Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 562: Battle of the Thrones (Top)

“…!”

Minhyuk felt his heart tremble. Being asked to log out for an update only meant one thing: Athenae was going to usher in their second era with the integration of dozens of servers all over the world. Along with that, the ‘Battle of the Thrones’ would begin.

‘I’ve already received a penalty for expressing my will to participate in the middle of the event. Fortunately, it’s not that big.’

Since Minhyuk had unsealed his Absolute God’s Secret on time, it was still possible for him to join everyone in the beginning of the event. But before he was about to return to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom…

“Food God.”

“Yes?”

…Arlene called out to him, stopping him in his tracks. Minhyuk could feel Arlene’s gaze fixed on his back.

“Aren’t you curious about the Abyss?”

If she was asking if Minhyuk was curious about the Abyss, then the answer to that was without a doubt, yes. Ordinary players might not know anything about the Abyss, but Arlene would probably know a lot about it.

“I’m probably the only one that can open the path to the Abyss as of the moment.”

“…!”

What was more, Arlene mentioned that she was the only one who can open the path to the Abyss. This meant that if Minhyuk left now and broke contact with Arlene, he would never be able to get a chance to enter the Abyss again.

“You will face several trials when you enter the Abyss. But each time you clear a trial, you will receive a special reward.”

“What kind of rewards are we talking about here?”

Minhyuk needed to know so he could weigh his options and make an accurate judgment. Would the rewards be good enough for him to delay his participation in the Battle of the Thrones for a few more days, or not?

“The lowest rewards are legendary grade ingredients. And you will also be able to obtain another of the Food God’s hidden power.”

.

“…?!”

As expected of a God class, they were truly on another level. To think the Food God had a hidden power stowed away somewhere…

‘Usually, for several trials, it would take at least around one Athenae game day for one to complete and proceed to the next day.’

This was the reason why it was possible for some people to clear all of their trials within a single day in reality, and obtain several legendary grade materials and artifacts. On top of that, Minhyuk also had the chance to gain the Food God’s hidden power.

“Every time you clear an Abyss Trial, you will receive astronomical rewards. Ah, right! If you clear one of the trials, you will be allowed to leave once and enter again.”

You will be allowed to leave once and enter again. These words meant that Minhyuk would be able to participate in the Battle of the Thrones while still undergoing the trials.

“So, what would I get if I clear all of the Abyss Trials?”

“Honor.”

“What?”

“That’s it. I can’t tell you any more than this.”

Minhyuk would receive honor? No matter how hard he thought about it, he just could not understand why he would receive honor for clearing the Abyss Trials.

“Are you going?”

The thoughts in Minhyuk’s head quickly churned. Anyway, he had already received a penalty for delaying his participation for the Battle of the Thrones for a day. If he clears one trial then he would be able to participate in the Battle of the Thrones before returning to take the other trials.

“I’ll do it.”

Then, a bright light surrounded Minhyuk’s body. However, this light was not the light that would bring him to the Abyss.

[You have five seconds to log out.]

[4… 3… 2… 1…]

Minhyuk disappeared along with the light.

“A new world is beginning.”

Arlene looked at the path to the Abyss, where Minhyuk would head to once he returned. The gods called the Abyss by a different name: the Tomb of the Gods.

***

The entire world was in an uproar especially with Athenae’s second era just right around the corner. Many people felt their hearts thump wildly as the countdown of five minutes for the servers’ opening began. Some were thinking of playing inside the new Athenae, while some were thinking of watching the Battle of the Thrones. Those that would participate in the Battle of the Thrones felt nervous about the fierce battlefield.

At the end of the five minute countdown, a sentence marked in bold dominated the entire Athenae Official Homepage: ‘Athenae. The Beginning of the Second Era. Experience it, now!’

But, many people opted not to access the game and just sat in front of their televisions. All of them knew that it would be nice to experience the second era of Athenae, but it was also the start of the Battle of the Thrones; hence they had to gather together like this.

They watched as the stars fell down and created the ‘Stars’ Path’ inside their TV screens, just like what they saw in the trailer in the past. Everywhere the stars passed by, kingdoms and castles began to appear.

America’s Ariot Kingdom.

Japan’s Mt. Fuji Kingdom.

France’s Louvart Kingdom.

China’s Verrado Kingdom.

The cameras that lined up the Stars’ Path showed the castles that were created on it. These castles appeared one after the other until finally…

South Korea’s Beyond the Heavens Kingdom Castle.

The final castle, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom’s castle, appeared in a grand and imposing manner.

With the appearance of the castles, a bright light suddenly appeared and covered each of their peaks that housed the castle’s throne. When the light disappeared, the kings that each country selected were shown sitting on their own thrones.

Alexander, one of the Five Summits.

Xu Jiaqi, one of the members of Black Dragon Order that learned the Pinnacle.

Vietnam’s Master Archer Miáo, the God of Archery’s descendant.

Greece’s Demetrys, the Disaster Qigong Master.

Germany’s Anton, the Infighter.

And many more. There were actually a total of 28 countries that participated in the Battle of the Thrones. There were three empty thrones among them. These thrones were none other than Korea’s Food God’s throne, Japan’s Musashi Kentaro’s throne, and France’s Calauhel’s throne. Instead of their kings, there were other people standing right behind their thrones.

South Korea’s representative standing behind the throne was none other than Genie. At the same time, more than 50,000 players appeared and gathered in front of each of their country’s castles. There were also a thousand NPCs gathered in a neat row right in front of the players.

Each of the countries had prepared their own performance.

First, Alexander, America’s Ghost of the Battlefield, stepped forward and raised his sword to the skies. Following his lead, all of the men that gathered below him pulled their swords out and raised them to the skies.

“For victory!”

“Victory!”

Then, a bright light appeared from their swords, illuminating the world. Meanwhile, the commentators began to speak.

[The performance that America is giving us is quite normal.]

[They are showing us their military force. That’s about it.]

Next was China, the nation of martial artists. All of them punched their fists in the air. The moment their fists stretched towards the skies, fireworks shot out and decorated the skies beautifully.

Russia, the country of tankers, created a spectacular performance with their square shields and mimicked the shell of a golden turtle. These performances were held solely to please the eyes and the ears of the viewers from all over the world, with each of the countries showing their performances in turn.

Finally, the final performance, South Korea’s performance, had started.

[Since this is the final performance, it should be flashier and grander than any other performances.]

[Many people had expressed their great anticipation and excitement for South Korea’s performance as the finale.]

But even after a short, pregnant pause, none of the players and the NPCs moved. Just when the viewers were about to voice out their doubts, a rough and loud cry echoed in the skies.

“Kihyeeeeeeeeeek!”

“Kihyaaaaaaaaack!”

All four of the legendary dragons, with a cintamani stone in each of their mouths, appeared in the skies. Flying right in front of them was Supreme Divine Beast Beanie wearing his golden crown, golden armor and glittering golden sword. As Beanie descended, the dragons immediately escorted him down. Then, a bright light burst out to their left, revealing another presence. The being that appeared was none other than a noble and lofty white wolf, Penrus. Penrus was as beautiful as he was cool. Another bright light burst out, revealing the figure of the Cerberus, Love, Hope and Happiness, which was immediately followed by the space above them tearing apart and revealing the presence of the gigantic Predatory Snake. All of them roared loudly.

“Kihyeeeeeeeeck!”

“Groaaaaaaaar!”

“Kihyaaaaaaaack!”

“Grrrrrraaaaaaaa!”

“Oiiiiiiiiink!!!”

With that, South Korea’s performance has ended. It was a very short, yet intense, display. South Korea had shown the world their strength through their divine beasts and named monsters. Everyone that watched the video expressed their envy towards the players that had obtained such powerful divine beasts. At the same time, they could not help but peel their eyes open and admire the shocking scene. Then, the commentary began.

[A fierce battle over thrones.]

[Who among them will take the Supreme King’s Throne?]

***

Immediately after the Battle of the Thrones started, notifications suddenly appeared on the screens of everyone watching, which brought the viewers great shock.

[Louvart Kingdom, Verrado Kingdom, Albedo Kingdom, Rolds Kingdom, Cardin Kingdom… has formed an alliance!]

[By signing a temporary alliance, these fifteen kingdoms will receive a penalty during the duration of their alliance. All troops will receive a 10% decrease in all of their stats and skill attack power as well as a 10% increase in skill cooldown!]

[The system will recognize if a country has received the attacks from this alliance and will give out special privileges to the said country’s kingdom.]

Fifteen countries including China, Indonesia, Russia, France, Germany, Greece, Vietnam, Thailand and many more had signed a temporary alliance. With this alliance, they would be able to monitor the movements of their allies’ troops on their maps. The fifteen kingdoms’ alliance was created to keep America and South Korea in check.

China’s Hu Yitian, a member of Black Dragon Order, was the one that massacred the South Korean rankers in the Continent Cloud during the Continental War between the Asgan Continent and the Cairon Continent. And now, he was receiving orders.

[Listen to your King’s command!]

[Everyone who has gathered and heard the King’s Command must head to the place appointed by the king!]

Hu Yitian led 900 players and 100 NPCs to the appointed gathering place in the Stars’ Path. When they arrived there, the troops from the 14 other countries were already lined up there.

The commentators were very quick to describe and announce what they were trying to do.

[The fifteen countries that have signed an alliance at the beginning already divided their troops and have gathered them in different places.]

[Although they have split their troops, there will still be a lot gathered. After all, each of the fifteen countries have sent 1,000 of their troops.]

[Their total number is 15,000.]

“Depart!!!”

“Depaaaaaart!”

The place where more than 10,000 allied troops were headed to was none other than Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In order to prevent the other countries that did not join their alliance from attacking them, they sent only 1,000 of their own troops. But even if they only sent a few, the total still reached 15,000.

The 15,000 strong army was tasked to attack Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If they successfully finished this task, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would lose their strength and military force. After this first scouting battle, the allied countries would then each send 5,000 troops which would increase their total by around 70,000.

“South Korea, without the Food God, is nothing more than a bunch of people gathered together.”

“This is our best opportunity.”

“Keuhahahahahahahahaha! What a good opportunity. We will be able to see the downfall of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom the moment we start!”

Everyone in the world believed that South Korea would not amount to anything without the Food God. Of course, they were aware that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom housed several powerful NPCs, but these NPCs would eventually get exhausted. They were confident that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would collapse even before the Food God could participate. Because of this, the people of South Korea were all very disappointed.

[What does it matter if they were active during the Athenae: World War? We will still be the country that’s the fastest to collapse during the Battle of the Thrones.]

[Wow… We’re really weak.]

[There’s nothing weak in winning or losing.]

Just when the troops were advancing through the forest…

Rustle—

“…?”

Hu Yitian and the other rankers immediately turned their heads to the direction where the sound came from.

“Oiiiiiiiiiiiiink!”

What appeared in front of him was a cute baby piggy with a shiny golden crown on his head.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

That was when the allied troops realized that there was something strange. But it was too late, the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had already appeared all from all over the place. Two tall and bulky men, Elpis and Kimaris, appeared from behind the bushes. There were also members standing up on the trees: Penrus, the Envoy of Incarnation Kaistra, and the Sword Saint Conir. Cerberus and Dog Slaughterer Locke also appeared on one side. Vice Guild Master Genie, Khan, and Emperor of the Sword Carr on another side. There was also Best Selling Erotica Author Aruvel, Talmor Leader Corr, Assassin of the Moon Lucia, and the former Artheon Guild Master Alicia on another side. Of course, Black Dragon and the four legendary dragons were hovering in the skies above them too. The allied troops turned vigilant as more members appeared.

‘What can they even do with just this number?’

There were only thirty people at most. But three minutes later, everyone tuned in to the broadcast froze in place after seeing these words on their screens:

[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has wiped out the 15,000 troops sent by the fifteen allied countries!]

An unbelievable announcement popped up on their screens. Yes. That was right. It only took three minutes for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to wipe out the 15,000 strong allied troops. Everyone was both shocked and terrified by the result presented.

1. A type of close-range fighting technique.