Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 504: The One that Became a Demigod

The snowstorm was blowing so fiercely that none of the people present could see clearly in front of them. But the thick falling of snow suddenly stopped mid-air. Some of the people smiled brightly at this phenomena, knowing that Ghost Spear Ben was once again moving.

‘It’s… beautiful…’

It was as if time had stopped in this space. Finally, Ghost Spear Ben’s mouth, which paused after he uttered ‘Aerdes’ Spearmanship’, opened once again, “Spear of Destruction.”

The moment Ben’s voice fell, the knights, who were looking at the snow, turned back to him only to see the spear of light in Ben’s hand shine brightly and release hundreds of spears of light. These beautiful spears of light suddenly flew out and shot through the hearts of Ben’s enemies.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

It stabbed one, two, three, four, five, seven, ten people in one go. The spears of light broke through more than ten thick sheets of metal armor, reaped the lives of those soldiers, before continuing to extend forward.

Sizzle—

Even Dragon Elder Velach’s face was torn and dripping with blood from the attack, “Ugh!”

Renzie, who tried to stop the spears of light, flew back from the impact and vomited a mouthful of blood, “Urk!” He collapsed on the ground and could not come back to his senses for a while. He tried so hard to clear his muddled head by shaking it hard, but the scene presented in front of him made him feel numb.

“This, this… impossible…”

More than 3,000 knights, soldiers, and monsters disappeared into ashes as the spears of light bloomed beautifully in their midst.

Shwaaaaaaaaa—

Ghost Spear Ben slowly rose amidst the thousands of spears that floated in the air. His black hair, which grew long enough to reach his waist, fluttered fiercely in the wind. Along with his spectacular revival, a shocking notification rang for all of the players present.

[Player ‘Anonymous’ has successfully developed and raised their vassal to overcome the limits of their human body and reached the level of a Demigod.]

[This is the appearance of this era’s new transcendent. A Demigod has been born to the world!!!]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

Everyone present was shocked. Lucio, Akhan’s follower, hurriedly tried to end his broadcast. However, it was already too late.

[Ghost Spear Ben became… a god…?]

[A Demigod…? Did I see that correctly?]

[An NPC can become a god on their own?]

[Ghost Spear Ben is alive… Ghost Spear Ben is back!!!]

[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is crazy… Every time someone has done something that no one in the world has done, you can rest assured that they’re from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]

[That’s f*cking awesome… for real. God Ghost Spear right after our Lord Food God?]

[At this rate, won’t Beyond the Heavens Kingdom be a balance breaker…?]

[Yepyep. And another yepyep. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has completely thrown the balance of the world into disarray. But even if I wanted to say something, I can’t say anything after seeing how cool Ghost Spear Ben is…]

Lucio chewed his lips. The broadcast that he hoped would bring the downfall of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was now promoting it. In the end…

‘F*ck it all.’

Although Lucio followed Akhan, he only dreamt of seeing the collapse of Athenae for fun. In a way, he was just one of the many players that were broadcasting.

‘Should I go for it and do a proper broadcast to increase my number of subscribers?!’

Lucio decided to just continue his broadcast.

Vwoooooooong—

Although Ghost Spear Ben was just standing there and holding his spear, there was an unapproachable aura emitting from his body. His sharp eyes immediately turned to where Luna and Haze were. Renzie hurriedly got back on his feet. He knew that the situation right now was very unusual.

“Stop hiiiiiiiiiim!!!”

With Renzie’s cry, the knights immediately sent out sword lights and arrows of their own toward Ben. But Ghost Spear Ben just swiped his spear in the skies as if he was cutting air. And the moment the enemies’ attacks fell down…

Puhaaaaaaaaaa—

…a strong wind blew and destroyed all of their attacks.

“…?!”

Renzie’s eyes turned wide as he looked at the scene in disbelief. Meanwhile, Ghost Spear Ben stepped forward and hugged Luna.

“Godly Steps.”

This was a godly footwork. Despite tens of thousands of eyes focusing on Ben, none of them, with the only exception of Elder Velach, could chase after him. In a blink, Ben arrived in front of Haze, with Luna in his hands. He quickly hugged Haze and handed Luna over to her as he put them on a nearby horse.

Thwack—

The horse neighed loudly as it reared its legs and ran swiftly after being smacked strongly on its behind. The knights, soldiers and monsters immediately flocked forward to block Ben’s path and kill him.

.

Slaaaaash—

Ben’s spear stretched forward, smashing plenty of metal armors and killing another five knights in one go.

Swoooosh—

Slaaaaaaaash—

Each swing of Ben’s spear killed several knights.

Swiiiish—

Sometimes, the knights’ bodies would be cut in half. Ben’s figure was reminiscent of that of the Spear God, as he protected the horse and swept away the troops that blocked their path.

At that moment, Velach thought that he could not let Luna slip away like that. A tremendous force started to gather in front of Velach’s mouth.

“Sh, shit…! Please stop that immediately! There are our allies out there!” Renzie cried out.

However, dragons had never taken any human life seriously. It was just like how humans have sacrificed cattles for generations. It did not matter to them whether it was a cattle or a human, both are the same level of existence to them.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

Velach, the dragon elder that had lived for thousands of years, fired a red burst of breath toward Ghost Spear Ben.

“Hihihihihihing!” The horse cried loudly as it tried to widen the distance between itself and the dragon. Ghost Spear Ben took this opportunity to turn around and point his spearhead toward the Dragon’s Breath.

‘He can never stop it.’

Could a human even stop a dragon’s breath? Impossible. Velach had never met such an existence before in his life. However, that was only ‘before’. Velach had lived for tens of thousands of years, but it was at this moment that he felt extreme shock when he saw Ghost Spear Ben’s spearhead pointing against his breath.

“Aerdes’ Spearmanship, Chapter Six.”

The tip of Ben’s spear slowly turned black.

“Reflect.”

Swooooooosh—

The powerful Dragon’s Breath that loomed over Ghost Spear Ben was absorbed by the tip of his spear. After his spearhead devoured everything, Ben pointed it back toward Velach.

Baaaaaaaaaang—

A powerful Dragon’s Breath suddenly shot out of the tip of Ben’s spear, pushing his body back.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

At the same time, Velach immediately created several red shields in front of him.

Baaaaaaaaaaang—

Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack—

But the force that flew out of Ben’s spear was not something that Velach could stop so suddenly. In the end, the shield broke apart, as the attack surged forth to devour Velach’s body.

“Keuaaaaaaaack!!!” Dragon Elder Velach roared loudly. However, Ben did not stop, immediately executing the Godly Steps.

Spuuuurt—

The entire world watched in shock and disbelief as Ben’s spear of light pierced through Dragon Velach’s body, a dragon that was strong enough to be hailed as a Dragon Elder. Velach tried so hard to shake Ben off, he even stuck to the ground and writhed.

“Keuaaaaaack! Graaaaaaaaa!”

Ben, who once again used the Godly Steps, rode the horse and escorted Haze and Luna away. Without anyone realizing it, the number of bodies that Ben had cut down had already reached 15,000, the pile of corpses turning into a mountain.

Although Haze saw everything with her own eyes, she still could not believe it, “Grandpa Ben…! You became a god. That’s so amazing! Truly, utterly amazing!!!”

Haze could tell that Ben’s newfound powers would be a great help to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. She could even imagine how happy Minhyuk would be to learn that Ben had grown stronger. So, she turned to look back at Ben with a wide smile on her face.

However, the sight in front of her made her voice shake, “G, grandpa…?”

Shwaaaaaaaaa—

This was because Ghost Spear Ben’s body was slowly disintegrating and turning into black ash.

***

Phone calls were pouring in Joy Co. Ltd.’s phones.

“We are currently in the middle of confirming this, please wait a moment and we will give you a response. Yes, hello. This is Joy. Co. Ltd. Ah, Ghost Spear Ben has broken the balance? Not at all. Our Joy. Co. Ltd. is a company that aims to have a game with no broken balances as much as possible… Yes, yes.”

Most of the phone calls were from the broadcast viewers. All of them were protesting about why a vassal, and not a player, achieved godhood. It was a completely ridiculous feat in the history of Athenae.

At the same time, NPC Management Team Leader Han In-Hye and President Kang Taehoon were having a discussion in the conference hall.

“How did Ghost Spear Ben become a Demigod? I’m sure the probability of him achieving such a feat is only around 0.1%. You can’t make excuses and say that he experienced divine intervention and got lucky.”

It did not matter how Kang Taehoon felt, this obviously spelled a collapse in the game. It was inexcusable.

However, Team Leader Han In-Hye just shook her head and said, “The balance is not broken. It’s because…”

She turned to look at the monitor displaying Ghost Spear Ben and his desperate fight to clear a path against tens of thousands of enemies. The old man was still doing his best and giving it his all.

“This is a miracle created from the deep bond between a player and an NPC. And…” Han In-Hye choked up, her eyes turning misty from tears, “…he did not achieve godhood.”

Han In-Hye hurriedly wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks with her sleeves. President Kang Taehoon looked at the sobbing Han In-Hye in confusion.

‘What does she mean that Ghost Spear Ben did not achieve godhood?’

Kang Taehoon, who was asking that question in his head, turned to the monitor and finally understood what she meant after seeing Ghost Spear Ben slowly disintegrate into a mysterious black ash.

‘What the hell happened?’

Kang Taehoon wondered what happened when Ben met with Demigod Aerdes.

***

In the distant past, five thousand years ago, Spear God Aerdes walked the path of the Demigod and took the name of Spear Transcendental. She was an absolute existence that eventually achieved godhood and became the Spear God.

As much of an absolute existence Aerdes was, she was also a very arrogant, picky and ill-tempered person. The Demigod Training trial that she had set was extremely gruesome and horrendous. Ten thousand times. If the one that took the trial could inflict a fatal wound in Aerdes just once during that ten thousand times then they would succeed. They could give up any time out of their ten thousand chances but before they gave up, Aerdes would make sure to kill her opponent in the most horrible and gruesome way.

But right now, Aerdes was forced to take a step back from the old man in front of her. The number of tries that the man had undergone already surpassed 3,000 times. During those 3,000 times, Aerdes had pulled out the man’s eyes, cut off his limbs, and sometimes even made his heart explode. The pain that she had inflicted on the man was enough for anyone, even those with the greatest mental strength and will, to fold and go crazy.

But the old man never screamed or backed down, even when he had died countless times. He just continued to attack Aerdes. The creepiest part was…

“Let’s do it again.”

…the light in the old man’s eyes never flickered. Aerdes was the great and arrogant Spear God, but she eventually acknowledged the strength and tenacity of the old man in front of her.

‘None of the legends have endured past a thousand times.’

Most of the people that took her trial ended up going crazy. However, Aerdes also knew that Ghost Spear Ben would not be able to leave a nick on her body even after the ten thousand chances had been used up.

But, in recognition of the old man’s unwavering will and tenacity, Aerdes said, “You need a stronger power?”

The old veteran remained silent but he nodded his head in answer. Aerdes looked at the man as she thought to herself, ‘You have not received my recognition and will not be able to walk the path of a Demigod. However, I can lend you my power.’

That was why Aerdes felt sad. She did not want to present this method but the man in front of her desperately needed and wanted it.

“I can let you inherit my power for a while. However, even though you will only inherit some of my god’s power for a while, your body will not be able to endure it. Are you okay with that?”

The question that was raised implied that the old man would die. But the old man just nodded his head. However, Aerdes’ words were not yet over.

“After facing death, your soul will fall into hell and be under the direct control of the God of Death. You will have to suffer for thousands of years even in death.”

Aerdes listed the pain and suffering that the old man would have to endure from the moment he inherited her power.

“Once your soul falls into hell, you will be forced to walk into a mountain of knives and feel the everlasting pain of being stabbed by their blades. You will also feel the pain of being cooked in a hot pot, the pain of being stuck in a cold block of ice, the pain of your tongue being pulled out, the pain of vipers wrapping around your body and biting you with their poisonous fangs, the pain of your bones being cut with a jagged saw, the pain of facing the biting wind with your bare body, the pain of being stuck in the dark and feeling despair and solitude with nothing on your body. You will remain in this void and continue to do so for thousands of years. You will even lose your shot at reincarnation. Will that be alright?”

Aerdes’ breath got caught in her throat. This was the first time that she had experienced such a feeling in her entire life. Even she, as the Spear God, felt her teeth clatter at the thought of that everlasting pain. She hoped that the man in front of her would reject her offer and run away. That he would let go of what he was trying to do and think for himself.

But for the first time since they met, the old man smiled and said, “I have never learned to back down.”