Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 592: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had won many battles that others had deemed impossible to win. Their first battle was with Black Dragon Vormon. Then, they sealed Great Demon Verus, before proceeding to fight and win against Demigod Asura. Everyone had divided opinions back then, some believing that the players’ powers were not enough and it would be ‘impossible to hunt’ such beings, while some believed that they could.

As for the Maserrati Guild? They also firmly believed that they would be able to kill Leona. After all, Leona was not one of the Six Monster Gods, she was just Elizabeth’s child. But the power displayed by the marquess right now was beyond their imagination.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

“Hiiiiiiik!”

“Aaah, aaaaaaaaaaack!”

“This is ridiculous!!!”

“Vance!!!”

The comrades that had just been advancing with them a few moments prior had now turned into stones. Everyone was shocked by the sudden turn of events. They ended up falling on their butts and crawling back from fear. However, the path behind them was blocked. Behind them was another person that had turned to stone.

Leona inhaled with relish the chaos-tainted air filled with confusion and fear, as if she was breathing the freshest air, “Hmmmmmmm~ Haaaaaaaa~”

Her beautiful figure caused the players to tremble in fear and terror as she elegantly raised her hand and savored the atmosphere around her.

“Break,” Leona said, her beautiful voice ringing in the area.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

Cracks started to appear on the players that had turned into stone. Even the summons, which did not have a high level of intelligence, failed to protect themselves and turned into stone. Including the summoners, their monsters, and the players, around 80,000 fighters had turned into stone. The cracks spread throughout their hardened bodies, and in a mere moment, they crumbled into pieces.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

In just an instant, 30,000 of their gathered troops had disappeared. Richard, who was gravely injured from the aftermath of the explosion, looked at the scene incredulously. Right after that, the 50 Snake Soldiers jumped into the players’ midst, as poisons of various colors shot out of their mouths.

[You have been hit by a bleeding poison.]

[If you don’t detoxify the poison, your body will begin to bleed all over!]

Some of the players accidentally ingested the poison and started to bleed through their eyes, ears and nose.

[You have been paralyzed.]

[Your body has started to harden and turn into a stone.]

Some players turned into stone, just like when Leona cast her AOE skill earlier.

[You have been hit by an exploding poison.]

[One touch from the exploding poison will trigger a powerful explosion on your body.]

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

It was a simple poison skill, but explosions occurred all over the place.

“Rankers!!!”

“Just you wait!!!”

“Go!!!”

Some of the players were top rankers at Level 500 or higher. These players had high abnormal status resistance, incredible stats, and excellent skills.

Baaaaaaang—

A swordsman tried to cut down a Snake Soldier.

“Wh, what…?”

The player used an ability that could instantly double his attack power and cutting force. However, only a scratch was inflicted on the Snake Soldier’s glossy and shiny scales.

Punch—

The Snake Soldier, who had the head of a dragon, punched through the ranker’s chest and pierced his heart.

“Keuaaaaaaaaack!”

“F*cking bastards! Why are they so strong?!!!”

“Let go of him!!!”

The other rankers rushed at the Snake Soldier. However, they were only able to inflict damage after using their pinnacle skills. These beings all had high HP. The God of Snake’s Army of 50 continued to dig through the gaps of the remaining 70,000 players.

“Kyahahahahaha!” Leona covered her mouth, cackling at the state of the humans in front of her.

The most important thing here was the fact that Leona had not even made a move yet. Yet, in an instant, more than 3,000 players had died.

At that moment, Richard gave his orders to the members of the Maserrati Guild. “Slaughter them.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

The Maserrati guild members immediately recovered from the injuries that they had sustained from the explosion earlier, and charged forward. At the same time, several Snake Soldiers that were being subjected to the rankers’ attacks suddenly took to the skies. The one that made them fly was none other than Black Mage Henry.

“F*ck. These sons of b*tches are pretty strong.”

Henry immediately raised his black wand.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—

Black explosions burst out from deep within the bodies of the Snake Soldiers.

Daaaaash—

Then, a man leapt up with a greatsword in hand. The man was middle-aged, with a body so big that it could rival Elpis or even Brod’s stature. If the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had the best close combat fighters in the form of Ares and Khan, then the Maserrati Guild had the ‘Greatsword Master’ Ruvago, a Ranker Among Rankers. No, in fact, he was more than that.

Slaaaaaash—

Ruvago’s greatsword split a Snake Soldier in half in one swift movement. At that moment, another man appeared behind another Snake Soldier.

At one point in time, an assassin guild by the name of ‘Hitman’ had dominated the Japanese server. Just like its name suggested, it was a guild composed of assassins. However, this very guild had been annihilated by a single man in one night. The man’s identity was not known to the public. However, his visage was revealed today. He was none other than Japan’s Assassin King, Rui.

Fwooooooooosh—

One attack dealt 6,000% damage. But it did not end there. A dagger was thrust into the shrieking Snake Soldier dozens of times in a single second.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

After taking down one Snake Soldier, Rui moved like a ghost to hunt the other Snake Soldiers.

“This, this is the Maserrati Guild…?”

“Crazy…”

All of the players knew that the Beyond the Heavens was the best guild in existence. But it seemed like the performance of the rankers present here was about to change their minds. Assassin Rui was far superior in terms of power to Informant Abel, while the damage dealt by Greatsword Master Ruvago’s greatsword was far greater than Alexander’s damage.

At the center of them all was Absolute Monarch Richard.

Richard shouted, “Don’t be scared! You have a spirit that can help you stand back again even after falling down and a strong body that will not let you back down. Roar bravely! I, the Absolute Monarch, will protect you!!!”

[The Absolute Monarch’s Royal Decree has been triggered!]

[Everyone that hears the ‘Tenacious Royal Decree’ will receive an 11% increase in all stats and a 15% increase in abnormal status resistance!]

[You have forgotten your fears.]

“…”

“…”

“…”

It was crazy. He was able to give buffs to all 70,000 players here? That was something that even Valkyrie Mei Wei could not do. In fact, even Food God Minhyuk could not achieve something like that. It was because Food God Minhyuk had to cook before he could give a buff.

Then, golden letters appeared in the skies and swiftly flew to their targets: Assassin King Rui, God of Black Magic Henry, and Greatsword Master Ruvago.

[The ‘Absolute Monarch’s’ Divine Stigma has been imprinted!]

[A 0.5% reduction in all stats will be imposed upon you as a penalty for every person that you imprint the Divine Stigma on!]

[For the ones that received the Divine Stigma, they will be able to receive a +24% increase in all stats and a +2 increase in their skill levels.]

The key members of Maserrati Guild could see what Absolute Monarch Richard was putting at stake here. They knew that the Divine Stigma would impose a 0.5% all-stat reduction per person that it was imprinted on. In other words, all of Richard’s stats and abilities had received a 1.5% reduction. However, the fact that he could raise someone’s power in an instant still made it a very powerful ability, especially if their targets were Rui, Henry and Ruvago.

“Wooooooooooooh!”

Ruvago split apart the head of one of the Snake Soldiers in one strike, while Black Mage Henry cast various debuffs on the enemy.

“Wow. That’s crazy…!”

“We couldn’t even do anything with our numbers!”

“Crazy!”

The players were watching the Maserrati Guild in awe.

“If things continue at this rate, then taking down Leona is not just a pipe dream for us!!!”

The players were actually getting stronger. However, in contrast to their burning enthusiasm, cold sweat was already dripping down Richard’s back.

‘No, it will be difficult.’

Leona was still watching everything on the sidelines while stroking her ‘viper hair’ languidly. This meant that Leona was not feeling any sense of crisis at all. The number of Snake Soldiers had already halved from the initial fifty. That just went to show how high the damage on the players’ side was. After all, more than 10,000 players had died to just kill that many.

Leona continued to stroke her hair, a bored look on her face as she said, “Is that all?”

“…”

She grinned, “You’re weak.”

“…”

“…”

Leona evaluated Richard’s majesty and dignity to be something weak. As if to prove it to him, the dozens of vipers resting on her head and acting as her hair began to move, writhing fiercely.

“We should end all the killing now.”

The vipers turned into light and stretched out. The place where one particular viper was aiming for was none other than the place where Rui was.

As an assassin class player, Rui was very quick on his feet. His speed should have been more than enough to avoid the vipers. However, at that moment, he made eye contact with the viper.

[You have fallen into a powerful stunned state.]

“W, what…?!”

Leona’s abilities left him utterly defenseless and unable to move, with the viper free to bite him on the neck with its poisonous fangs.

“Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!”

[All of your stats will fall by 50% for five minutes.]

[All of your skill levels will be halved for five minutes.]

[Your HP will rapidly decrease for five minutes.]

The strength in Rui’s body was drained away in an instant. And it was not just him. Dozens of vipers stretched out and targeted all of the key members of the Maserrati Guild. It was difficult to avoid them as they were thin, long, and fast. None of them could manage it. On top of that, just one look at them and they would fall into a ‘stunned’ state.

[All of your stats will fall by 50% for five minutes.]

[All of your skill levels will be halved for five minutes...]

These notifications constantly rang in the ears of the members of the Maserrati Guild. Ruvago, who had been showing great momentum earlier, fell down after being hit by one of the Snake Soldiers. A 50% drop in all stats and skill levels was that catastrophic.

Leona approached them one slow step at a time.

Swoooooosh—

“Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!”

Reaching out with her hand, she easily lifted the tall and bulky Ruvago and started strangling him. Ruvago struggled fiercely in her hold, but Leona just looked at him as if it was funny. Slowly, ever so slowly, Ruvago fell into a petrified state.

“…Ruvago!!!”

Ruvago was Richard’s precious comrade, and Richard dashed toward the two of them to save him. However, everyone knew that he was already too late.

Still, Ruvago was a Ranker Among Rankers; he was the strongest among everyone in the guild and was Maserrati’s pride and joy.

Grab—

Even while his own neck was being gripped tight, Ruvago was still able to grab Leona’s neck with both of his hands.

“Ho?”

Then, Ruvago squeezed out the last of his strength.

“Warrior’s Sacrifice!!!”

For three seconds, just three short seconds, Ruvago’s stats increased by 70%. However, the price for it was death. Then, Ruvago rushed toward the huge wall with Leona’s neck in his hands.

“Ho?”

Even though she was being choked like that, Leona still looked as if she was watching something interesting. Just like that, Ruvago slammed her with all his might against the wall.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaang—

Leona giggled, her body embedded deep into the wall. Finally, Ruvago grabbed her by the neck once more and jumped up.

When using Warrior’s Sacrifice, a powerful explosion would occur upon the warrior’s death. The explosion was powerful enough to sweep the entire area away. That was why Ruvago jumped—he wanted to reduce the damage to the others as much as he could.

“Ah…”

“Crazy…”

An unknown feeling swept over the players at the sight of one player’s sacrifice. As for the person that had jumped to the skies? He finally exploded.

Baaaaaaaaaaang—

As if a nuclear bomb had exploded, all of the vines and the trees that grew on the crevices of the stone wall were swept away and destroyed. The remains of Ruvago’s body turned into ashes and disappeared with the wind.

As the vines disappeared, the entrance to a cave appeared. Leona fell down in front of the entrance without a scratch on her body.

Leona was getting increasingly bored. She was interested in these daring people, but her disappointment in them was growing by the second. So, she wanted to ease her boredom by seeing their fear and terror.

“My mother, Elizabeth, fell asleep here after being kicked out by the gods. Why was my mother kicked out? Simple. Because she is a monster,” Leona said, giggling at the players as she looked around at them. Then, as if on cue, thousands of snakes began to rain down on them.

“H-hiiiiiiiiik!”

“What, what the hell is this?!”

“Uwaaaaaaaack!”

The players were horrified to see the snakes fall down and cling to their bodies. As the snakes fell down, they writhed until they grew in size.

“N, no way…”

Richard had a terrifying hunch. The snakes that were falling to the ground were Snake Soldiers.

‘She can do something like this?!’

Leona had this strong army under her command?! And as if she enjoyed the increasing fear and panic, Leona said, “I will kill the gods that drove us and my mother here. Even the God of Origin, Athenae. Kyahahahahaha!”

Leona’s expression was distorted with how loud she was laughing, the dozens of vipers on her head writhing like crazy. Finally, the hundreds of snakes took on their original form.

‘The hair… that’s how she’s commanding them…!’

Richard realized this fact. However, there was no way to stop her. With a horrifying look on her face, she said, “I will take that seat and seat on the throne of the God of Origin. Fear me, all shall fall into despair…”

Leona cackled as she looked at the shocked faces of everyone around her.

‘That’s right. I will be the one to do that. I will kill Athenae, the God of Origin, and become the true owner of that title.’

However, she was wrong. The people were shocked not because of her declaration, but because of something else.

Ping—

An unidentified sword swung through Leona’s hair, cutting off dozens of vipers in one go.

Thud, thud, thud—

The vipers that were cut off of her head fell down on the ground and writhed like crazy before disappearing with a hiss. Blood spilled from her hair, dyeing Leona’s face with green blood.

“…”

Leona could not understand why there was blood flowing on her face. When she turned around, she saw a man moving to thrust his sword, which was exploding with power, toward her heart.

“Beyond the Heavens’ King…?” Richard mumbled in shock as he watched the man stab Leona in the heart.

Thud—!