Leveling Up through Eating

“Y, Your Highness…… Wh, why are you doing this all of a sudden……”

Count Calvat suddenly felt fear. The figure that he thought was just a simple puppet to them before had disappeared without a trace. Ellie was a decisive Empress so it was obvious that she had a reason for acting in such a behavior.

“First bury your head or I will blow it off.”

When he saw Ellie’s cold smile, he quickly rushed to bury his head on the ground.

“You have to get in line over there too.”

In his current state, Count Calvat crawled towards the line of nobles that also had their heads on the ground. His figure looked completely ridiculous to anyone that was watching. Strangely enough, there was a sense of uniformity and homogeneity among him and the nobles that were shaking in a line.

“I see that you have sent out a warrant for the Frying Pan Killer. I have made a thorough investigation about the things that you have said.”

“……”

“Is a fabricated lie supposed to be written in something like this?”

“Fa, fabricated…… W, what do you mean……”

Count Calvat thought that he should first avoid her sight but at that moment, Ellie’s hands shook.

Twist!

“Ghhgk!”

His right leg suddenly twisted up.

“Bury your head like that. If you ever fall down from that position then your neck will fly.”

“……Keuheoop!”

“Don’t make me ask you twice. The warrant that you have written is false, right? I have clear evidence with me.”

“……”

“Would you believe me if I told you that the Frying Pan Killer is my dearly beloved dongsaeng?”

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

The four nobles who had their heads firmly planted on the ground were shocked.

You’re saying that the Empress is the noona and he is the dongsaeng? Shit! Does that even make sense?

Ellie slowly rose from her seat before looking down at them with a chilling gaze.

“This is the first time that you have been caught. But if I make up my mind and you still decide to brush it off then I can make you rot in prison forever.” 

It was the truth. There were not just one or two people who were imprisoned and died because of their punishments.

“Who is it? The one who ordered this.”

Eventually, perhaps it was due to their fear and greed, the nobles opened their mouths to talk. Ellie’s expression turned solemn as she listened to their stories.

‘So it was a foreigner……’

He’s trying to put the world under his control.

However, there was one fact that they had overlooked. It was the fact that the Empress was backing their prey.

“What you have to do from now on… Do I have to say it myself?”

“N, no!”

They all answered in unison as Ellie smirked at them. And at that moment, Ruth, who had gone out earlier, came inside with Count Harven.

“Yeah. You should bury your head here too.”

Elle grinned at him.

***

All the guild members of Bachran Guild, including Kielt, were forced to log out. Meanwhile, the Four Hyenas as well as Minhyuk were still energetic and strong.

‘Wow, my uncles are so strong……’

They were probably at least as strong or stronger than each of the Legend Guild members.

In the case of drops, Minhyuk had decided to get the drops alone from those who had tried to kill him before while the drops from Kielt’s group were shared with his uncles. There was a huge amount of artifacts and gold.

While he was picking the artifacts and golds, Minhyuk had acquired a parchment from the area where Crone disappeared.

[You have acquired the Artifact Changing Parchment.]

Minhyuk might not know this but the Artifact Changing Parchment was something that Crone had tried his hardest to get and it even cost about 50 platinum per parchment. When he checked the information of the item, Minhyuk’s expression looked faintly impressed.

The Artifact Changing Parchment could change the artifact to other artifacts that were similar to it. For example, Minhyuk was equipped with his greatsword but with this parchment his greatsword could change and transform into a regular sword, a long sword, a flamberge or a rapier. And even though the weapon had undergone a transformation, its special abilities and attack power would still be carried over.

‘This greatsword doesn’t look good on me.’ 

In all honesty, Minhyuk was using this greatsword because it belonged to him and it was a great artifact but he believed that a regular sword was much more comfortable to use than a greatsword. So Minhyuk decided to apply the Artifact Changing Parchment on Barraca’s Greatsword.

[Would you like to use the Artifact Changing Parchment on the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca’s Greatsword?]

“Yes.” 

[Please select the type of sword that you wish to change into.]

Minhyuk chose the form of a regular sword and as soon as he selected the sword, the huge Barraca’s Greatsword had transformed into a regular-sized sword. Its rugged and large hilt had become much smaller and could fit better in his hands. Its entire body had also been reduced and had become more sleek and slender.

[The Ancient Water Dragon Barraca’s Greatsword has turned into The Ancient Water Dragon Barraca’s Sword.]

[The special abilities change depending on the Artifact Changing Parchment. This artifact has maintained most of its existing abilities.]

(The Ancient Water Dragon Barraca’s Sword)

Rank: Legendary

Restrictions: Minhyuk’s Attribute Artifact

Durability: ∞ / ∞

Attack Power: 700

Special Abilities:

─ A 10% increase in STR and AGI.

─ An increase of 5 levels to your Passive Skill: Sword Advanced Mastery

─ A successful attack has a 15% chance of triggering the state: difficulty in breathing.

─ Reduces attack failure probability by 50%

─ Skill: Artifact Subspace

Description: This is a sword made out of the bones of the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca and God’s Mineral, Adamantium. It is also called the Supreme Sword in the world of Gods.

Minhyuk nodded in satisfaction. Its attack power was only reduced by 32. However, a high attack power was considered to be normal for greatswords since it was quite difficult to wield than normal swords. And the only other change was the passive skill. Previously it was written as Greatsword Advanced Mastery but it had now become Sword Advanced Mastery. It also seemed like the attack speed would increase the same way that it did with the Greatsword Advanced Mastery. However, he believed that it would be at least 1.5x faster than when he was using the greatsword.

“We will continue killing the Bachran Guild members in the future. Minhyuk-ah.”

“Me too.”

Minhyuk nodded at his uncles. It was only natural that they do that since they had touched someone that they shouldn’t have touched.

Then, Minhyuk checked on the guild chat. It was blinking non-stop earlier but he couldn’t check it since he was in the middle of a fight.

[Guild Chatting Locke: Ah. This sheep head is too strong!]

[Guild Chatting Khan: Because of the debuff a single magic spell can cut off 40% of your HP?]

“……Sheep?” 

Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

What do they mean by ‘sheep’?

Not long after, he was able to see the word ‘Baphomet’ in the guild chat.

Baphomet! The two legged creature with a sheep’s head!

And what came to his mind when he heard of the word ‘sheep’……

‘L, lamb skewers!’

The lamb skewers that could easily be found rotating in some strange looking machine all over town.

And also, it can sometimes taste like beef if lamb is well-roasted. Especially in those lamb restaurants, right? Lamb skewers are also traditionally eaten with Tsingtao. That beer is called Tsingtao, right?

He was in awe just by imagining such a delicacy.

“Uncles! I think I should get going.” 

Minhyuk actually wanted to take them with him since they could probably help increase their guild’s power. However, mass teleportation was only possible if there was a mage that had stored the location.

“Yeah. We know.” 

Minhyuk quickly added them as friends before disappearing in a flash of light.

***

The Legendary Explorer, Rak, was looking around after he had arrived at the Valhalla Territory that Kaistra had told him about earlier.

‘Wh, what the hell is this……’ 

Rak’s eyes were trained on Pharaoh, then Kaistra and finally on the Legend Guild members.

Kaistra had been out of touch with him these past few days and he was only able to learn recently that he had offered to take a man as his master.

And right now, he could see that the Legend Guild’s members had begun to take on the defensive after Baphomet, that was summoned by Pharaoh, had given them a debuff.

Shiiiiiing!

Bang!

“Keuheop!” 

Ascar, the goddess of the battlefield, couldn’t help but let out a groan of pain after she got hit with a ball of fire.

“Ugh……!” 

Rak bit his lips in trepidation when he saw Ascar throwing up blood beside him.

[Rak: Kaistra, wasn’t he the one who sent Pharaoh? Why on earth are you fighting against him? Are you unaware of his terror?]

Rak was also aware of Callauhel’s great terror. Rumor had it that his wealth and assets were over 1 quadrillion won.

Isn’t that too absurd?

No, right now, Rak had somewhat caught on a tail and learned that he was a part of a somewhat noble family before coming here.

A huge billionaire with a noble family!

He even heard that it was the world’s most prestigious family that was earning huge profits through the financial sector. And that man was the center of it all. That was Callauhel.

[Kaistra: Rak, I’m sorry. But I have decided to serve ‘him’.]

Kaistra was fighting against Baphomet. He had tried to approach Pharaoh but Baphoomet was blocking his way.

At that moment……

Slash!

Baphomet’s magic easily sent Kaistra flying.

“Grrrr!”

Penrus flew in a flash of light as he caught Kaistra.

“Ugh!”

Kaistra looked extremely exhausted. He almost single-handedly stopped the enemies from entering the territory in the beginning. But no matter how strong the Incarnation of Light was, they couldn’t handle this number easily. And there was still Baphomet, the Demon World’s Demonic Monster. Just combining his magic skills and debuff could easily pass it off as a creature that was over Lv520.

“……What the hell am I supposed to do!”

Baphomet howled loudly.

“Meeeeeeeeeeh!”

[Great Earthquake]

[An intense earthquake that engulfs the enemies within a 20-m radius!]

Rumble!

The ground twisted and shook wildly as it tried to devour the members of Legend Guild. At least five of the guild members would die if they were engulfed in such an attack.

That was the moment that Rak finished thinking.

[The Prince’s Tomb]

[A powerful stone tomb will rise to stop the attacks.]

Rumble!

A huge tomb squeezed through the ground and appeared in front of them. The tomb that suddenly appeared clashed against the vast power that was released by the Great Earthquake.

Bang!

“Avoid the area of damage! This won’t last long!” 

“Thank you!” 

“Thanks, raggedy old man!” 

The Legend Guild members took advantage of the gap as they quickly escaped from the area. Then, the Prince’s Tomb descended.

Rak was still one of the people with a Legendary Class so he was still strong even though he was infinitely weaker than Kaistra. Also, he was still not under Baphomet’s curse so he could defend against his attacks.

Brrrrrrrrr!

Rak immediately began to gather mana. At that exact same moment, the bodies of the nearby Anubis as well as the members of Bachran Guild floated in the air. It was the power to control gravity and it was a power that Rak possessed. Then, his arms moved like he was slamming something on the ground.

Bang!

The creatures as well as users that were floating in the air crashed loudly on the ground.

[Kaistra: Thanks, Rak.]

[Rak: You bad punk! I need to slap you later!]

Kaistra was a trustworthy boy so Rak also decided to trust his decision and go with him.

***

Kevin was a boy who lived in the small town of Valhalla. He was a boy who had lost his father due to the Lord’s reckless dispatching of a subjugation force two years ago. His father was once a knight of Valhalla Town. And the boy, Kevin, still remembered that day. His father had smiled at him back then as he told him that he would come back. But he never returned in the two years that he waited for him.

Right now, Kevin saw plenty of demon-like creatures emerge in the town. There were creatures with an upper body like a dog and a lower body of a human that were attacking the town together with other people.

He was still just seven years old. And such a young boy was witnessing how the soldiers of the village were dying one after another while the guild members of Legend Guild were falling one by one. To him, it seemed like they were constantly on the defensive even though the man who had summoned the tomb had slammed some of their enemies on the ground.

Then, at that moment……

Bang!

A huge lion made up of stones suddenly appeared in front of him. Kevin trembled in fear. He faintly recalled the words of his father as he ran away from danger.

‘A man should not turn his back in front of his enemies especially when he’s protecting his loved ones.’ 

Kevin took out the small dagger that he always carried with him. It was his father’s memento.

“Grrrrr!” 

The stone lion bared its teeth at him as it slowly stalked him. Even though he was trembling in fear, Kevin still remembered his father’s behavior and movements. His father held the sword with both of his hands as he struck his enemies with all his might from the top to the bottom.

At that moment, the lion jumped.

“Yaaaah!” 

Kevin was still afraid but he closed his eyes tightly as he tried to slash his dagger from top to bottom. Just like what his father did.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

Grrrrrrrrr!

He heard the sound of the giant stone lion collapsing.

“I, I did it!” 

Kevin grinned widely as a man appeared beside him in a flash. Then, that man asked him with a light smile on his face.

“That was really cool. Do you want to be a knight?” 

“Yeah! A very, very, very, cool and strong knight! My dad was a strong knight so I want to be a strong knight like my dad!”

“Yeah? I’m sure you can do it.”

The young man patted him lightly on his head. The man smiled lightly at him as a baby pig climbed over his shoulders.

“You should step back for now. It’s dangerous.”

“I know. Wait. Hyung, what’s your name?”

The man that was rushing forward turned back at Kevin when he heard his question.

“Minhyuk.”

Then, he saw a foreigner wielding a greatsword appear in front of the running man. The foreigner with a greatsword was not able to penetrate through the rock hard skin of the stone lion. But at that moment, he saw the man place two of his fingers in front of his mouth.

“Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

When the man, Minhyuk, ran forward the gigantic lions and the Anubis flocked around him.

“Rampant Sword.”

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!

The stone lion that no one could hunt easily due to its high defense had collapsed in an instant. Then, he saw the man stab his sword on the ground.

“Blooming Sword.”

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

Beautiful flowers made out of sharp sword blades bloomed and stabbed the enemies which was followed by a huge explosion.

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

And Kevin who was watching this scene with his eyes……

“Wooow!”

Was filled with admiration and awe.

This boy named Kevin would later become a ‘Sword Master’ and he would always remember the hero who had saved their territory on that fateful day.

***

Notes:

Quadrillion – 1천여 조 which says over 1000 trillion. So I looked for the next number to trillion and 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 is a quadrillion hence why it’s quadrillion.