Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 189: Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

Before the Crazy Hunter, or Suicidal Rovan, had realized it, he was already at Level 360. A level that was much higher than Minhyuk’s level. He even used Berserker’s Madness as soon as he entered Valhalla Territory. It was a skill that deducted five points from all of his basic stats and would not allow him to gain EXP for three straight days! However, in exchange for such a huge penalty, he would be able to raise all of his abilities by 50%. With this much strength, Rovan believed that he was in a position where he considered himself to be strong enough to not fall behind the rest of his guild.

‘But this damned stone lion’s defense is too high!!’

Plop, plop, plop!

It was too difficult to penetrate through its defenses. Even though he had struck it with his greatsword using all his might, only a pile of stones were removed from its body. It seemed like his strike did not cause too much of a damage, because its defense was too high.

At that moment, he heard a familiar sound.

“Bbiiiiiiiiiiii!”

[Gryphon’s Cry.]

[Guild Member Minhyuk’s buffing ability has resulted in a 15% increase in all five of your basic stats.]

“It’s been a long time, right?” Rovan said, recalling this familiar cry. It was the sound that he had frequently heard in the past when they were hunting in the Shrieking Hills. That was the moment when the Crazy Hunter Rovan finally became fed up with hunting for the first time in his life! It was also the first time that he had suffered from a defeat. However, in the current situation, Rovan was quite confident.

‘I even used Berserker’s Madness, you know?’

Although he was not able to kill the stone lion, it was not because he was weak, but because it had such a high defense. Even now, the great Kaistra could not even break through the defenses of the stone lions. It seemed like their defense was at least 4,500. The stone lions were acting as tankers while Baphomet was shooting magic from the back. This was the reason why they could easily jump around them.

Then, he remembered what Locke had told him a while ago. He had said,?‘I already told you that I went to the Time Attack Dungeon with Minhyuk not too long ago, right?’

‘But you know, when I played the game with Minhyuk, I suddenly missed my mom.’

‘Eh?’

Rovan was taken aback then, but Locke did not say anything else after that. It was as if he was sure that he would know about it sooner or later.

‘Why did you turn on the aggro? You can’t handle everything,’?Rovan thought, hurrying over to support Minhyuk the moment he saw him draw the aggro.

Rovan caught sight of Minhyuk the moment he turned around. It was a reunion that was long overdue. He could see that Minhyuk had changed a lot. He was currently wearing a rugged helmet, an old cloak, and bone armor, while there was a baby pig on his shoulder. Not long after, around six to eight stone lions flocked to where Minhyuk was. There were even at least 20 Anubises rushing forward.

‘Eeek! I should go help him!’

Just as Rovan was about to move, Minhyuk moved his sword. Rovan watched as sword lights flew around and pierced the monsters one after the other. This was Rampant Sword, Minhyuk’s commonly-used AOE sword skill, one that let out a flurry of sword lights that would swing and slash at his enemies indiscriminately.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!

Rovan’s eyes widened in shock.

“Gasp...!”

The thick hide of the stone lion that none of the Legend Guild members could penetrate through was beginning to crack and tear apart. Then...

Bang! Bang! Baaaang!

…They began to fall one by one as blood spurted out of their bodies. These were the very same stone lions that they had initially believed to have been made entirely out of stones. That was not the end yet. Flowers made out of sword blades bloomed on the ground as they engulfed the stone lions with huge explosions.

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

The members of Legend Guild that were struggling to hunt the stone lions earlier all turned to look at Minhyuk. As for Rovan, who was already under the effects of Berserker’s Madness and still struggled against a stone lion, he turned to look at the distance. He could now understand what Locke felt that day.

“...Dad, I miss you,” Rovan said. He liked his dad better than his mom after all.

***

Minhyuk grabbed his sword tightly as he let out a huge breath. The only reason why he could easily hunt the stone lions was because of ‘Intangible Sword’. In fact, the HP and attack of the stone lions were not that high. They were only there to act as tankers because of their extremely high defense that was very hard to break through.

However, after Minhyuk used Blooming Sword, with its hundreds of exploding sword blades, and Rampant Sword, with its indiscriminate attacks for nine straight seconds, the stone lions failed to escape the Intangible Sword and ended up exploding to their deaths.

That was when Minhyuk turned to look somewhere else. The moment Baphomet entered his sight, the same notifications that the Legend Guild had heard before also rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[The Demon World’s Seventh Demonic Monster, Baphomet has appeared!]

[Pharaoh is not Baphomet’s Attributed Summoner.]

[If you’re able to successfully hunt Baphomet, you will be the first to receive the Demon World’s rewards.]

‘First to receive the Demon World’s rewards?’?Minhyuk thought, wondering if it would be something delicious since it would be the very first reward to be sent out.

Baphomet looked at Minhyuk warily. He was the person that easily hunted down the stone lions. Baphomet raised its staff as black mana erupted from it and wrapped around Minhyuk.

“Eumeeeeeeeeeh!”

[The Demonic Monster’s Curse.]

[Your Physical Attack has been reduced by 40%.]

[Your Physical Defense has been reduced by 40%.]

[Your Magical Attack has been reduced by 40%.]

[Your Magical Defense has been reduced by 40%.]

[Your skills’ cooldown duration has increased by 20%.]

[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

[You have resisted an abnormal state.]

Along with those notifications, another unexpected notification rang in his ears.

[A Demonic Monster.]

[Special Privileges are applied depending on the Holy Power Stat.]

[Pandora’s Helmet’s special effect has been applied. Your Holy Power has been doubled. Your attack and defense against Demonic Monsters has increased by 100%.]

“...?”

Minhyuk was surprised. It seemed like the effect was not only applied to the undead, but also to the Demonic Monsters. However, from what he could recall,?Athenae?had not yet released information about Demonic Monsters, the Demon World, nor the Demon Race. However, even if that was not the case, the beings in the Demon World held power that was opposite to holy power. As for Minhyuk, the most important thing was that Baphomet was shining with a black light.

[Ingredients that can be obtained from Baphomet.]

[Shoulder bone, frenched rack, sirloin, tenderloin... omitted.]

Just like what he expected, it was something that he could eat. Minhyuk saw Locke taking advantage of Baphomet’s carelessness. He saw him approaching and launching an attack on Baphomet’s shoulders.

Shing, shing, shing!

However, a black shield sprung up suddenly and blocked his attack!

Shing!

Crash!

Slash!

“Meeeeeeh!” Baphomet cried loudly and raised its staff, making Locke fly away.

Roll, roll, roll, roll.

“Keuheek!”

Locke rolled on the ground with a sound that strangely resembled the cry of a dying frog. At that moment, Minhyuk could see that Baphomet’s shoulder was regenerating and recovering at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.

“...?!”

Minhyuk’s foodie antenna was suddenly triggered. He said, “I…I won’t have to worry about getting lamb meat for the rest of my life...!”

He decided to capture it and get lamb meat from it. After all, the Baphomet would just recover naturally. It meant that he would have an infinite supply of lamb meat! This was what they literally call the creative economy! The question was how he could capture it. At that moment, he remembered his ‘Allurer’s Cooking Skill’. However, Minhyuk could not help but feel frustrated.

‘Kgggghk! It’s impossible! It’s level is more than 100 levels higher than mine!’

‘Oh my god!’

This was the moment that Minhyuk felt sorry that he could not get lamb meat that was as amazing as an infinitely refillable beef. Minhyuk shook the sad thought out of his head.

‘I can’t help it so I should just be satisfied with the lamb chops, lamb steaks and lamb skewers that I can get with these delicious lamb meat for now!’

Dash!

Minhyuk moved like the wind. The Legend Guild members had been on the defensive, so they were quite relieved when all the stone lions died.

“Minhyuk, it’s dangerous!”

“That punk is strong!”

The guild members were concerned about his safety. They did not know about Minhyuk’s invincibility, so they believed that Minhyuk was under the power of the debuff after being invaded by the black mana. They were also unaware that holy power could work against Demonic Monsters. If they did not consider those things, then Minhyuk was actually no different from the regular guild members right now. In any case, Minhyuk still dashed forward!

Baphomet slammed his staff on the ground and aimed towards Minhyuk.

Crackle!

A ball of fire, a flash of lightning, and a blade of wind that could tear everything apart, were shot straight towards Minhyuk.

[Frying Pan Gigantification.]

[You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

Minhyuk’s frying pan grew large as he used it to block his path forward.

Bang! Clang, clang!

[Magical Reflection.]

[You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

One of the spells bounced right back. Baphomet swung its staff as it created a black shield in front of itself.

Bang!

The magic spell was easily blown away by the black shield. Minhyuk gestured at him with his right hand as he placed his frying pan behind him again.

“...He got guts.”

“Does he think that he’s Bruce Lee?”

The guild members looked at him in embarrassment. After Minhyuk finished doing his ‘come hither’ gesture, he continued to run forward.

Dash!

“Meeeeeeeeeeeh!” Baphomet bleated furiously after seeing Minhyuk’s provocation. Dozens of magic emerged around it and flew towards Minhyuk.

Shwaaaaak!

Shwwaaaaaaaak!

Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

“Cr…crazy...!”

“Why did you even provoke it!!!”

The guild members were all shocked. They knew that Baphomet’s low-leveled magic attack was enough to force Minhyuk to log out. Then, the magic attacks arrived right in front of Minhyuk’s nose. Various magical attacks, ranging from AOE to normal magic spells, flew towards him.

“Like the Wind.”

In one step, he quickly narrowed the distance between them by three meters.

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

A huge amount of magical attacks poured down from the sky and completely missed him. However, Baphomet was not a fool. It had prepared a second layer of magic in advance, just in case Minhyuk had escaped from the flurry of magical attacks that it had sent first.

“Beans!”

“Oink!”

[Absolute Defense.]

[No attack will be allowed to touch Beanie and its master for two seconds.]

The special skill that was attached to Hepas’ Pot Lid had been activated.

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

A huge amount of magical attacks had hit the place where Minhyuk stood.

“Gasp!”

“Ack! That’s why I told you that you shouldn’t have done that...”

“Mi…Minhyuk...”

The guild members bit their lips tightly as they looked at the cloud of dust that erupted from the collision of the attacks. Then…

Puhaaaaaaa!

…Minhyuk flew out of the dust with Beanie grabbing the hem of his cloak tightly. The two of them were unscathed.

Dash!

Minhyuk flew up as Beanie let go of his cloak and jumped behind Baphomet.

“Sword of Fury.”

“Oiink!”

Beanie also wielded its flipper blade.

Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!

“Ah, look at the chemistry of the daddy pig and the baby pig!” Locke shouted after seeing the two attack and hit Baphomet at the same time.

“Meeeeeeeeeh!”

***

[I…I wouldn’t have to worry about getting lamb meat for the rest of my life...!]

Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park both stared at the monitor blankly after hearing the words that Minhyuk had uttered.

Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor in a daze before saying, “Te…Team Leader...!”

“What?”

“Player Minhyuk just said that he wouldn’t worry about getting lamb meat for the rest of his life...”

“His greatest ambition right now is to tame it using the Allurer’s Cooking Skill and collect lamb meat for free for the rest of his life. But, you know that it’s not possible since their level gap exceeds 100, right? Look, look. Player Minhyuk looks like he also recalled this fact. Doesn’t he look so disappointed? In fact, even if he took a Demonic Monster with him, wouldn’t it be funny if he treated it as a ‘lamb meat factory’? Right now he has the Ghost Barista Ben and the God of Dishwashing Kaistra. He’s already completely absurd,” Team Leader Park rattled off in a rapid-fire manner, albeit a little nonchalant.

After pondering over his words, Lee Minhwa said, “Th…that... It’s funny but I think it will come true.”

“Huh?”

“The reward for being the first to hunt a Demonic Monster...”

“Yeah. But what does it have to do with...?Gasp?!” Team Leader Park gasped, his eyes trembling wildly.

‘The reward for being the first to hunt a Demonic Monster…!’

With regards to hunting Demonic Monsters, the first reward was extremely valuable. One of the rewards was...

‘Weaker Baphomet Summoning Stone...!’

What would happen if he used that summoning stone?

“If Player Minhyuk succeeds in this hunt... will he say ‘Let me get some lamb meat from you’ to Baphomet who’s next to him every day...? No, I don’t think he will do such a cruel thing...”

“He’ll do it. If it’s Player Minhyuk, he’ll definitely do it.”

“...Yeah.”

Then, their sights drifted back to the monitor again. It was the moment when Beanie and Minhyuk were hitting Baphomet together. Looking at the scene on the monitor, Lee Minhwa could not help but get goosebumps. She thought,?‘Ba…Baphomet... I feel a bit sorry for you...’

‘At this rate, Baphomet will really become an infinite, lamb meat refill machine.’

***

Stab!

Baphomet saw the blade stabbing straight at its abdomen. At that same moment, Minhyuk heard a notification.

[You have succeeded in stabbing a vital point.]

[100% additional damage!]

Then, the powerful force condensed at the tip of his sword triggered a powerful explosion.

Bang!

That was not the end of it.

[Lightning]

.

[Three Strikes.]

Crack, crack, crack!

A spark formed and spread up in the sky, before striking over Baphomet’s head.

Bang, bang, bang!

The powerful lightning strikes devoured Baphomet’s body.

1. increasing an idea’s value based on people’s use of their creative imagination.