CH 418

Go Eun-ah, who was standing among the reporters, was shocked when she heard what Death said.

Who was Death? He was a powerful man that defeated all of the summoners that participated in the Summoner’s Great War without even lifting his butt off of his throne. Everyone even agreed that his power was equal to that of the Summit Five.

And right now, that very same man had declared to the world that he wanted to stand by Minhyuk. The reporters clicked away at their cameras, while the entire world felt terror creeping up from their spines from the video that was being transmitted to their screens.

‘How strong will Let’s Eat Sect become once Death joins them?!’

‘Can we even fight against them?!’

‘If a necromancer like Death joins the Let’s Eat Sect then it’s like adding wings to a tiger[1]!’

A one-man kingdom. These words perfectly described Death. However, the words that Minhyuk uttered next brought greater shock to everyone watching, “No. You can’t join us.”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The reporters looked at Minhyuk in stunned silence.

‘What did you say?! Food God, are you crazy?!’

The reporters suddenly broke out into a buzz. Even Death was shocked after hearing Minhyuk’s refusal. However, Minhyuk’s expression remained unfazed, it was as if he would never change his decision. And not long after, Death expressed his gratitude, “Thank you.”

Minhyuk did not explain why he refused Death. But Death, who was rejected, thanked him. The people that watched this scene might not know, but the two of them were very much aware of Death’s dream. It was to ‘establish a kingdom’ of his own. Minhyuk believed that he had enough power to do so.

Besides, Death was Rocard Kingdom’s enemy, a kingdom in alliance with Minhyuk. If Death served under Minhyuk, the Let’s Eat Sect would be thrown into chaos and confusion. They would just be like oil and water, never mixing together. Besides, Death said those words because he wanted to ‘pay back’ Minhyuk for his grace and kindness.

However, Minhyuk did not show him kindness in order for Death to repay him. Also, if Death served Minhyuk, he would not be able to expand his influence and territory in Athenae. After all, his ‘bowl’ was too big to work under Minhyuk.

All in all, refusing Death would, in fact, bring more benefits to Let’s Eat Sect. The Kingdom of Death that he would establish in the future would definitely form a strong alliance with the Let’s Eat Sect and become their shield.

But it did not matter whether they knew these facts or not, the entire world was busy discussing with each other in the community sites.

[The Food God is ve… No, he’s very impressive! My goodness! He rejected a strong person like Death!]

[So, there really is a player that can reject a strong person like Death. Food God Minhyuk! You’re really amazing.]

[The Food God has brought us a lot of surprises in this competition.]

***

The Athenae: World War had brought out plenty of players, who had hidden their power, into the public eye. They were fully aware that participating in the world war would show the world the extent of their powers. However, there was one main reason why they decided to participate. Was it for the glory of their country? Or perhaps, for fame? Of course, those were also included. The biggest reason though, was the rewards that they would get once they acquired medals.

The player that won a bronze medal would be able to acquire fifty platinum. The player that won a silver medal would be able to acquire an Artifact Reward Book, a book that could randomly award an epic~legendary artifact.

And, what about winning a gold medal? It would depend on the player’s choice. If the player chose to receive an artifact, they would be able to receive a legendary rank artifact, together with two hundred platinum.

It was not just limited to artifacts, the player could also choose an artifact ‘material’ or food ‘ingredient’. According to Athenae’s announcement, there was a high chance of receiving legendary-grade materials and ingredients. There was even a chance, albeit much lower, of getting God-grade materials and ingredients.

To be honest, all of the participants were more interested in God-grade materials and ingredients than a legendary-ranked artifact. After all, God-grade materials and ingredients would be able to help them approach, or even reach the ‘God-rank’. Besides, ‘God-grade’ materials and ingredients were still not yet officially released in Athenae, so all the more reason for their curiosity and hunger to get one.

As for the overall champions, they had a very slim chance of getting a God-ranked artifact instead of a legendary artifact. But even though Athenae had announced that they could obtain such an artifact, the odds were so slim that it was basically impossible.

The most important and the biggest reward was the MVP reward that would only be awarded to the player with the most medals. The rewards that the MVP would receive were naturally greater than the other rewards. In fact, the rewards that the MVP would receive had already been discussed by the management and the individual players before the Athenae: World War had started, they even signed a contract with the company.

The reward that Minhyuk asked for during the discussion was the ‘God’s Land’, something that could increase the amount of crops that they could harvest from Ingredient Heaven. The surprising fact was, Locke was the one that found out about the God’s Land in one of the books that he read. It was also the decisive reason that pushed Minhyuk in participating in Athenae: World War. In the end, the force that drove Minhyuk forward was still food.

With Death’s performance, South Korea has once again taken a gold medal. But after that, they only tasted bitterness. During the ‘Archer’s Great War’, Root only settled for the silver medal and failed to get the gold medal, despite his splendid performance. Right now, South Korea only had four gold medals and one silver medal. On the other hand, America had five gold medals, two silver medals and four bronze medals, with China and Japan following closely behind.

China and Japan were able to follow closely behind America because France, which Calauhel belonged to and the country they predicted to be close contenders, made blunders and dug their own graves during the Penalty Shoot-Out and Summoner’s Great War.

And the event that was going to be held soon was none other than the ‘Named Monster Hunting’. And the one representing Korea for this event was Minhyuk, who was currently waiting for the game to start in five minutes.

Meanwhile, the commentators quickly explained the rules of the event.

[The Named Monster Hunting event is as simple as its name suggests. The players are tasked to hunt the named monsters that would appear all over the area and get points. The players can get higher points for the monsters that they hunt, depending on the monster’s rank based on the Named Monster Ranking that the Athenae Management have set. The monsters will generally be ranked from one to five. The lower the number, the stronger the monster, and the higher the score.]

[On top of that, the players can use various potions, artifact materials, cooking ingredients, materials for bomb manufacturing and many other items during the event.]

[This rule aims to let the players exert their strongest power during the event. Ah, naturally, they can’t use it indefinitely. Each person can only drink up to three potion bottles. However, the ingredients and materials in their inventory, as well as the ingredients and materials that the named monsters will drop can be used indefinitely.]

[There’s also a monster ranked zero. We’ll pass the mic over to President Kang Taehoon for this. President, please explain it to us.]

[There will only be one zero-ranked monster that will appear in this event. Since this zero-ranked monster is stronger than all of the named monsters in this event, there will be scores for successful attacks, successful damage, and attack evasion. A zero-ranked monster is something that none of the rankers can easily deal with, it was placed there to show them that only a part of the Athenae worldview has been released to the public and that there are still a lot of strong beings in existence out there waiting for them. If, by any chance, someone successfully hunts this monster in this event, they will be hailed as this event’s champion.]

Everyone was filled with expectations after hearing President Kang Taehoon’s explanation. That was the zero-ranked monster, a monster that was yet to be revealed to the world! In fact, even the named monsters that were known to the world were already very hard for the ordinary viewers to hunt, that was why they were excited to watch the rankers hunt these monsters.

[I heard that this competition has a special system. Is that true?]

[That’s right. The emotions of the zero-ranked monster will ring as notifications to the players and will be displayed to the audience on the screens. Even though the monster is a zero-ranked monster they also have emotions, like ‘fear’ and the like, and would change from time to time. I’m sure it will make the audience go wild, watching the rankers push the zero-ranked monster to its limit.]

[But unlike other games, we can expect plenty of variables to appear in the Named Monster Hunting event.]

[That’s only natural. There are other classes that have special abilities for monster hunting.]

[Just being the strongest in PVP won’t make you the best in monster hunting. There will definitely be someone else that would reach the apex in monster hunting.]

[Let me tell you this. According to the experts, it will be hard for those players hailed as the strongest in their own fields to keep the title of the strongest in this Named Monster Hunting event.]

[Then, how about our very own, South Korea’s Food God Minhyuk?]

[Player Minhyuk is definitely our pride and he really is a strong competitor, but we must expect a difficult battle ahead. Compared to the Penalty Shoot-Out, he will not have Ali and Root to support him. It’s also still up for discussion if his strong abilities could exert great power in a battle against named monsters. And that’s not all. Calauhel is also playing in this event, so we can expect him to do his best to keep Minhyuk in check.]

[I think it’s not a bad idea for Player Ali to participate in this event with his AOE magic.]

[This is mainly because players can’t participate in two consecutive games. And Ali will be participating in the following event, the ‘Magic Battle’.]

[The players are entering their capsules as we speak!]

[I’m so excited to watch these players hunt named monsters!]

What greeted the players when they entered the stadium was a different view from the stadiums that had been used so far. There was hot lava erupting all over the place and the atmosphere was dark and gloomy. It was as if they were in the…

“De… Demon World…?!”

That was right. Just like one of the spectators said, the stadium looked like the Demon World depicted in comic books. Then, dozens of named monsters began to appear. The audience wondered if the reason why the Demon World appeared was because of the existence of the zero-ranked monster. This was because the zero-ranked monster was the boss mob of this Named Monster Hunting event. Minhyuk, who appeared after a warp, also saw the named monsters appearing one after the other around him.

Right now, all of the players were thinking the same thing. The zero-ranked named monster would appear towards the end of the game, so they had to do their best to gain points by quickly hunting the other named monsters. America’s Alexander moved swiftly. Japan’s Kentaro also moved, not losing ground against him. Minhyuk also tried to move. However, Calauhel appeared in front of him before he could do so. He was not alone. The other players that were also wary of Minhyuk’s strength also moved to block him.

‘Just like I thought, it’s going to be difficult from the start.’

Minhyuk frowned. But then, at that moment, a startling notification rang out for everyone. Calauhel, who was trying to attack Minhyuk, and even Alexander and Kentaro, who were dashing forward to hunt monsters, also heard the notification.

[The Zero Monster has shown itself to the world!]

Booooooooom—

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

It happened in an instant. Dozens of black lightning bolts struck down the ground. Then, the players heard another notification.

[The Zero Monster is happily greeting someone.]

“…?”

“What the hell?”

“What nonsense is this?! Why did the zero-ranked monster appear at the start?!!”

“Shit! He came out to welcome someone?!”

The players shouted in disbelief. Who was the one that made the zero-ranked monster come out to meet them? What kind of bullshit was this? However, the notifications did not end there.

[The Zero Monster will never forget the player that shed tears for him.]

[The Zero Monster remembers the player that gave his all for him.]

Then…

Baaaaaaang—

…the figure of the monster appeared in front of them as the final black lightning bolt struck down. Contrary to what the Athenae management had announced, the monster had the figure of a human, who was around 180 centimeters tall, with a sword hanging on his waist. There was one player that accidentally made eye contact with him. This player was none other than Japan’s Kentaro. And Kentaro…

[The transcendental power of the being in front of you has forced you to submit.]

[You will experience difficulty in breathing.]

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp.”

Kentaro, who was in disbelief, felt the sweat drip down his entire body. Just a simple eye contact and he was already brought down to his knees with an abnormal status. The number of players groaning and moaning started to increase. Finally, the monster’s eyes stared at the place where Minhyuk was standing. Then, the notifications started to ring once again.

[The identity of the Zero Monster has been revealed!]

[He is a being that was once a human. However, the Great Demons turned him into a vessel that would contain their demonic energy. He is an existence that even the Great Demons fear.]

[Lesser Demon Diablo.]

1. A Chinese idiom. Tiger refers to something strong and powerful and adding wings to a tiger means they’re making something that’s already strong even more powerful. ☜