The Chinese commentators and the 1,000-strong troops that arrived at Atlas were all flustered.

‘Love, Happiness, Hope.’

The name was filled with pleasantness and hope. Whatever good feelings they had quickly disappeared the moment the gigantic Cerberus appeared, and was replaced with a domineering, ominous dread.

Sizzle—

Even the saliva that dripped down their chins had melted the ground. Then, the three heads roared wildly.

“Graaaaaaaaaa!”

“Roaaaaaaar!”

“Grrrrrrrrrrrr!”

[Hell’s Gatekeeper’s Roar!]

[Your Attack Hit Rate drops by 10% while your Skill Cooldown increases by 10%.]

[Your Physical and Magical Defense have decreased by 15%.]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

All of the Cairon Continent players that heard the roar were immediately hit with a debuff.

“What… what kind of bullshit…!”

Even Black Knight Rajan was flustered.

“How can a monstrous beast like that be called Love, Happiness and Hope?!!”

“That’s right!!!”

“Your naming sense is trash!!!”

“Boooo!!!”

Rajan and the Chinese players were distracted by the absurd naming sense. Meanwhile, Locke had already been released from his ‘paralyzed state’ after the Abnormal State Master had been forced to log out. He tilted his head at them as he grabbed his huge red ax and said, “I think it suits them. You’re the ones that have a trashy naming sense.”

“…?”

“…?”

“…?”

“…?”

That was right. Locke had grown very fond of Love, Happiness, and Hope, after taking them on walks! Every time they jumped on him and licked his face, he would think, ‘Are they going to eat me…?’. And every time they smelled his butt, he would think, ‘Do they think that my butt is more delicious…?’. That might be what he felt, but still!!! Locke had eventually fallen for their charm! And the same was true for the Cerberus. To be exact…

‘He looks pitiful. Let’s help him.’

‘I feel sorry for that human every day…’

‘I think I will cry whenever I look at his face.’

…Cerberus was trying to protect Locke, because they actually felt sorry for his face.

However, one should never forget that Locke was the Crazy Priest that had awakened some of Jeffrit’s powers. In fact, he had been able to awaken more power after he had transferred to High Class.

Jeffrit’s power was a combination of excellent buffs and powerful debuffs. In fact, he was an entity that specialized in ‘AOE debuff’. This class was actually very weak when it came to 1:1 PVP matches. However, anyone with this class would gain a huge advantage, exerting great power whenever they dealt with large numbers of people. What more if Locke was with the Level 600 Cerberus?

And… what would happen if he applied a buff to Cerberus?

[Jeffrit’s Blessings]

[All of Love, Happiness and Hope’s stats will increase by 15%.]

[Love, Happiness and Hope’s skill damage will increase by 15%.]

[Love, Happiness and Hope’s skill accuracy rate will increase by 30%.]

A bright light appeared from Locke’s ax. The Chinese players had already launched their attacks just as the light disappeared into Cereberus’ body.

“Wind Cutter!”

“Fireball!”

“Fire Field!”

“Lightning!”

“Fire Storm!”

“Wind Storm!”

The enemy troops had around 30 high-leveled mages. These mage players went on a rampage and sent out numerous magic spells without casting. Even the archers let out their arrows.

“Dragon Arrow!!!”

“Multi Shot!!!”

“Aimed Shot!!!”

“Arrow of Destruction!!!”

Dozens of magic spells and arrows flew towards Locke and Cerberus. At that moment, the middle head of Cerberus opened his huge mouth and sent out a blinding white light.

Flash—

A shocking notification rang in the ears of all the Chinese players present.

[Your skill has been nullified.]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

[Aaaaaah! They disappeared in the air!!! All of the magic spells and arrows that the players of Cairon Continent had sent out had disappeared into thin air!!!]

[A very un… unbelievable scene has unfolded in front of our very eyes!!! How can they nullify that many magic spells and skills all at once?!]

[Cerberus is a being that not only appears in the Athenean worldview, but also in ancient times, and has always been hailed as ‘Hell’s Gatekeeper’. If the same is true inside Athenae, then Cereberus is most likely the gatekeeper of hell inside the game too. If that’s the case, we can expect their level to be very high, since Hell is a place that hasn’t been pioneered yet!]

Then, Locke stretched out one of his arms forward. A red energy in the form of a skull shot out and flew towards the bleeding Cairon Continent players.

[Jeffrit’s Skull]

[All of your skills and abilities have been reduced by 10%, while your magical defense and magical attack have decreased by 20%.]

[Your AGI has dropped by 10%.]

The Cairon Continent players were in a fluster after witnessing Cerberus’ buff and Locke’s debuff skills. Assuming that the players present were at Level 300, the amount of debuff that they had received already cost them a 60-level decrease in their power. The worst part was, the higher the level of the players, the greater the impact of the debuff.

In a blink, Locke had already climbed on top of Cerberus.

‘The people in front of us will never set foot at Atlas.’

The members of the Let’s Eat Sect were scattered all over the Continent Cloud. Some were located in the Berdk Attack Base, while some were located in the Defense Base. However, most of the troops in Atlas had been sent out to fight, because they did not think that the Chinese players would be able to neutralize the traps and poisons set up along the way that easily. The fact that there were enemies present here meant that there was a high chance that the other bases were also being attacked. If they were able to breach Atlas, Locke was sure that reinforcements from Cairon Continent would arrive one after the other.

So, Locke decided that he would do his best to keep them out of the territory.

“Love, Happiness, Hope… Hundred Thousand Volt!!!”

Locke flew up in the sky as frost began to form in the mouth of Cerberus’ leftmost head, while flames began to form in the rightmost head.

Cerberus was a monster with different attributes per head. The leftmost head could use up to the Seventh Tier Ice Magic, while the rightmost head could use up to the Seventh Tier Fire Magic. Their power was comparable to high-leveled mages. In fact, Cerberus also had a tough skin that could not be easily pierced through by any physical or magical attack. They could even devour players that ranked fairly high in the rankings with their mouths alone. On top of that, Crazy Priest Locke would even send them heals. Simply put, Cerberus and Locke were the magnificent and sturdy ‘walls’ that blocked the players of Cairon Continent from entering Atlas.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa—

The blazing and powerful flames sent out by the right head swept through the players of Cairon Continent…

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

…while the cold and bitter frost from the left head covered their bodies and slowed down their advance. Then, there was also Locke.

“Jeffrit’s Fury!”

The two axes in Locke’s hand struck down on his enemies from the sky. Huge explosions bloomed from the ground and engulfed the players the moment the axes fell down on the ground.

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

Today, Locke, who had always been mocked by the Chinese netizens as ‘Big Boulder’, had become a myth, and was hailed as ‘Slaughterer Dog Tamer Locke’.

***

Inside the Imperial Kitchen, Minhyuk, who was wearing his apron, opened the ‘Five Legendary Ingredient Box’.

[You have used the Five Legendary Ingredient Box.]

[The ingredient that the owner chooses will appear inside the Five Legendary Ingredients Box.]

[It remains unknown whether the ingredient that will come out can be cooked or not.]

Minhyuk could cook the Legendary Sun’s Wheat. However, for ordinary chefs, it was like a ‘taboo’. An ingredient that they could never cook. However, once the ingredient was successfully cooked, it could result in a dish that could shock most gourmands to tears.

The problem here was if the ingredient could be cooked or not. The ingredient that Minhyuk chose to get from the Five Legendary Ingredient Box was ‘Marrow Bone’.

[You have chosen ‘Marrow Bone’ as the ingredient that you will get from the Five Legendary Ingredient Box.]

[Marrow Bone is an ingredient that can help with recovery and bone strengthening.]

[The Five Legendary Ingredient Box is searching for the ‘Fifth Legendary Marrow Bone Ingredient’.]

Ring!

The cheerful ringing of the notification rang loudly in Minhyuk’s ears.

[You have acquired the Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone.]

Minhyuk immediately checked the information.

(Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone)

Ingredient Grade: Fifth Legendary Ingredient

Special Abilities:

• There’s a chance to cure people with incurable diseases. 

• Can greatly recover one’s vitality.

• Once you succeed in cooking the marrow bone, your dish will have the most appropriate taste and deep flavor of the marrow bone.

Description: According to Legends, the Legendary Giant Cow was as big as a small island. The bones of this Legendary Giant Cow are very tough, with high calcium and nutritional value. Rumors say that this ingredient can even revive the dead. The processing of the Legendary Giant Cow’s marrow bone is not easy. To produce white and nutritious ox bone soup, one needed to have a high concentration and high DEX. It is a very sensitive ingredient. The slightest mistake and the Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone will blacken and erode.

Based on its special abilities, this ingredient was very different from those that Minhyuk had handled so far.

‘It doesn’t have the concept of increasing the stats or skills.’

Simply put, it was written like that because there was a chance that the dish was not limited by the current grading system, and could climb to a level that was far beyond that. The description also said that the ingredient was extremely sensitive and might turn black with just the slightest of mistakes.

‘Once it turns black, you can’t eat it.’

Minhyuk was now in a dilemma. That was on top of the fact that he needed days to process the marrow bone.

‘The ingredients are all ready.’

The broth would be made using the Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone while the somen[1] would be made using the Legendary Sun’s Wheat.

‘The meat in Ox Bone Soup goes well with somen.’

Minhyuk personally preferred adding the somen and some green onions to the marrow bone broth that was fresh out of the stove and still boiling, before slurping it with some radish kimchi, or some fresh kimchi. After finishing the dish, Minhyuk liked adding some salt and pepper to the soup instead of rice.

He started cooking to make that delicious bowl of ox bone soup. He first drained the blood from the marrow bone, knuckle bones, and ox foot. Minhyuk was very careful about this part.

‘It’s not good to drain too much blood. The Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone is literally sensitive.’

That was the reason why Minhyuk had to be extremely careful when removing the blood. Minhyuk patted the blood off of the shank and the brisket. Then, he started boiling the marrow bone.

Next, he poured water into a huge cauldron and let the water boil. Once the water was boiling, he added the marrow bone, knuckle bone, and ox foot inside, before leaving the broth for five minutes. Then, he took out the bones and discarded the water with impurities.

Minhyuk once again poured clean water inside the cauldron and added the ingredients. He needed to boil it under high heat for an hour, then in low heat for the next five hours. Just when he was about to boil the marrow bone, knuckle bones and ox foot…

[The Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone is certainly different from ordinary marrow bone.]

[You have to shift into high heat, medium heat and low heat to cook the marrow bone.]

“…?”

Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. This was the ‘additional explanation’ from the God’s Cooking Skill that he had learned before. If it were not for these explanations, he would not know how to cook some ingredients.

‘The heat needed changes erratically? This is a really tricky ingredient to process…’

Usually, one needed to boil the bones for an hour in high heat, and five hours in low heat to make ordinary ox bone soup. The more the marrow bone was boiled, the more delicious and nutritious the ox bone soup would become. It was as if the longer the marrow bone was filtered and boiled, the more delicious it became.

However, the steps that he needed to follow to process the Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone were far more tricky and particular than ordinary marrow bones. Nonetheless, he started the boiling process.

[The Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone releases a lot of impurities and oil. You don’t have the time to rest. Proceed to filter out the impurities and the oil.]

Minhyuk saw black scum and oil coming out of the bone.

‘It’s black?’

Ordinary oil and scum that was filtered out of marrow bones were usually not as bad as this. The color of the impurities were as black as ink. Minhyuk hurriedly filtered out the oil and scum. Then, a notification rang.

[Quickly turn the heat to medium heat, otherwise the Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone will turn bad.]

“What kind of marrow bone is this…?”

Minhyuk quickly turned the heat to medium heat and filtered out the oil and scum again. He did not have any time to rest. He even had to battle against the exhaustion and fatigue brought about by the hot steam. After four hours, another set of notifications rang.

[You have boiled the marrow bones from the Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone.]

[You cannot eat the marrow bone. Eating it will make your stomach go bad.]

[You can drink the marrow bone broth made from the Legendary Giant Cow’s Marrow Bone. It tastes the best and is rich in nutrients.]

[You have to boil it for ten more minutes to get the most authentic flavor of the bones.]

“…!”

The marrow bone had turned transparent as it floated on top of the oil. The soup, on the other hand, had turned milky white. It was really a very tricky, yet amazing, ingredient.

‘I wouldn’t have been able to cook this if I weren’t the Food God.’

Minhyuk felt lucky that he could hear additional explanations to make this dish. However, it was also thanks to the fact that Minhyuk was someone that never gave up.

‘Noona, wait for me.’

Minhyuk moved to boil the marrow bone again. He vowed to make the ox bone soup a dish with a never-before-seen grade in order to save Ellie.

1. A very thin noodle made out of wheat flour. An ingredient used mainly on East Asian cuisines. ☜