Chapter 135: His Worth

King Varen and the priests raised their hands high up in the sky solemnly saying, “Goddess Juis, we are grateful for your blessings... let us cherish you and show you our respect...?chatter, chatter...”

Hundreds of priests also continued to chant spells behind them. As per tradition, the ritual food was quickly served and placed on the altar. There was only one thing left… a week-long process. Goddess Juis would soon descend and taste the food.

‘The dish this time is much better than the last time, so maybe, just maybe, Goddess Juis will bless Valkyrie Kingdom to be richer and more abundant this time,’?Rald thought, smiling softly.

Then, the priests and King Varen prostrated in front of the statue of Goddess Juis. The priests bowed down to the ground with their palms facing up towards the sky. A small ball of white light, the size of a thumb, slowly floated up from their palms. Tens of thousands of spheres of light floated up in the sky.

Flash!

A strong burst of light flashed as Rald and the rest of the chefs bowed down to welcome her.

Then…

Step, step, step━

…They heard the clear sound of footsteps. Rald had never seen her face before. However, according to King Varen, she was so beautiful that only the term goddess was enough to describe her countenance.

Clack, clack━

They could hear the clack of the utensils on the table, then… the sound of the spoon stopped.

Chew, chew━

She let out a small sigh of appreciation. Even though Rald could not see her face, he knew that she was smiling in satisfaction. Her spoon was even moving so fast.

King Varen smiled softly as he watched everything in silence. He thought,?‘I heard that this dish was the best… I guess it’s true.’

Varen believed?that Valkyrie?Kingdom would be blessed with more abundance and riches next year. In addition, with the help of the blessings of Goddess Juis, he would be able to drive away plenty of monsters from the northwestern side of the continent and expand his territory some more. Just as he was thinking about that…

“Cough!”

…He suddenly heard a cough. King Varen’s expression hardened.

‘What? Did she just cough?’ However, he could not raise his head.

Clack!

It was the sound of the tableware being placed down.

Then…

Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

‘Gasp....!’

‘Ack!’

‘W…what’s happening?!’

…the entire temple trembled and shook. Even the huge pillars looked like they were about to collapse as a strong force swept the entire area, suffocating everyone present.

‘Ugh, aaaack...!’

However, the people present did not dare to make a single sound in front of the Goddess Juis. They could only swallow it and suffer deep inside.

[How dare you give me something that tastes bad...]

‘Something that tastes bad?’

King Varen’s brows frowned. Did they place something bad in the food? No, that was impossible. Rald had checked the ingredients personally and was very strict during the process. They even tasted it themselves and have used only the freshest of ingredients.

[Poison...]

‘...!’

Everyone’s lips turned shut. Crazy...! Poison? Did she say poison?! How dare they poison the food for Goddess Juis?! Of course, Goddess Juis was immortal and a poison could never kill her. This meant only one thing…

‘Someone deliberately... wanted to make her angry...!’?King Varen thought, his eyes widening in shock.

Brrrrrrrrrr!

The trembling and shaking of the ground grew in intensity.

[I can’t believe that you’re repaying my blessings with this.]

Grin━

She laughed grimly. Even if they could not see her expression, they believed that she had such a chilling smile on her face right now. Then, at that moment…

“Ack!”

One of the chefs grabbed their necks.

“Ugh!” The chef groaned as blood gushed out from the chef’s mouth. However, the rest did not move. They only listened to the sound of blood flowing down on the ground.

Creaaaaak!

It was the sound of her fingernails scratching the ground. It was so ear-grating and terrible but they still did not move a single muscle. Then, Goddess Juis spoke…

[Hey. Raise your heads.]

Varen slowly lifted his head up. As soon as he lifted his head up, he saw the beautiful goddess, Juis. Juis was the goddess of healing and blessing. However, when Varen turned his head to where she was looking… he could see the fallen chef. No, he was not a chef. He was wearing a black mask and was clearly a thief.

[I know that this was not your work but... someone has to pay for your sins.]

“Cough!”

“Kghhk!”

One by one, the body of the chefs started turning black, and they could sense something penetrating their bodies through their blood. One of them was the Legendary Chef, Rald. His body had turned black, but he still did not move.

[The ground will split and the roars of the ferocious monsters will not stop. And the screams of your people will ring loudly in your land.]

Varen understood what she meant. There will be a huge disaster. A huge catastrophe will fall upon them. Then, Juis slowly turned around…

Flash!

…Her body faded away in the light.

“Huff, huff!” Varen’s breath was ragged, his body trembling uncontrollably.

“I…impossible...!”

He could not believe that this happened. He was overcome with rage as he walked towards where the black-masked man was.

‘Someone disguised themselves...!’

They had sneaked into their ritual. They purposely did this to anger Goddess Juis… who was it?

At that moment… Chef Rald…

“Kgghk!”

…vomited a mouthful of blood.

***

Hosmin was a Level 250 player at the Northern Continent’s Subjugation Force. He joined his friends to explore the Northern Continent since there was a huge amount of gold and EXP as a reward and there were even new monsters to see. They were all looking forward to it. Before he knew it, the 500-man subjugation force had already stopped their monster subjugation.

“Halt! Halt!”

Hosmin could see plenty of monsters crawling in front of them.

“Kyaa. What kind of artifacts do you want to get?”

“Please let it drop something good!”

Just when the expectations of the players had reached their peak…

[The Wrath of Goddess Juis.]

[All monsters will become ferocious.]

[The monster’s abilities have increased by 20%.]

[The first catastrophe of Goddess Juis. The powerful rays of the sun will make all living beings tired.]

“...Huh?”

“W…what the hell?”

The players were all taken aback. The monsters were suddenly going to be more ferocious? It did not end there… Their bodies suddenly started to become hot. The surroundings became hot and humid, as if they were in a sauna. They all silently looked up at the sky. The red sun was spitting harsh and powerful flares all over. The heat that it was blasting off was not just any normal heat.

“This is crazy...!”

“Ah... Isn’t it really hot?!”

They tilted their heads in exhaustion, the heat making things even worse. At that moment, the growling monsters rushed up to them.

***

All of the players in the Northern Continent had begun to complain.

[MoreTopHunts: Ah. It’s so crazy...! The monster's abilities increased by 20%! We almost got wiped out.]

[kl3g: Even Empress Ellie sent out a messenger to find out what’s going on. Isn’t it crazy?]

[gasd36: Is this caused by Athenae? I can’t play well because it’s too hot! Don’t go to the North! The monsters are 20% stronger and you can’t get your items nor enjoy the scenery at all!]

The players who were excited to pioneer the Northern Continent and believed that it would be fun, since Athenae would be updating for real this time, had suddenly started to change their tunes! It was around then, that the rumors started to spread.

[gadj254: Isn’t this because?of Legend?Guild? As soon as they arrived in the kingdom, their goddess suddenly became angry. Did they do something there?]

[Caron: I don’t think so. Legend Guild is famous for their good manners. In fact, I believe Legend Guild has nothing to do with it.]

[gadd31: It’s just… This is a disaster that affects the whole of Athenae? Can you even plan this?]

Fortunately, Legend Guild seemed to be avoiding the arrows targeted at them. However, at that moment, another rumor started to spread.

[IrisAmazing!: Guys, did you hear? I heard?that Iris?Guild is trying to find a solution for this catastrophe. And I learned about this just recently! They’re recruiting a large number of rankers to get rid of the catastrophe and conquer Goddess Juis. There’s even a trailer in Dungeon Attack Live now!]

[FAD: Oh. For real? So funny. They’re going to raid a goddess? Ah! Iris Guild GM is famous for being a gentleman. Is he sacrificing himself for the players?]

The people began to cheer again. If that hot sun and the strange buff for the monsters disappeared,?then they would be able to enjoy playing in the Northern Continent again! Iris Guild, that was trying to raid it for the rest of the players, quickly gained plenty of support and cheers. The other players waited for them to broadcast on Dungeon Attack Live, completely unaware of them being the origin of the disaster that they were encountering.

***

Varen looked at the priest, Eidni, coming out of the temple. Priest Eidni only took a sip of water after praying to the angry Goddess Juis without any rest. He had been praying for a few days now.

They were now in a dire situation. The blazing sun had quickly dried up the crops that they had meticulously grown. In addition, ferocious monsters had begun to attack Valkyrie Kingdom. Of course, it was still bearable since the damage that they had received was not that significant yet. However, if it dragged on any longer, this catastrophe would only get stronger and stronger.

“Did Goddess answer?”

“Yes,” The priest answered, wiping the sweat off of his face from the heat that was constantly bearing down on them. Even King Varen was dressed as lightly as possible due to the heat.

“Fortunately, it seems like her anger had been relieved to some extent.”

Varen sighed in relief. However, the next words that the priest uttered had put him once again in a dilemma.

“But Goddess Juis ordered us to prepare something more delicious.”

“...!”

Rald was taken by surprise as the rest of the chefs fell down to their knees. Even though Rald was being treated by the priest, he was not getting any better at all. The skin of the chefs struck by Goddess Juis were all slowly rotting away piece by piece. How could they cook if they were like that?

However, his next words were even more shocking. He said, “She said that she wanted to eat a legendary ranked dish.”

“Th…that...!”

At that moment Varen thought, ‘Aah. She must have said that her anger had been reduced somewhat, but this order still showed how fickle Goddess Juis is, right? Legendary? She wants to eat a legendary ranked dish?’

Of course, there had been records of legendary dishes appearing. However, the only person that had the ability to make one was in a bad condition. And that was Rald.

“The only other way is ‘The Spirit of the Wrathful God Juis’...”

“...Shut it!”

“...Forgive me, Your Highness!” ?The priest immediately knocked his head down on the ground. The words that he had uttered were words that should not be spoken.

There was a story in Valkyrie Kingdom that peace could only be restored if they soothed and satisfied the wrathful spirit of Goddess Juis, before killing it. However, this was something that was sacrilegious. How dare they lay their hands on Goddess Juis’ body?! And even if they were left with no choice but to do that, they would not know where it was, since the dungeon location was not fixed at all.

Then, Varen thought,?‘I heard that Goddess Juis’ treasure was there... Ballad’s Cup.’

Ballad's Cup was a God’s treasure! It was an object that possessed great power. It could even give a single person a blessing. However, he still shook the thought off of his mind. It was not something that he should covet. Was there no other way?

“Maybe we could ask for help?from Eivelis?Empire and ask them for an excellent chef...” The priest said.

Then, Varen’s eyes widened. He said, “Th…there is...!”

“Yes?” The priest tilted his head in confusion, as if he was asking him what he meant by that.

“Th…there’s only one chef that can rival Rald and make a legendary dish!”

“...?!”

The priest was shocked. There was someone like that? A person that can make a ‘legendary ranked’ dish that one could only hear from the stories? ‘Isn’t it impossible except for Rald?’

Then, Varen said, “Minhyuk...”

Varen clenched his fist tightly. He was sure of it since he had already tried his fascinating dish. He finally found a way to appease the angry Goddess Juis. ?In other words, he was placing the fate?of Valkyrie?Kingdom in Minhyuk's hands.