Chapter 430: Start of War

After seeing everyone out, Barras Kingdom’s King Grain leaned back in his seat, exhausted.

“Hoo…” Grain let out a sigh, his body still trembling from the thought of fighting a war. The future of Barras Kingdom was at stake. They could either devour the enemy or be devoured. What would happen if they won the war?

Grain stood up and slowly approached the statue of the gallant knight, the previous king, riding on a horse while holding his sword! Then, he reached out for the hand holding the sword and…

Creak, creak, creak, creak—

…the wall behind the throne split apart to reveal a variety of cooking ingredients. There were chicken, beef, pork, mutton, and even vegetables! These were the ingredients that the Barras Royal Family had been guarding and protecting for a very long time.

The main reason why these ingredients had been left as they were was because neither the members of the royal family nor the members of the Chef Tower could cook them. However, even though none of them could cook these ingredients, the value and power that these ingredients could exert were tremendous.

‘These ingredients have the power to permanently increase one’s attributes and power once eaten, not like the power that one would get through buffs.’

One could say that these ingredients only existed in Barras Kingdom.

‘I will either take their power away.’

Or…

‘They will take my immortal ingredients away.’

***

Minhyuk never had a day off ever since the Athenae: World War had ended. He never stopped engaging in diplomatic activities through Paladin Corr, Best Selling Author Aruvel, and Ghost Spear Ben. That was not all. He also dragged a handcart all over the place and fed a lot of people. Of course, the food that he made in his handcart always had the ‘Sea Honey’.

At the same time, he also devoted himself to cooking dishes for his guild members and vassals. He devoted the entire two months in reality, a time equivalent to half a year inside the game, to cook for them. And once he finished everything…

“Hoo…” Minhyuk breathed a sigh. He went out and looked out from the balcony of the lord’s mansion and watched the lively Valhalla territory.

That was right. Minhyuk had been going back and forth between Atlas and Valhalla to make food. Even though he was staggering from fatigue and exhaustion, he was still grinning widely.

Minhyuk also prepared some food for himself after he finished making food for others. He looked at the table placed on the veranda with a bright smile on his face. On the table were a huge bowl of clam and knife-cut noodle soup, a plate of bossam, and a serving of freshly made kimchi.

‘Eating delicious food after a day of hardwork is really the best…!’

Before Minhyuk knew it, the weather had already turned cold. A white cloud would even puff out of his mouth with every breath now. There was also steam curling up from the warm clam and knife-cut noodle soup on the table.

“Well then.”

Minhyuk quickly clamped a heaping of noodles from the huge bowl and a ladle of soup filled with clams, zucchinis, and shredded carrots in his smaller bowl. Then, he rubbed his cold hands together.

‘Knife-cut noodles will taste better if you eat it outside!’

Minhyuk grabbed the small bowl and lifted it to his mouth for a sip of the warm and refreshing soup.

“Hoo! Hoo!

Sluuuuuuuuuurp!?

Kgghk! I can feel the warmth! It’s melting the coldness!”

The coldness that settled in his body seemed to melt away with just a sip of the soup. Then, he used his chopsticks and clamped some of the chewy noodles.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

He blew on the chewy noodles first before putting them in his mouth and slurping them up! Then, he also grabbed a piece of clam meat, wrapped it with the noodles, and placed it in his mouth again.

“

Sluuuuuuuuurp!

”

This time, Minhyuk’s chopsticks stretched out to the freshly made kimchi. However, the most important thing about this kimchi was that it was ‘oyster kimchi’.

“

Crunch, crunch—

“

A sour taste spread in his mouth the moment he bit on the kimchi. Then, he picked out the oyster hidden among the kimchi and placed it in his mouth. Some would say that it has a fishy after-taste, but for Minhyuk, it tasted like the sparkling sea.

“This is definitely the authentic flavor.

Aaaah.

Definitely.”

Minhyuk lifted the bowl again for another sip of the soup. This time, he stretched his chopsticks towards the bossam and tasted it as it was. The moment the soft and exquisite texture of the bossam meat entered his mouth, it was the epitome of the expression ‘melts in your mouth’. It was well-cooked to the point that it did not feel like the usual tough meat.

Next, he placed a small piece of tofu and a piece of kimchi on top of the bossam and placed it in his mouth. Three distinct yet harmonious flavors burst inside his mouth. For a change of pace, he grabbed a piece of cabbage, dipped it in ssamjang and placed it in his mouth.

Crunch, crunch, crunch—

The more he chewed, the sweeter the cabbage tasted in his mouth. This was especially the case for the ones that were grown and picked perfectly. For Minhyuk’s next bite, he took a piece of bossam meat, wrapped it with cabbage, and dipped everything in ssamjang. Minhyuk thought that the combination of bossam and cabbage was the next best thing since sliced bread!

‘Hwaaa…’

After finishing everything, Minhyuk stared blankly at his territory. He felt a fatigue creep up from deep within his bones after his two-month long efforts.

‘I need to get some exercise and take a nap.’

Minhyuk smiled happily at the thought of giving the precious things that he had prepared for his guild members and vassals. Then, he logged out.

***

Ares Guild’s master Ares and countless rankers have gathered together.

‘We can’t wait for the Barras Kingdom’s support to arrive. We have to take them down now.’

According to their estimate, the Barras Kingdom’s troops would take a while to gather. But even if that was the case, their troops that were present could already rival a large army with 20,000 soldiers and 2,000 elite royal knights. It would take time to get additional recruits so they would have to make do with their current numbers and hit their enemy unaware. If they waited for the Barras Kingdom’s troops to gather before attacking, Let’s Eat Sect might notice their movements and send Atlas to the skies.

They could expect a total number of 20,000 troops from the kingdom later. But right now, their guild alliance had 20,000 troops present. In fact, their alliance had a total of 60,000 members, but because people were usually at work or school at this time of the day, only a fraction showed up. However, more of them would start to appear and join them, and their numbers would increase as time went by.

These 20,000 troops, together with the 2,000 elite royal knights, were now currently divided and dispatched to different places. Ares would strike Atlas’ upfront with most of the troops while Callian, Iris Guild’s master, would attack their rear. That was how they divided their troops.

In other words, the 22,000-strong troops would be divided into three main forces, with around 7,000 troops attacking upfront, 7,000 troops attacking the rear, and the remaining 8,000 troops further split into two subdivisions that would also move to attack the territory upfront in a quick two-pronged attack.

Just when the 4,000 strong troops were about to move, Ares looked forward with a weird expression on his face. This was because there were around 500 people dressed in rags resting around a wagon a fair distance from them. They were obviously the people in charge of transporting something.

‘Did Let’s Eat Sect cooperate with someone without our knowledge? Are they bearing supplies?’

Ares' mouth almost split from the smile that was widening on his face. Then, he raised his hand. They were still quite a long way from Atlas and had time to deal with this.

“Archer and Mage units, prepare with the Cavalry.”

These were the well-trained soldiers of Barras Kingdom! On top of that, most of the players that were logged in at this time were single-digit rankers. The only reason why these top rankers were here was because they thought of this game as their work.

“Don’t leave a single one of them alive.”

“Yes, sir!”

A deep smile curled at the corners of Ares’ mouth.

***

Rocard Kingdom, which had successfully established their new home in the Northern Continent, had succeeded in sowing seeds and harvesting their crops safely. And right now, the gifts that Queen Iris had prepared to present to Minhyuk were now being transported by a transportation team.

“Oh my. This is tiring~”

“That might be the case, but you do know that Lord Minhyuk is our benefactor, right?”

“I can already imagine his happy face once he receives these, you know? Hohoho!”

The people of Rocard Kingdom regarded Minhyuk as their hero after he saved their kingdom. On top of that, he was a kind and virtuous leader, a leader unlike any other king or ruler. Whenever they gave him something delicious, he would always smile brightly at them, as if to tell them that he really liked them. And this very smile could invoke a motherly smile on their faces.

But at that moment, the sky suddenly darkened.

“Is it going to rain?”

“The sun is high up in the sky. What do you mean by rain?”

However, when they turned to look at the sky, their eyes could not help but widen. The things that covered the skies were not rain clouds, but arrows and magic!

“Hiiiiiik!”

“Heeeeooooook!”

Not long after, the arrows and magical attack rained down on them.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

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

“Keu, keuaaaack!”

“Kyaaaaaaa!”

“Aaaaaaaack!”

The people of Rocard Kingdom shrieked as the arrows and magical attacks blasted them away. However, another round of attacks rained down on them, increasing their casualties. Plenty of people were bleeding from their injuries. Some even died on the spot, while others had their bodies blasted and spread out in the area. It was literally like hell on earth.

“Ugh, uuuuuugh…”

However, there were still plenty of survivors. Unfortunately, that was when these survivors saw hundreds of cavalry rushing forward.

“What, what the hell…?”

“Hiiiiiik…”

Fear crept up from deep within them. And among them stood a woman, Rolein, who was bleeding from her head. She saw the tip of the spear of the leading cavalry coming straight for her chest.

“Kyaaaaaaack!”

But just when she screamed, bracing herself for the inevitable pain that the spear would bring her…

Grab—

A man appeared in front of her. The man grabbed the spear before it could stab Rolein in the chest. Then, surrounded by a black current, fifteen Death Knights appeared around the man. The ground cracked as thousands of undead appeared on his left, right and even in front of him.

Rolein knew this man more than anybody else. Every time this man appeared, they would cut him with their sickle, stab them with their pickaxe, and kill him mercilessly. She was among the men that kept on trampling on this man.

The man, with his long black and messy hair, dark robe and gaunt face, looked back at her with a smile and said, “Ma’am, quickly run to Atlas Territory with your fastest speed.

Shwaaaaaaaaa—

The dark knight that the man called for cut down the cavalry that was rushing at them. And with his aloof gaze, the man rushed forward with his legion.

“I will stop them here.”

This was the moment that the King of the Dead, Death, has appeared.