Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 151: Grilled Clam

Kiari, one of the Dragon King’s children, sighed despondently as she entered her room.

‘Jevis, where are you...’

It had been days since Jevis, the third child, had been missing.

‘Did you really run away?’

No, that could not be. Although Jevis was the youngest among the three of them, no one else could be said to trust and follow the Dragon King more than her. Jevis’ loyalty to the Dragon King was as wide as the sea, so much so that she would have willingly given her Rabbit’s Liver if the Dragon King asked for it. That was how much love she had for the Dragon King.

At that moment, Kiari frowned because she felt something.

“That...?”

She turned to look under her bed, where a piece of paper was tucked away neatly. When she pulled it out, she saw that it was a letter.

[If there is anything in this world that can heal the Dragon King, I will find it no matter what. That’s why I’m going to hunt the predator. I’ll be right back. Kiari.]

There was also a rabbit’s pawmark, as if to prove that it was really from her. Perhaps, when Jevis had written the letter and placed it on her desk, the wind had entered through the gaps from the door, displacing the letter until it rested underneath her bed.

‘Jevis...!’

Jevis was the weakest among the three of them, but it was still a fact that she was one of the Dragon King’s children. It was quite possible for her to successfully hunt the legendary Clam Golem that they had deemed to be a predator.

Originally, the Dragon King had forbidden the hunting of the Clam Golem because it ate up the trash scattered around in the Dragon King’s Sea. However, Jevis had ignored the Dragon King’s past orders and had gone ahead to hunt it. This showed that she was prepared to receive any punishment just to find a way to cure the Dragon King. This was how deep her love was for the Dragon King.

Jevis might have been the weakest among the three of them, but she had special powers. From childhood, she was the only person who could communicate with Sea God Roves, something that even the Dragon King could not do! This was the reason why her holy power was high and why she excelled in various production jobs. Jevis could even create huge batches of fine quality potions. From her letter, Kiari could tell that she wanted to make a potion using the materials from the predator and feed it to the Dragon King.

Jevis also had a lot of buff abilities, as well as aggro skills. Her aggro skills were so superb that she could even attract stronger and amazing creatures. Kiari was not entirely sure, but it was not entirely impossible for Jevis to draw the attention of the predator.

At this point though, there was one problem…

‘Why isn’t Jevis back yet...?’

Did something go wrong? No, she could easily take down the predator. Did something unusual happen?

‘D…don’t tell me... Did the predator become angry?!’

From what Kiari knew, the predator had only become angry twice in history. The enraged predator would undergo a complete physical change, and would become much stronger. The predator’s anger would only rise if there were plenty of trash under the sea, and once its anger reaches its peak, the predator would then become the Angry Predator.

‘An angry predator... the Clam Golem...’

If that was the case, then even Jevis might not be able to win against such an opponent.

***

Minhyuk tightened his grip on his sword as he watched the bastard close its mouth. He thought,?‘It’s quite close, so it would be good if I can kill it all at once.’

The only way to attack the bastard was through its mouth. If Minhyuk was able to strike it successfully, he would definitely be able to kill it at one go.

[Scattering Sword has been completed.]

[A single attack will deal six additional damages with a 40% increase.]

Chichichichiiiiiik!

A weird sound came out from an empty space not far from where the Clam Golem was located.

“Grrr?” The Clam Golem growled curiously as it opened its mouth widely.

Minhyuk quickly used this opportunity to send a strike towards its open mouth as he rushed forward.

Clang!

‘...?!’

The moment the attack connected, Minhyuk heard the jarring sound of metal clashing with metal.

‘What the hell? Why does it sound like I’m hitting metal?’

Minhyuk accurately landed his attacks on the Clam Golem’s mouth, five times, consecutively.

Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting!

However, he still could not scratch it with his sword. At that moment, the wide-open mouth suddenly started to return back to its original state. Then...

Fwiiiiiiish!

…Minhyuk sent his final attack with a horizontal strike!

“Keuaaaaaack!”

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

Clam shells slowly fell down as his strike finally landed.

‘What a crazy defense...!’

Minhyuk finally realized why only one attack came through from all of his other strikes.

‘How high is this bastard’s defense?’

The beady eyes of the Clam Golem suddenly turned towards Minhyuk. Since the invisibility would be lifted two seconds after an attack, Minhyuk was now fully visible! The bastard looked like he was about to dash towards where he was. Minhyuk quickly turned around to run, however, he faintly realized how disadvantageous his situation was.

“S... tep!”

Vwooooooooooong!

As soon as his feet left the ground, a fist slammed straight through the afterimage that he had left behind.

Vwoooong!

Minhyuk had barely escaped the attack. However, the Clam Golem quickly turned around and swung its fist at him again.

Vwooooong!

Minhyuk felt the strength of the wind from the Clam Golem’s fist, as he used Step to evade the attack once more. The g-force was so strong that it turned his hair into a mess.

Dash!

Minhyuk successfully evaded the attack once again! Of course, he also tried to strike it with his sword.

Clang!

Just as he expected, he was not able to leave so much as a scratch on its body.

‘What kind of nonsense is this....!’

At that moment…

Bang!

…the ground was smashed once again.

Swoosh!

Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance between them.

[Sword of Fury]

[Additional 60% attack power for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is successful, the bonus will be 100%.]

Swoosh!

Minhyuk’s sword, which was filled with a strong force, stabbed strongly at the Clam Golem’s body. Sword of Fury was literally a stabbing attack. Once the attack was successful, the condensed power in the sword would then explode inside the body of the enemy.

‘As long as Intangible Sword is attached to it...!’

If that happened, then Minhyuk might really be able to subdue the monster in front of him. However...

Dash!

…black energy suddenly covered the fist of the Angry Clam Golem as it ran towards Minhyuk.

Fwoosh!

The bastard swung its fist as it countered Minhyuk’s sword with a punch. A powerful force resulted as the punch collided with the tip of Minhyuk’s sword, traveling straight towards Minhyuk’s body!

Bang!

“Ack!”

The force that was condensed at the tip of Minhyuk’s sword exploded from the clash against the Clam Golem’s fist. The force was so strong that Minhyuk’s body was sent flying backwards. The Clam Golem quickly straightened its body and caught up with Minhyuk. Minhyuk’s eyes widened in shock. However, thanks to his amazing reflexes, he was still able to attempt another attack despite being in a disadvantageous position.

[Rampant Sword.]

[A flurry of rampant swords with additional 35% attack power will be created for 7 seconds.]

Slash!

Slaaaaaash!

The quick and indiscriminate sword strikes from the Rampant Sword appeared! Minhyuk believed that using this skill was a better choice than blocking the monster’s attack. Dozens of sword lights swung indiscriminately towards the Clam Golem.

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

Slaaaash!

Bang, bang, bang!

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

Wounds finally started to appear on the Clam Golem’s body. However, the attack was not enough to stop the Clam Golem from chasing after Minhyuk, who was still flying. Minhyuk quickly slashed his sword at its chest.

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

The reason why Intangible Sword was considered to be a ridiculous skill was because it could ignore all of the enemy’s defenses. It was like attacking a completely defenseless person who only had a shirt for their armor. This meant that, as long as the enemy’s HP was not high, Minhyuk would be able to kill them easily. However, the bastard in front of him still looked as energetic as ever.

‘How high is its damned HP...!’

Before he knew it, his body had already landed and rolled on the ground. Minhyuk stood up, quickly adjusting his footing. The Clam Golem swiftly narrowed the distance between them. Minhyuk realized that he would not be able to evade this attack, so he hurriedly took out his frying pan.

[Frying Pan Gigantification.]

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

Minhyuk quickly enlarged his frying pan as he covered his body with it. Then...

Baaang!

…The bastard’s fist slammed straight at the frying pan.

“Ugh!”

The force of the fist was so strong that Minhyuk’s body flew back and slammed straight into the walls of the cave.

‘My HP dropped by 10%...?’

Even though most of the impact was received by the frying pan, he still received a huge amount of damage. Left in a daze, Minhyuk realized too late that the Clam Golem’s fist was already right at his face.

Bang!

A notification rang out as soon as the punch landed on his body.

[Your HP has dropped below 50%.]

[The powerful blow has left one of your eyes temporarily blind.]

One of Minhyuk’s eyes slowly closed, narrowing his vision. As if realizing that Minhyuk was incapacitated, it geared for another attack.

Baang!

Its foot stretched out and kicked Minhyuk in his abdomen.

“Kghk!”

Minhyuk threw up blood after being sent deeper into the wall of the cave from the kick. His consciousness blurred and became hazy, but he still held his sword tightly.

‘I’m going... to eat... grilled clams...!’

The taste of the shellfish meat on an open-mouthed white clam and the clear soup in the plate-like shell. The taste of the clams being dipped in vinegar… Minhyuk wanted to taste these flavors once again. He had to taste it.

[Your HP has dropped below 3%.]

[Excessive bleeding is making your body deteriorate slowly.]

Blood was dripping from Minhyuk’s head and his body was not in a good condition. However, a bright light suddenly covered his body, recovering his injuries rapidly. This was the Armor of Immortality’s effect.

[Three Consecutive Quick Assault]

[Your attacks will deal damage thrice.]

The Clam Golem was watching Minhyuk since he was on the verge of death. That was why it was caught off guard and thus, was stabbed in its abdomen.

Ting!

However, its extremely sturdy shell was able to stop Minhyuk’s attack. Minhyuk stabbed it again.

Tiiiiing!

As expected, his attack was blocked again. And his final attack...

Stab!

…finally pierced through its stomach.

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

[You have dealt a critical strike.]

“Keuaaack!” The Clam Golem shrieked loudly as its hands swung once more to punch at Minhyuk.

Swoosh!

[Step.]

[You can attack while instantly travel a distance of one meter twice allowing you to quickly narrow or widen your distance from your target. ]

Minhyuk’s first step was used to move to the left to avoid the incoming punch.

Puhaaaaa!

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

The shells from its thick armor-like body fluttered down to the ground in troves.

“Gruooooo!”

The Clam Golem screamed angrily as Minhyuk quickly dashed away to increase the distance between them. Then, he stabbed the ground strongly with the tip of his sword.

[Earth Quake!]

[A violent earthquake is triggered within a ten meter radius.]

“Keuhaa!”

The Angry Clam Golem stretched its hands out to try and catch Minhyuk. However, the ground started to shake violently, trapping the Clam Golem in its clutches. Minhyuk used this moment to increase the distance between them further.

‘What skill do I have that has the fastest cooldown?’

The skill was Scattering Sword. However, there were still twenty seconds left before he could use it again.

Rumble━

The Clam Golem demonstrated its immense strength by crushing the rising ground that trapped it. Minhyuk took this opportunity to increase the distance between them to about 100 meters. Just like that, the Angry Clam Golem broke free from its restraints. Then, it turned to glare at Minhyuk and…

[Clam Golem’s Roar.]

[All abilities will temporarily increase by 30%.]

“Graaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Ack!”

Minhyuk heard the ear-shattering roar of the Clam Golem.

‘Did it say 30% stronger than before?’?Minhyuk thought. However, before he could think further…

Bang!

…The monster stomped on the ground and dashed to where he was.

‘...!’

Minhyuk’s eyes widened. The Clam Golem’s speed had greatly increased to the point that it could break the ground beneath its feet. Minhyuk quickly dashed away.

“Step!” Minhyuk shouted, barely avoiding the galloping golem in front of him! The Clam Golem screeched to a halt before slamming its foot down and sticking to Minhyuk’s back.

[Scattering Sword.]

[A single attack will deal six additional damages with a 30% increase each.]

Taeng, taeng, taeng!

Just like what Minhyuk had known since earlier, the Clam Golem’s defenses were truly difficult to deal with. It quickly turned around and grabbed Minhyuk.

“...?!”

Minhyuk’s eyes widened when he saw its eyes slowly being dyed black.

Clang! Slash! Clang! Slash!

Two of his attacks slammed straight at its chest. However, due to its monstrous HP, it still did not collapse. Then, the blackness that covered its eyes slowly spread out, creating a sphere. The huge, black and powerful sphere suddenly descended on Minhyuk.

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

Grrrrrrrrr!

The entire cave shook strongly as piles of stones fell down from the ceiling.

***

“N, no!” Ben shouted in frustration after seeing the cave shake strongly.

Quite some time had passed since Minhyuk had entered the cave. However, Ben knew that he had already found the Clam Golem since he could keenly hear the sounds of fighting which was followed by the sounds that he was currently hearing.

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

Grrrrrrrrr!

It was not just the cave, even the Dragon King’s Sea was shaking strongly from the force inside. Ben dropped to his knees as he peered into the darkness of the cave with frustration and despair.

“...Th…this can’t be happening.”

‘I already lost my son, am I going to lose this young man who reminds me of him too?’

Ben’s eyes began to lose their shine as he looked at the cave in a daze.

***

“...!”

The Clam Golem’s eyes bulged in surprise. It believed that everything was over. It was sure that the intruder that recklessly entered its cave had died with that attack. However, there was something standing in between itself and the intruder. The being was smaller than its fist and was floating in the air. It was none other than Beanie, the baby pig with a flipper spatula and a pot on its head.

“Oiiiiiink...!”

[Beanie is angry.]