four other players. Three out of the four players are widely known! They are players Becker, Jahdi, and Kelman. The remaining one is an unofficial ranker!]

[Players Khan and Locke are truly going up fast, but don’t you think those who are keeping them in check are going at it faster than we thought?]

Becker, as if they knew that they would be questioned, opened his mouth. He said, “We won’t get to win anyway. After all, Carr is in this competition. We’re here because we thought that you were too rude yesterday. We believe that you shouldn’t win because of this.”

It was complete bullshit. Who would use such nonsense as if they could judge him on behalf of the people?

‘Such a ridiculous excuse.’

It was so absurd that he could not stop himself from laughing. Locke said, “Why don’t you just say that this competition is for ‘him’ in the first place?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really disgusting,” Locke said, stifling his laugh.

‘How much MP do I have left? What about my skills’ cooldown?’

Locke mumbled to himself, saying,?‘I also… I also want to be the best too…’

Locke had always been in the background. From his youth until now, there was always someone outstanding standing in front of him. The only thing that he was good at was playing ‘games’. Yet right now, there were many people that were preventing him from winning such a game.

Not long after, a message was spread to all of the players.

[In 5 minutes, the Blessings of the World Tree will descend.]

The Blessings of the World Tree. However, it was more of a curse than a blessing. Those that came in late might be able to keep up with their control and ability, but they might be pushed back by those with high stats, high skills and high leveled items. They could only survive by avoiding them.

Locke clashed against the other players.

***

[Ah, Player Locke will eventually collapse! He’s going to collapse!]

[But, Player Locke did a good job. He did not fall behind those players, even though he was all alone. I think he even scared them.]

[Huh? But why aren’t they forcing Locke to log out?]

Not long after, one of the four players said, “You were really rude yesterday. As a Korean, I also feel ashamed of you. In this competition where you can’t even use a potion, I want you to watch someone else win with you all hurt like this. Or maybe, you’ll get eaten by the termites and be forced to log out first.”

The audience reactions were divided into two.

“Justice prevails!”

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

“Didn’t you pretend to vomit in front of Player Carr yesterday?”

“I’m looking forward to Locke’s reversal!”

“Isn’t this a complete mockery, though?”

“What the hell are you saying?!”

“Eyy. No matter how you look at it, that’s not the case!!”

The stands were divided. Half of them were cheering while half of them were criticizing. Then, the four players stepped out of the cave. Locke only smirked bitterly.

‘I’m not like an MVP at all…’

In the past, when he ate Minhyuk’s buffed dishes, he could also use regular heals in addition to using heals that could cut his opponents’ HP. However, the buff’s effects were all gone and his heals were of no use anymore.

Then, at that moment…

The commentators were in a clamor.

“What? Someone joined in the middle?”

“Who? No. All 30 of the qualifiers participated in the first place. How is he able to participate?”

The commentators asked a lot of questions after they had heard that a player would participate in the middle of the competition.

‘Is there a player that can still participate even though all 30 people who participated in the qualifying rounds are already there?’

However, the commentators’ eyes widened in shock when they heard the official’s words.

“Th…the player from the Hall of Kings…?!”

“The player who entered it twice?!”

“Is that player finally willing to show himself?!”

Then, the commentators started shouting into their microphones.

[Breaking news! The player who recently entered the Hall of Kings has expressed his intentions to participate in the competition. As you all know, players who entered the Hall of Kings have the opportunity and privilege to join and participate in any event!]

“Ha…Hall of Kings…?”

“The Hall of Kings?! The guy that entered it twice in one day?!”

“Who is it?!”

Everyone was curious. Even the commentator that was going to identify his name had his eyes wide open in shock.

“Th…the name of the person who entered and stamped his name on the Hall of Kings twice in one day…? This person is from a production class!!”

As soon as the voice was transmitted through the microphone, a light flashed and spread among all the players playing the game on the World Tree. The light enveloped all of the players.

[The players’ abilities and skills are temporarily made equal.]

[The abilities and skills of the termites have been lowered compared to some players.]

Then, the commentator shouted…

[He…he is the player that participated in the Speed Eating Contest just recently! The Food God. Pl…Player Minhyuk!]

The audience began to roar in surprise.

“D…did they say Minhyuk?! That Player Minhyuk from before?”

“Impossible… How can a production class enter the Hall of Kings twice in a row?”

The news began to spread rapidly through commentators all over the world.