Gourmet Gaming-Chapter 1315

Chapter 1315

The life of a Transcendental was dull. For one, they were stronger than the gods and had reached the peak. There was nothing else left for them to do. Should they try to become Pillars? There were different conditions for Transcendentals and Pillars. Transcendentals did not specialize in a single field. They were just strong.

Hence, the life of Bender continued to be dull. Thankfully, Minhyuk’s cooking had eased some of that boredom. He had been looking forward to the delicious meals that Minhyuk delivered to them. Just thinking about the day when Minhyuk would come to visit them would fill him with excitement.

At the same time, Transcendentals were not stupid. They carried intelligence and were bound to lose interest in something that happened repetitively. At the time when Minhyuk’s dishes were starting to lose their allure, Bender found something new that piqued his interest and gave him joy.

And it was none other than attention-seeking. When he received the attention of the people, he felt as if the blood that had grown stagnant in his body had thawed and began to circulate rapidly in his veins. His heart thumped wildly, and he was filled with a thrilling sensation.

It was fun. It was interesting. It was thrilling! It was something that no other word could ever describe.

The group was initially named Ellie and the Attention Seekers, but was later changed to Bender and the Attention Seekers. In other words, Bender was now their leader. And what Bender needed as their leader was more attention seekers who could make their light shine brighter and more glorious. However, he had rigorous and demanding conditions.

‘First, they have to be strong. Second, they should not be evil.’

Finding people who could check both conditions and be a part of Bender and the Attention Seekers was surprisingly not as easy as he thought.

Then, something remarkable happened today. Minhyuk began cooking in the Beyond the Heavens Empire to help those who had reached the walls that limited their growth to awaken further.

So, Bender began to make a move. The first thing that he did was to gather the people together by sending the “Hidden Quest: Bender and the Attention Seekers’ Member Recruitment” to the players.

Next, he found someone from the Beyond the Heavens Empire who had already awakened. And the first place that Bender visited was the place where Sword God Conir was.

‘He absorbed the power of Sword God Valen and has been reborn as the true Sword God.’

There, he saw Valen staring at Conir in a daze. When Bender appeared beside him, he turned his head slightly to look at him before turning back to look at the boy. Bender turned to look at the boy, too.

Bender was the greatest and the best who had stood in the position of the strongest for thousands of years. Even though Minhyuk had grown extremely strong, he still would not be able to win against Bender right now. He could instantly see why Valen would stand here in a daze and not leave his position.

‘He’s flexible but also firm. He’s tough yet also soft. The way he swings his sword is sophisticated and without any mistakes. The sword that he swings is creating a new path for the sword.’

The young boy had created hundreds of sword moves and identified the best among them. A shiver ran down Bender’s spine as he watched the boy. He could not help but cry out, “Pass!”

“I’m Conir! Hello, Transcendental ahjussi!” The boy greeted Bender when he came back to his senses.

Bender smiled meaningfully and said, “Boy, do you know what attention is?”

“Conir! Minhyuk hyung warned me not to get close to Bender ahjussi and Ellie noona!”

‘That brat...?!’

Bender felt like Minhyuk was the source of all evil. He could tell that the young man had brainwashed the boy to stop him from entering their attention-seeking group.

“No. That’s not it. Boy, listen well. Don’t you think that it’s very delightful to see the people cheer for you once you complete the Heart Sword? Minhyuk and the rest of the Beyond the Heavens Empire will look up to you. And to do that, you need some ‘showmanship’ and ‘direction’. It will be your coolest and most beautiful appearance.”

“C-Conir! Conir likes a cool appearance!”

“Fufufu. Right, right. The line, ‘One second. That’s the time it will take for me to cut you down.’ shows that you have a lot of talent already, boy. Once you complete the Heart Sword, all you need to do is perform a cool appearance and take the leap. As our member.”

“Wow! Conir! Conir is now a member of the Attention Seekers!”

“Fufufu. That’s right.”

“Conir feels great. Conir thinks that Conir can really make it!”

The completion of Conir’s swordsmanship depended on his mood, and its rate of completion would increase the better and more delighted he felt. It was something that even Bender could not understand. The delighted Conir quickly reached the end of the final chapter of the Heart Sword.

‘He’s really a genius, no?’ Bender thought, acknowledging the boy and his talents.

Then, suddenly, Conir sprung a surprise question. He asked, “Transcendental ahjussi! If I learn this, where will I use it?!”

“...”

‘Huh? He’s correct?’

If Conir suddenly appeared and said, ‘One second. That’s the time it will take for me to kill you.’ out of nowhere, then he would be treated like a madman. Now that Bender had looked back on the history of the Attention Seekers, he realized that they only shone in moments of crisis and desperation.

The most recent situation was in the Land of the Gods. Grand General Jenel not only tortured(?) Minhyuk, but also trampled and spat on him. That was why Bender and the Attention Seekers revealed their powers and strength and announced their existence to the world. The situation right now was nothing like that time.

Nothing was going on now, and there were no enemies to deal with. Soon, the players would have to complete the quest and prove how well they could get attention. The problem was that there was no target.

Bender, with a profound expression on his face, remained silent. Conir, who failed to get an answer, focused on his task and continued to complete the final chapter of his swordsmanship.

At this moment, Bender felt a massive sense of responsibility land upon his shoulders. He thought, ‘Where can we even find a sturdy guy...’

***

The Evil God possessed only 75% of the power of his main body in its prime. Of course, he had grown weak over time. Thanks to Kronos’ help, Obren’s Sin now possessed almost 85% of that power. Nonetheless, it was still an enormous amount of power. After all, the Evil God was the one who fought against all of the gods in the Land of the Gods.

Obren’s Sin hid in the Beyond the Heavens Empire the moment he escaped from Hell’s Abyss. He silently toured the entire empire and found it both exceptional and unusual.

[In the end, an empire is maintained under the rule and authority of humans.]

The people had to bow their heads in front of those who stood in a position higher than theirs. Not only that, they had to be careful not to make a mistake. Sometimes, the strong had to bring judgment upon them and show them their authority.

The Beyond the Heavens Empire was different. It was a place where both the strong and the weak, the ordinary people and the nobles, lived together in harmony and peace. Even their emperor was doing something significant. He was cooking day and night to help his people break down the walls that limited their growth.

The Evil God looked up at the sky where the Guardian God was. Then, he uttered a question that his main body would never hear.

[You abandoned yourself for something like this?]

He had chosen to become a Guardian God, a choice that left him weaker than ever. Did he walk this path while knowing that? Wasn’t he the one who was betrayed by Kronad and the tens of millions of people behind the pope? Wasn’t he the one who the people persecuted with their swords pointing at his neck? That was why Obren’s Sin could not understand why the Guardian God could have such a gentle smile despite all of that.

Then, the Evil God mumbled another question.

[Is this all?]

The Guardian God was looking down at Minhyuk from above, a gentle smile on his face. He stood there watching over the Beyond the Heavens Empire for days on end, happy to watch the man cook like that.

[Yet here I am suffering because of you.]

Obren’s Sin was left suffering from pain inside the dark and dreary grave in Hell’s Abyss. Obren was the one who slaughtered those people, yet now he was the only one suffering from the crime that they had committed.

Humans always betrayed humans. Even though he knew this, and even though he had suffered like that and been mistreated in the past, Obren still chose to give up his power and become an imperial dog. For that, Obren’s Sin hated him.

[I will slaughter every single person in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

The Evil God’s killing intent began to spread.

***

Minhyuk was very delighted when his DEX transformed into the Pillar’s DEX.

‘Maybe I will be able to beat Athenae’s influence rating with this?’

Of course, it was just wishful thinking. However, he could not help but think that he might be able to catch up with her at the very least. After all, he was currently in the middle of fulfilling the promise of making the one hundred God-grade dishes that he had made in front of all of the viewers of his live broadcast. The influence that he could get from this might just catapult his influence rating to second place. He was looking forward to that happening.

‘In the first place, a new challenge was made when I started cooking.’

He wanted to challenge cooking three Pillar-grade level ingredients at the same time. And the dish that he planned to make was nakgopsae.

‘Once I finish making the one hundred God-grade dishes, then...’

At that moment, a series of alarming notifications rang amidst the constant notifications about the Pillar’s DEX ringing in Minhyuk’s ears.

[Warning.]

[Warning.]

[Obren’s Sin, the Evil God, has descended!]

[You will be able to obtain rewards if you can successfully hunt Obren’s Sin, the Evil God.]

Minhyuk’s eyes snapped toward one direction the moment he heard the notifications. There, he saw a being who looked like Obren yet was utterly different.

[Obren’s Sin, the Evil God. Level 1,205.]

Minhyuk’s breath hitched in surprise. At that moment, their gazes met.

[Disappear.]

Tens of thousands of the Evil God’s Books appeared in the sky above them. The books summoned tens of thousands of lightning strikes that shot toward Minhyuk.

[Warning.]

[You will be forced to log out if you get hit by all of the lightning strikes...]

The notification left Minhyuk breathless, unable to respond to the sudden turn of events.

‘It’s just a single attack, but I’m going to be forced to log out?’

A disaster had suddenly appeared while he was in the middle of cooking. Then, at that moment...

[Guardian God’s Barrier.]

[The Guardian God is protecting you.]

[However, you cannot attack anyone while you’re inside the Guardian God’s Barrier.]

[The Guardian God’s Barrier will not disappear.]

Bang, bang, bang!

A blue barrier appeared and surrounded Minhyuk, protecting him from all of the lightning strikes that were falling upon him.

Minhyuk had heard why Obren came back a bit later from Hell’s Abyss. He had also heard about Obren’s other self that he had met in the dark pits of the Abyss. However, the two of them never expected that his other version would do something this explosive.

Guardian God Obren wanted to make a move right away. He said, “Stop! If you activate the Evil God’s Descent, then we’ll...”

Unfortunately, Obren’s Sin was one step faster than him.

[Evil God’s Descent.]

[Warning.]

[Warning.]

[This is an Eight Pillar Disaster.]

[The Evil God has made the entire world shake with fear and terror.]

Minhyuk had heard about the effects of this Pillar Disaster from Obren. According to Obren, an entire kingdom or empire will take the path of destruction and disappear within five minutes of the Disaster’s activation.

–There’s only one way to stop it. You need to reduce my HP to less than 50% in a very short time. However... that’s theoretically impossible.

–Impossible? Why?

–Because the moment my power descends, everyone in the area will be left incapacitated. Once the extreme fear was triggered, it would be impossible to move.

Minhyuk could not understand it back then. Now, as the power enveloped the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire...

[The abnormal status: Evil God’s Terror has been activated.]

[The Evil God’s Terror has left you suffocating.]

[You are starting to lose air.]

[The Guardian God’s Barrier is protecting you.]

[You cannot leave the confines of the Guardian God’s Barrier for two minutes.]

Minhyuk hurriedly looked around him. Everyone around him had already started to turn a deadly shade of white. Obren, Ben, Elpis, Elizabeth, all of the people around him, including his people and the spectators, were all suffering. The only one who was fine was him. Then, they began to grab their necks in desperation.

[The Evil God’s Descent makes them fall into a more profound and more terrifying fear.]

The humans feared drowning in the water the most. The pain of not being able to breathe, no matter how hard they tried to breathe, and their feet unable to reach the ground no matter how hard they struggled under water, left them with deep-seated terror.

Minhyuk tried to break out of the barrier to save his terrified people, but he couldn't get out. Obren had made it so that he would not be able to come out in preparation for times like this. Because Obren knew that Minhyuk would die if he got out of the barrier before the Evil God’s Descent was over.

[In ten seconds, everyone will die from suffocation.]

[In nine seconds, everyone will die from suffocation.]

Fear appeared on Minhyuk’s face when he heard the notification. His head turned blank at the disaster that suddenly fell upon them.

[You cannot stop me. You’re the reason my main body chose to become the Guardian God.

Obren’s Sin cackled.

[Watch. Open those eyes of yours and watch. That’s the only thing that you can do. After all, you will not be able to cut me down because you’re trapped inside the power of the Guardian God.]

The Evil God sneered at Minhyuk.

[In eight seconds, everyone will die from suffocation.]

[In seven seconds, everyone will die from suffocation.]

Then, at that moment, a smile of delight appeared on Minhyuk’s face. He turned to look at the horizon.

Obren had told him that they needed to drop his HP to less than 50% in ten seconds to stop the effects of his power. It was a short time, but perhaps it was possible now.

Ping!

The sword’s cry in the sky above the Beyond the Heavens Empire. As the beautiful and clear cry resonated...

[Ten Thousand Li Sword.]

...the final chapter of the Heart Sword appeared and slashed Obren’s Sin.

Swoosh!

[Urk...!]

Obren’s Sin looked down at the blood spurting out of the diagonal cut that had appeared on his chest. Yet he continued to cackle despite the blood gushing out of him.

Minhyuk looked out over the horizon once again as a sound that only he, the master, and the lord could hear rang in his ears.

[Sword God Conir has successfully created his final chapter of the Heart Sword.]

Obren’s Sin turned to look at the horizon with an unpleasant expression on his face.

[Where did you cut me from? The power to ignore the concept of distance? What a surprising power.]

His eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at the horizon.

[Around 179 kilometers to the west. Did you cut me from there? Interesting.]

He located Conir right away.

Minhyuk’s lips were twisted into a nasty grin when he heard the notification. Then, he snarled, “Conir. Tear him apart.”

Ping!

PING!

PING!

PING!

The sword’s cry rang once again. This time, it was not just a single cry. Obren’s Sin hurriedly tried to turn toward the direction from which the sword was supposed to come, to defend against the attack.

[In three seconds, everyone will die from suffocation.]

At that moment, Obren’s Sin’s eyes grew wide from shock.

“One second.”

[...?!]

The boy, who was supposed to be 179 kilometers away from him, suddenly appeared in front of him. There were dozens of swords surrounding the kneeling boy, releasing their cries.

“That’s the time it would take for me to tear you apart.”

The crying swords shot out and tore the Evil God apart.

[The Evil God’s Descent has been cancelled.]

The attack had made Obren’s Sin’s HP fall below 50%.

And the new chapter of the Heart Sword that Conir created was this.

[Thousand Li Shifting Sword.]

A power that allowed the skill user to transcend space and appear in front of the enemy to tear them apart.