Gourmet Gaming - Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Delicious Expedition
The expedition team to rescue Prince Argon was composed of a total of 150 men and three commanders, and the moment they were ready, they all set off. Each individual commander commanded a company of 50 people and the companies were all named as well. Eclei’s company was named ‘Iron Blood’, God of Death Bach’s was called ‘Reapers’, while Minhyuk’s company was named ‘Rice Supplement’.

Meanwhile, Bendiaz, the second highest in command after Minhyuk in the Rice Supplement troop, felt that everything was absurd. He thought, ‘Damn it! This person is our commander?!’

‘Are you telling us that war is a joke? All of the knights here have families waiting for them back home. But you’re telling us that we’ll be called ‘Rice Supplement’? What kind of f*cking name is that?

“Bendiaz, if you think that he’s not good at commanding, then why don’t you just take it away?”

“Arthur, Her Majesty has placed her trust and faith in this man.”

Another knight from the back suddenly asked, “But, aren’t we just going to die like this?”

“…Only time will tell.”

The knight beside Bendiaz suddenly exclaimed.

“Eh?”

Bendiaz turned his head to look at the knight in question.

“You can’t take command right away, but if he made one mistake…”

The knights could understand each other with just that one sentence.

‘We’d rather have Bendiaz lead us than die.’

Then, Bendiaz looked at Minhyuk who was standing in front. He thought, ‘…How can a man like this be our commander?!’

Before they knew it, they had reached the Immortals’ Land Zone 1.

***

[You have set foot in the Immortals’ Land.]

[This is Zone 1.]

[You can only carry one kilogram of food in Immortals’ Land. In the case of other food or food ingredients, you can only carry ingredients infinitely if they can help you be self-sufficient.]

[Most potions and parchments are restricted in the Immortals’ Land.]

[You can’t use items like residential tents in the Immortals’ Land.]

[These items also cannot be used by your troops.]

Self-sufficiency! This was one of the reasons why Immortals’ Land was so difficult. Eclei and Bach also brought the least amount of food because of this. In other words, they only brought beef jerky, nuts and the like. Food that was not only light in weight, but could also make one feel full as much as possible!

“Ah! It’s really a terrible place!” Minhyuk called out from the back.

Eclei and Bach continued on to the front until their first battle began. Monsters started to appear one by one. There were at least 60 monsters in front of them and there were some at Level 400. However, everyone was well aware that their strengths were far beyond that of their levels. In fact, the existing monsters in the Immortals’ Land were mostly ‘Immortal Ogre’ and ‘Immortal Trolls’. However, their appearance had changed.

“What’s this?”

“Is this the effect of the Demon World?”

The skin of the monsters in front of them was unusually dark!

Not long after, the clash between the monsters and the knights began.

Slash!

Stab!

Stab!

Grooooooowl!

Baaaaaang!

“Calmly attack the enemy! Knights! Take your square shield and block the front!”

“Knights! Listen to me, use your spears and pierce the ogres from the gaps of the square shields!”

The God of War Eclei and the God of Death Bach were the ones that definitely looked like they were in command. They had already begun to clear up the mobs. In doing so, they realized that the monsters were already strong, but had grown stronger under the influence of demonic energy.

Just when one of the knights was about to announce the successful completion of the first hunt of the subjugation by striking a blow at an ogre that was on the verge of collapse…

Swooooosh!

Thud!

“Keuheeeeeeck!”

“Yay! It hit!”

Eclei turned around to look at the ‘Rice Supplement’ from behind. He could see Minhyuk in front of the troops holding a bow that was covered in blue energy. It was at that moment when a notification rang in Eclei’s head.

[Iron Blood’s contribution has increased by 30 points.]

At the same time, notifications also rang in Minhyuk’s head.

[Rice Supplement’s contribution has increased by 50 points.]

Even in ancient times, the most important thing was the final strike. They had told him earlier to back them up from the rear. That was their big mistake.

“Hahaha. That’s a great bow. You’re an archer, aren’t you?” Eclei said, smiling awkwardly.

‘It’s just one hit, so what?’

Then, another arrow pierced through an ogre’s neck. The ogre was already going to keel over and die with just one more hit, but the arrow was the one that took its life.

“Yayy! Bullseye!”

[Iron Blood’s contribution has increased by 30 points.]

And on the other side…

[Rice Supplement’s contribution has increased by 50 points.]

“…”

Eclei’s expression wrinkled into a frown.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk turned around and shouted, “Everyone, shoot your bows! Only shoot those who are almost dying!”

“Yes!!!”

Then, Minhyuk took something out of his arms. It was none other than a ‘bell’. It looked pretty, with a silvery light flashing under the sunlight. Minhyuk rang the bell without any hesitation.

Clang—

Claaaaang—

At that exact moment, a sacred light stretched and covered the armor, bows and arrows, and swords of the knights under Minhyuk.

[You have rung Pope Ramas’ Bell.]

[It is as effective as pouring the Pope’s holy water on weapons.]

[Your physical attack and defense, as well as magical attack and defense against the undead or the beings from the Demon World has increased by 1.2x.]

[Your probability of landing a critical hit against the undead or the beings from the Demon World has increased by 30%.]

“…Gasp!!!”

The knights shouted in alarm. They were shocked that Minhyuk had Pope Ramas’ Bell out.

Minhyuk had received this bell from Pope Carunu. Just when he was about to leave the church with Ruth and the knights, Pope Carunu had arrived at the Athenae Temple. He had given him ‘Ramas’ Bell’ as a gift in thanks for saving the Athenae believers. This bell was a legendary artifact with limitless power.

(Ramas’ Bell)

Rank: Legendary

Restriction: Can only be used by Minhyuk.

Durability: ∞/∞

Special Abilities:

•Increases your Holy Power by 10% just by possessing the artifact alone.

•Active Skill: Pope Ramas’ Bell

•Active Skill: God’s Miracle

Description: This bell is the third of the Pope’s Treasures. The 13th Pope, Ramas, was said to have escaped the clutches of death in the Demon World by ringing this bell. It was said that he was able to survive by leaving the Demonic Humans and Demonic Races in pain and distress after ringing the bell once.

The active skill God’s Miracle had the power to cause the undead or the demonic beings to suffer, even with just the slightest ring of the bell. The skill had a very long cooldown and could only be used once every two weeks. However, the range was much wider than what he had expected, so he thought that the cooldown was justified.

Then, Minhyuk said, “Focus only on those that are almost dying!”

At the end of his words, Minhyuk pulled the string of his bow once more and shot another arrow.

Thud!

[Critical hit!]

A critical hit landed on the orge and it collapsed. Along with his shot, the Rice Supplement company started moving. They quickly nocked their arrows on their bows and started shooting. They simply followed Minhyuk’s orders.

Thud!

Chiiiiiiiik!

“Keuaaack!”

Thud!

Chiiiiiiiik!

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrack!”

The ogres began to collapse one after the other.

The knights of the Iron Blood and Reapers who were fighting at the forefront felt like they were in hell.

‘I have been working very hard, you know…!’

‘They’re taking everything!!!’

Then, Minhyuk spoke again, “Caleman, Neville, Cody, Lark!”

“Yes!”

“Forward!”

Minhyuk and some knights began to run forward.

Eclei’s face crumpled in annoyance when he tried to acquire the items after the monsters had died.

[You have no acquisition rights.]

[There are 3 minutes left before the acquisition rights get lifted.]

“…!”

His face was now thoroughly distorted. It was at that moment when Minhyuk appeared in front of him!

“Jackpot! It’s an item! Hurry up and pick up the spoils, everyone!”

“Oooooooh!”

Much to everybody else’s chagrin, the soldiers of the Rice Supplement company quickly fell back after they had picked up the items that had dropped.

Thud, thud.

“Yes! Bullseye!”

Thus began another round of LH[1]. Eclei’s Iron Blood and Bach’s Reapers were all left dumbfounded.

‘What kind of dogshit situation is this…’

‘Shit…! Those bastards!!!’

The arrows fired by the knights from behind were very powerful. As soon as their arrows pierced the enemies, the sound Chiiiiiiiik~ would ring loudly, as if the bodies of the mobs were being burned with fire. It was clearly caused by the bell that they had seen earlier.

Furthermore, once Minhyuk saw that most of the monsters had died, he would run forward with some of the knights, acquire the items and fall back again. In other words, it was the method of killing two birds with one stone with no effort at all!

[You have leveled up!]

“Yay! I leveled up! Hehehe!”

“…”

Being annoying was an added bonus.

‘I…I want to beat you into a pulp…!’

Unfortunately, Eclei and Bach could not bring themselves to do that, since they were the ones who told Minhyuk to fall back to the rear. Furthermore, it was already established that they could acquire and get the items that they had the acquisition rights for. What was worse was that the Rice Supplement was not causing any disruptions to their battles. In a way, they were even eliminating the risks for them, so they could not say that they were ‘rudely’ acting against them.

‘It’s one hell of a situation.’

At that moment, Eclei saw that the wounds of his members were all recovering slowly. Even though their wounds were recovering very slowly, they were still recovering naturally.

During large-scale battles, the commanders could choose to have the HP and MP bars of the NPCs under them float over their heads so they could monitor their situation.

“…!”

It was obviously something that Eclei could only see, and with one look, he could tell the reason straight away.

‘Th…the power of the viridite ore…!’

The power of the ores was not explicitly stated, and one had to check it for oneself. It seemed like the mineral in his hands had the power of ‘natural recovery’.

‘This natural recovery skill…! It does not even consume any HP!!!!!!!’

There was also another person that was caught in surprise. It was none other than Bendiaz. Bendiaz watched as the knights shot their arrows from their bows.

‘Our knights can shoot arrows to some extent, but were they really able to shoot this well?’

Knights would learn a variety of things from a young age. Somehow, their current skills looked like they had gone from ordinary to excellent. He was left in doubt. Bendiaz might not know the reason for this, but this was all thanks to the antarinium shining with a subtle glow from Minhyuk’s arms.

While Bendiaz was focused on something else, Minhyuk was busy giving out orders. He said, “Luca, Cady, Ferdy. You guys take care of the aggro!!”

“Yes!!!”

“Wh…who said anything about him being a stupid commander… Isn’t he a genius commander…”

The knights reacted like this after seeing Minhyuk use a veteran commander’s usual trick. The Iron Blood and Reapers suffered considerable damage as they fought in front. Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Rice Supplement company did not have the slightest injuries as they stayed behind and assisted from the rear.

The knights were all in a buzz.

“…Isn’t Commander something?”

“Isn’t he better than what we expected?”

“Wow… Amazing…!”

“We don’t get hurt and we even get the spoils, isn’t this completely amazing?”

Notifications started to go off on Minhyuk’s side.

[You have acquired 1 CHA.]

[You have received Knight Cardy’s favor.]

[You have received Knight Acas’ favor.]

[You have received Knight Arthur’s favor.]

[You have acquired 1 CHA.]

[The soldiers’ morale has increased.]

[You have acquired 3 CHA.]

[God’s Bet. The percentage of the 2nd clause, Commanding Ability, has increased.]

Minhyuk heard Bendiaz muttering under his breath. He was running around earlier shouting ‘Yahoo! Jackpot!’ and plenty of other things like that. Now, he decided to pause beside Bendiaz for a moment and said, “We’re going for the fastest method with minimal damage and maximum profit.”

“…!”

That was when Bendiaz realized that this person had planned everything. Strangely enough, even though a person was good, people would only whisper about the bad or hateful things that he had done, instead of his good deeds.

‘Ah. He’s changed now.’

‘He used to be nice, but he doesn’t look like he’s doing anything good these days, right?’

What would be even stranger, was when a person with a bad personality speak about someone else’s good deeds.

‘Hey, he’s gotten a lot better lately~’

‘He’s gotten really nice lately. So cool. Just like a real handsome guy!’

Humans were truly strange animals.

From the very beginning, Minhyuk had let everybody think of him differently. Then, when it came down to it, he overturned their expectations entirely.

‘This person took advantage of it!!!’

Minhyuk received another set of notifications.

[You have received Knight Bendiaz’s favor.]

[You have received Knight Bendiaz’s favor.]

[You have received Knight Bendiaz’s favor.]

[You have acquired 5 CHA.]

They continued their strategy again and again. In this way, the three companies moved on from the Immortals’ Land Zone 1. Along the way, Eclei found out that Minhyuk’s contributions were significantly higher than theirs. He could easily see the status, since the contributions to God’s Bet could be checked anytime.

[1. Iron Blood. 35,513]

[2. Reapers. 39,113]

[3. Rice Supplement. 48,240]

He thought that things could not go on like this anymore, so Eclei approached Minhyuk and said, “Your support from the rear is truly remarkable.”

“Hehe. I’m pretty good, right?! Thanks.”

‘This man’s words are so annoying that I want to bite off his head.’

Eclei laughed awkwardly as he continued, “From now on, why don’t you guys stop going for the last hit, and instead, use your soldiers to attack the monsters head-on. We’ll be able to take care of things more quickly this way.”

In other words, Eclei was trying to tell Minhyuk to stop his crafty tactics, while they would be the ones who would do it. Bach and Eclei glared at Minhyuk fiercely, as if they were trying to pressure him. They were also under pressure since they were only able to get some of the items.

The three companies had to go together. If they kicked out Minhyuk, then they would have to move forward with only 50 people each. If they did that, then they would definitely suffer and get annihilated. Once they were annihilated, Empress Ellie would definitely know that they were annihilated because they recklessly pushed him away.

In a way, this was some form of blackmail. They thought that this man would gladly accept their terms since he looked like he was foolishly nice. Alas, Minhyuk, just grinned at them as he said, “But… I don’t want to?”

1. Last Hit ☜