Chapter 402: Vassal Brod

Chapter 402: Vassal Brod

After restoring Athenae’s Beef Tenderloin using his Material Restoration skill, Minhyuk immediately started cooking.

When requesting for medium rare, in terms of degrees of steak doneness, it could be considered slightly undercooked. Quite a lot of people preferred this doneness, especially with its perfectly charred outside and juicy insides. Thus, medium rare was the perfect doneness for those that were still new to steak.

Minhyuk seasoned the meat and tried to start grilling on his now well-heated pan. But before he could do so, a set of notifications rang in his head.

[God’s Cooking Ingredient does not recognize and approve of you.]

[You will receive a huge restriction while cooking.]

“...?”

Minhyuk looked at the notifications in doubt. It did not recognize and approve of him? What did it mean?

‘Are you telling me that I’m not yet at the level where I can handle God’s Ingredient yet?’

This was the only conclusion that he could come up with. Minhyuk might have a God class, but he was not yet a ‘God’. The Athenae management had also informed him that he was not a true ‘God’, but a ‘candidate’ to become one. Even if Minhyuk had made a ‘God-grade’ dish, the ingredients that he used back then were only the ‘Five Legendary Ingredients’. These ingredients were inherently different from God’s Ingredients.

However, even after knowing that, Minhyuk did not have the leisure to back down and step away from this challenge. He quickly placed the steak on the frying pan to grill it. But then, at that moment...

Sizzle—

...around a hundred droplets made of light appeared on the surface of the meat before shooting toward Minhyuk.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

[God’s Barrier has interfered with you.]

[Your HP has dropped below 85%.]

“Keheok?!”

It was only then that Minhyuk realized that the attack of those light droplets was beyond what he could imagine. He was so shocked to discover that these droplets, which looked smaller than his fingernails, could deal so much damage to him.

‘If things continue at this rate, then I will die cooking.’

However, Minhyuk did not have any other choice.

Sizzle—

He had already placed the steak on the pan, and it was already starting to get cooked. The way to cook steak was short and simple. However, it was vital that the meat get flipped at the right time. If he missed the timing even just by a little, Athenae’s Beef Tenderloin would be turned into scrap.

The notifications before just told him that he was not acknowledged, but it did not mean that he could not cook the ingredient. This meant that Minhyuk could cook it using any method possible. However, if things continued at this rate, he might die while cooking. That was when Brod stepped forward.

“I will try to stop this power.”

“You’ll do that?”

Brod nodded. And just when Minhyuk grabbed the tongs to flip the meat...

[God’s Barrier has interfered with you.]

This time, there were more drops of light that shot out to attack Minhyuk. But then...

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping—

...Brod started splitting the small drops of light.

‘Crazy...!’

Minhyuk looked at him in shock as he continued to cook. However, despite Brod’s spectacular display, he was still unable to block all of them. There were hundreds of droplets, and it would only take two seconds for these droplets to hit Minhyuk. Within that time frame, Brod was able to cut down 90, while the remaining 10 continued to shoot toward Minhyuk. Then...

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

...Brod used his own body to stop the water droplets. Minhyuk could tell that he was suffering from immense pain. As a player, he did not really feel that much pain from these attacks, but for Brod, an NPC, Minhyuk was sure that the pain would be borderline torturous.

But Brod just frowned and continued to swing his sword toward the forming droplets of light. The ones that he could not stop with his sword, he used his body to block.

“Spat!” Brod suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. He did not even mutter a sound, but it was obvious that he was suffering from the drops of sweat that covered his body. Brod staggered and in the end...

Thud—

...he was forced to support his body with his sword as he collapsed on one knee. Shockingly, he did not let out a single groan from the pain.

“Are you alright?”

“Don’t stop!!! Don’t ever stop!!!”

“...Yes.”

Right then and there, Minhyuk decided to concentrate and put his all into cooking this steak. As he grilled the meat, Minhyuk thought that the figure that blocked the attacks for him was dazzling and eye-catching. Brod was fighting with his life on the line for Princess Iris whom he loved since he was a child. And his will to save his beloved was clearly transmitted to Minhyuk. At that moment, Minhyuk thought that he did not want to see these two people part ways forever. Unknowingly, Minhyuk fell into a ‘trance’.

Sizzle—

Crackle, crackle—

Baaaaaaaaaang!

A bloody lightning bolt fell down and devoured the surrounding area. The lightning strike decimated a huge number of drakes leaving no traces behind.

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

Minhyuk quickly advanced among tens of thousands of the undead. And this was him still in the ‘Death Zone’! Each swing of Minhyuk’s sword created a bloody lightning bolt that struck down and devoured the undead in his path. Even the aftermath decimated those that surrounded him.

‘It’s the sword! It’s the sword!’ Death finally realized that it was Minhyuk’s sword that was creating that special effect.

Death’s ‘Enemy Troops Observation’ would succeed in its observation and search if his enemy used an active skill. It was because of this that Death reached a very surprising conclusion.

‘What kind of passive skill is that...?!’

A passive skill could blow up an area with a radius of ten meters? Passive skills were inherently different from active skills. For passive skills, a critical damage or special attack would only be triggered based on chances and luck. Compared to active skills, some could not be easily used and could only be up to one’s pure luck.

But right now, every swing of Minhyuk’s sword triggered a passive skill that engulfed the entire battlefield. That was when Death suddenly realized something...

“Hi, hiiiiik?!”

The thought brought horror to Death. Minhyuk only needed to take one step, just one step, and he would get out of the Death Zone. Two steps and he would reach his vicinity. Three steps and he would be right in front of him.

“Stop hiiiiiiim!”

Those were just basic attacks. But the advantage of passive skills was that they could be applied to ‘continuous attacks’ and ‘AOE attacks’. For example, the skill ‘Light of Death’ was a skill that could stab the enemy’s vital points ten consecutive times in a split second. But what if the assassin had a chance to double the damage that they could inflict in an instant with their passive skill? What would happen if that passive skill was triggered? Then, the assassin’s attack would become much stronger. On top of that, passive skills were heavily influenced by ‘luck’. Simply put, one could trigger three critical hits after those ten stabs. So, what would happen if that powerful passive skill was triggered continuously?

Then, at that moment...

Step—

...Minhyuk left the sphere of influence of the Death Zone. The moment he stepped out of the area, hundreds of golden leaves started to fall and flutter around him!

“Fluttering Sword.”

The falling leaves turned into sharp sword lights that cut through the undead.

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping—

Even the mysterious passive skill was triggered as dozens of bloody lightning bolts fell down from the skies.

Baaaaaaaang—

Baaaaaaaang—

Baaaaaaaang—

Baaaaaaaang—

The aftermath of the passive skill blew away an area with a radius of dozens of meters. The notifications that resulted from this attack brought terror to Death.

[The notification cannot determine the exact amount of damage received by the undead.]

[Analyzing the total damage incurred. 4,151 Skeleton Knights, 1,111 Skeleton Mages, 130 Skeleton Knight Lords and 120 Bone Dragon Lords have been destroyed.]

“Hiiiiiiiik!” Death shrieked when he heard the notifications. He took a step back only to fall down on the ground. This was the power that only one player exerted?!

‘Summit Five...?!’

It was a personal power that could rival a kingdom. It had to be his own personal power, otherwise, Death could not explain it at all.

‘They said that he was weak!’

For a moment, Death wanted to argue with the people from all over the world. The experts from all over the world and the people from the global community sites evaluated the Food God as just some pretty good ranker.

However, the power that he was demonstrating right now was not just a pretty good ranker! A single attack from him had made more than 5,000 undead disappear in an instant!

“Gasp, gasp!” Death gasped heavily. This was a very unexpected situation.

‘Wait... I still have a chance.’

That was right. After all, Minhyuk was alone among thousands of his undead! Besides, the people of Rocard Kingdom and his Named NPCs were already exhausted! Just when the thought crossed Death’s mind, Minhyuk looked around as he continued to stand still in the middle of the tens of thousands of undead that rushed towards him.

“Earth King’s Authority,” Minhyuk said as he looked at the undead flocking towards him.

“Worship.”

Baaaaaaaaang—

At that moment, Death felt a suffocating pressure press down on him. His entire body trembled from the pressure and fear. It was so scary that he almost wet himself. The scene that unfolded in front of Death made him shudder in fear. Tens of thousands of undead knelt down and heeded his every word.

Worship. That was right, they knelt down in worship. All of the undead knelt down and showed their reverence, as if they had accepted Minhyuk as their king.