A Chef’s Curiosity
They were consumed with regret, but they were chefs.
The benefits that dish could grant were one thing. But more than that, they wanted to know what it tasted like.
Most people who chose the path of a chef in Fantasy Online 2 were, naturally enough, people who were interested in cooking in real life too. The chef class was powerful, sure—but there was also the joy of making something delicious, and the joy of eating something delicious.
Fantasy Online 2 let you taste all kinds of food that simply didn’t exist in reality.
Of course the chefs wanted to know what that dish tasted like.
Just how did he make it?
How could stuffing those ingredients together possibly produce an actual flavor?
One of the chefs edged toward Tae-hyun.
“Um, Mr. Kim Tae-san.”
“Ah, goodness. What can I do for you, Chef?”
Tae-hyun suddenly started speaking with exaggerated politeness.
The chef shrank back a little at that attitude.
“What brings you here? Surely you didn’t come because you wanted to eat that dish. Is there something I can help you with? No, of course not! Surely a great chef like you wouldn’t ask a person like me for help!”
“...”
At that point, just curse at me instead!
The chef’s shoulders drooped, and he trudged back.
If nothing else, the chefs had learned two things.
First, Tae-hyun’s cooking skill was terrifyingly good.
Second, once he held a grudge, he never forgot it.
“Like this? Is this right?”
“Yes. That’s good. You’re picking it up really fast.”
While everyone else was busy preparing to escape, Tae-hyun had grabbed one of the painters and was learning how to draw.
If you had spare time, it was best to use it for something.
“Uh, we’re all ready now.”
“Yeah? Then let’s move.”
Tae-hyun stepped in front of the players.
They were all crafting or art classes, so every last one of them wore nervous expressions.
Still, they’d done everything they could to prepare. Starting with blacksmithing buffs, they had layered on cooking, tailoring, music, and every other enhancement they could manage.
With this much, they might not be able to kill the specter warriors—but they should at least be able to endure them.
There are way too damn many.
Tae-hyun looked over the mass of specter warriors swarming below the hill.
The Specter of the Ancient God itself was nowhere to be seen.
On a merchant ship by the shore, he saw Rufo waving a flag.
It meant they were supposed to come that way.
Is the royal navy still coming? Better to get out before waiting on them.
He wondered if they could hold out, but with the royal navy still not here, there was no telling how the Specter of the Ancient God might act.
Better to break out and get aboard the ship.
Tae-hyun looked over the players staring at him and opened his mouth.
“You’ve all worked hard. But let’s be honest—those specter warriors down there are beyond your level. Well, think positive. If you die, you’ll automatically get kicked off this island.”
“...”
The mood among the players instantly sank.
“Still, if you do your best and run for that ship, you might live. I mean, I’m not worried, obviously. But the rest of you should help each other as much as possible while you run. Otherwise you’ll all be wiped out. Again, not my problem, though!”
The way Tae-hyun declared that he was sure he’d survive was maddening beyond words.
“All right! Let’s go!”
Your Tactics skill has increased.
You have acquired a new skill.
By using people in the right places, you increase their capabilities.
The stats of the players gathered here temporarily increase.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Come at us, you bastards!”
“If I die, I’m not dying alone!”
As Tae-hyun sprinted down the hill first, the other players all followed behind him, shouting at the tops of their lungs.
Their triangular formation looked decent enough.
Of course, aside from Tae-hyun, every single one of them was screaming because they were terrified...
“Don’t come any closer! I’ll skewer you with this steel fishing hook!”
“Taste my oiled shield!”
As the specter warriors began to approach in slow steps, the players shouted even louder.
Tae-hyun didn’t look like he’d help them.
The only people they could trust were the comrades running beside them.
The specter warriors steadily tightened the encirclement...
Then they all attacked Tae-hyun alone.
“?”
Tae-hyun dodged one specter warrior’s attack and countered with Circle of Counterattack, then looked around.
The specter warriors surrounding them were ignoring the other players completely and closing in on Tae-hyun alone.
“Successor... kill him...”
“Our master has commanded it...”
You damned Specter of the Ancient God!
The Specter of the Ancient God had clearly ordered them to target Tae-hyun alone.
Still, these specter warriors charging at him weren’t much of a match anyway.
Clang!
He hacked off the leg of the specter warrior in front of him, then kicked it over to the ground.
The moment it fell, the blacksmiths behind him swarmed in and began hammering away.
Thud! Thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Even if their levels were low, once it was immobilized and getting pounded like that, the specter warrior quickly turned gray.
“I leveled up!”
“Me too!”
Hearing the players behind him shout that, Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.
It felt like he was the only one getting ripped off here.
“Don’t let him go...”
“Hold him in place...”
“Hey, go after the ones in the back too!”
At least there were no specter mages or archers.
If there had been, this would have been several times harder.
Tae-hyun began cutting down the specter warriors swarming at him like a pack of dogs.
Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike
Circle of Defense
“Anyone who comes at me ends up like this! What are the ones in back doing? Run already!”
Intimidate
Harsh Whipping
Using multiple skills at once made his MP drain fast.
The Earring of Mana Recovery he’d gotten earlier suddenly felt incredibly precious.
Thanks, idiots!
If the two people who’d tried to PK him and gotten their items stolen had heard that, they’d have clutched the backs of their necks and collapsed.
Crunch! Crack! Craaack!
Tae-hyun mowed down specter warriors as if he were harvesting grain.
And while he fought, he kept grumbling inwardly.
Why the hell was he the only one fighting while the ones in back did nothing?
But to the players behind him, it looked completely different.
A lone figure drawing all the specter warriors to himself and fighting for everyone else—a heroic back worthy of a martyr.
“A-amazing...!”
“I knew he was a good person!”
“Exactly! He’s just not good at expressing himself honestly!”
“Let’s help too!”
“Lord Tae-hyun! You’ve returned!”
When Tae-hyun finally reached the shore and climbed aboard the ship with the others, Rufo cried out in relief.
“Hasn’t the navy shown up yet?”
“We’ve just begun to see them in the distance. But isn’t that Specter of the Ancient God acting strangely? It isn’t attacking first, for one...”
It should have used the specter warriors to seize the ship, or attacked Tae-hyun and the players directly.
Instead, the specter warriors had simply waited in place and only attacked when Tae-hyun’s group passed them.
“Who knows. Maybe it got brain damage from the breath attack. Just get the ship moving!”
“Yes, understood.”
If the enemy made a mistake, that was something to be grateful for.
There was no need to dwell on the reason.
Once they put some distance between themselves and joined up with the royal navy at sea, all of this would be over.
The Specter of the Ancient God could become the navy’s problem.
Fwaaash—
The merchant ship unfurled its sails and rapidly began pulling away.
And then...
Whirrrl—
“Aaaagh?!”
The ship suddenly spun around, and the players all rolled across the deck.
They’d let their guard down the moment they thought they’d escaped, so the shock came without warning.
Due to the effects of the Dungeon of the Ancient God, the ship cannot move forward.
You must解除 the dungeon to proceed.
“...!”
Now he understood why the Specter of the Ancient God hadn’t appeared.
Escaping by ship had been nearly impossible from the start, so all it had to do was sit back and recover its strength inside the dungeon at its leisure.
Should I just swim and run for it?
Tae-hyun considered it seriously. With how obsessed the Specter of the Ancient God seemed to be, he really didn’t want to deal with it.
“Lord Tae-hyun. What should we do?”
“Should we just swim for it?”
“...You’re joking, right?”
“I was serious, but I’ll take that as a no. Fine. Send a signal to the royal navy and tell them to hurry.”
“Yes. I’ll explain why we can’t leave right now and—”
Grab.
Tae-hyun caught Rufo’s arm.
“Why are you stopping me?”
“Don’t explain why we can’t leave.”
“What? You’re saying not to tell them that?”
“If we tell them, those guys might decide not to come in.”
The drag-you-down-with-me strategy.
He didn’t know what kind of people the royal navy were, but if they realized that coming in here might mean they couldn’t get back out, they might just refuse to enter.
That could not be allowed.
If there was going to be a fight, then the more allies, the better.
Rufo immediately caught on to Tae-hyun’s real intention and shook his head in alarm.
“You can’t do that! If this comes out later, there could be serious consequences!”
“If we just say we didn’t know either, what then?”
“...That may be true, but still!”
“Then do you want to go kill the Specter of the Ancient God?”
“I’ll tell the royal navy to come as quickly as possible.”
“I am Admiral Brangsong of the Third Fleet of the Atali Kingdom. You may address me simply as Brangsong.”
A cluster of massive warships came surging in, and from one of them strode forth a handsome, mustached middle-aged man.
For players who had spent time in the Atali Kingdom, it was enough to send them into a frenzy.
“Brangsong? That Brangsong?”
“I think so! This is my first time seeing him!”
“Can we talk to him?”
“Hey, look at the soldiers beside him. One wrong move and they’ll spear you!”
Brangsong was one of the most famous NPCs among Atali Kingdom players.
As an admiral who actively led fleets around the seas and constantly got involved in major events, players naturally ended up seeing him a lot.
Competent, close to the royal family because he was a noble, and reasonably kind in temperament—he was immensely popular with players.
For players who had joined the navy, he was basically an idol.
Rufo, naturally, was extremely respectful.
“How could I dare speak to you so casually, Admiral Brangsong?”
But Tae-hyun was not Rufo.
If someone told him to do something, he tended to do it just because they said so.
“You said to call you comfortably, so I’ll call you Brangsong.”
“?!?!”
“Hahaha. I rather like hearing that. So then—are these the people who gathered to defeat the Caterand Pirates?”
Brangsong looked over the players.
At first glance, they didn’t look particularly strong.
“Well... uh... actually, the pirates have already all been defeated. Denelson is dead too.”
Rufo spoke hesitantly.
He still felt guilty for having deceived the royal navy.
“What?!”
To Brangsong, however, that was genuinely shocking news.
He stared at Rufo in astonishment and demanded,
“The pirates were all defeated? How could that be possible? What about the island fortress? What about Denelson? By what method was this done?”
“I wasn’t the one who did it. He was.”
Rufo pointed at Tae-hyun.
“Extraordinary...!”
Brangsong thinks highly of you. Fame has increased by 50.
Brangsong respects exceptional strength. In the Atali Kingdom, you may now introduce yourself using Brangsong’s name.
Your name has spread throughout the Atali Kingdom.
“Tell me! By what method did you bring down those pirates? Surely those bolts of lightning that fell onto the island earlier... were they your doing?”
“You could say that.”
“Truly magnificent! To defeat the pirates of Katerand Island alone—what a hero! Men! Applaud him!”
Clap clap clap clap—
The Atali sailors began applauding with deadpan expressions.
Oddly enough, it was Tae-hyun who ended up feeling embarrassed.
“No... forget the applause. That’s not the important part right now.”
“To say that honor is unimportant. I like you more and more. Have you any interest in joining the navy?”
“No. And right now the pirates aren’t the issue anymore. There’s something even more troublesome on that island, so let’s focus on that.”
“Hm?”