Leveling Up through Eating

Translators: ChubbyCheeks

Baaaaaaaaaaaang!

The loud roar shook the ant cave as well as the surrounding grounds. Then, Locke grabbed something from the ground with his hands. It was none other than a net.

[Zefrit’s Net.]

[A red net will penetrate through the ground and drag in anything and everything within a 5-meter radius.]

Within a 5-meter radius around Locke, whether it was the wall or the termites hidden within it, they were all trapped in the red net that spread around one by one. Then, Locke, who was grabbing the red net, pulled it off of the ground.

At that moment……

Peeeeeeng─

The red net shrank in an instant and dragged dozens of swarming termites. Then, Locke pulled out another axe. Just looking at the two axes in his hands, one could tell that it was too heavy to swing with just one hand. He drew all his strength as he struck both of his axes down. At that exact same moment, the net that dragged and surrounded the termites disappeared. The termites had been freed but it was already too late.

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

The red energy that extended from the two axes racked up a huge amount of dust as it devoured and engulfed the termites. As soon as the dust settled down, the only thing left in sight were the shattered and broken pieces of the termites.

“……Hi, hiccup!”

Carlo, who wanted to ignore him, was surprised by the sight.

[E, eleven! Player Locke hunts eleven termites with his overwhelming move!]

[Ah, at that moment…… Player Locke’s two axes were covered in red.]

[This is a completely different look from the Locke that we knew from the public!]

[This is the beauty of this competition! Each and every player has hidden their growth and strength ahead of the competition!]

Not too long ago, Locke was able to do a second class transfer. The name was the same as the Crazy Priest. But the power of the class was no less than a God Class. This was also the reason why he represented ‘Legend Guild’ in this competition.

Locke had now acquired a lot of ‘spirits’ quickly. He started running while looking at the map that was floating on his upper left corner. The map was showing the location of the ant cave where he was currently at as well as the location of the World Tree. 

“Kiiiiieeeeeeeee!”

“Kyaaaaaaaaa!”

Slash!

Baaaaaaang!

Locke ran at a speed that was almost on par as the speed of light after quickly dealing with two termites in one go. With the speed he was running at, he quickly arrived at the World Tree.

[You can now inject the World Tree.]

And with all his might, he injected the World Tree with a huge injection.

Stab!

Glug, glug, glug, glug!

A transparent liquid began to flow down the World Tree. And along with the flow of the liquid, Locke saw…….

[1st place. Locke. 11 Spirit Injections.]

[2nd place. Carr. 5 Spirits (Not injected).]

[3rd place. Khan. 2 Spirits (Not injected).]

An overwhelming difference. 

Locke smiled broadly at what he saw.

‘Me too……’ 

I also want to be Athenae’s MVP.

***

“Waaaaaaaaaaah!” 

“Locke! Locke! Locke!” 

“Crazy! Crazy!” 

The Legend guild members sitting in the stands burst into cheers.

“Big rock face Locke! You’re cool!!!” 

Ace was jumping and clapping but some of the users were looking grim and serious. One of them was Genie. She was the one who pierced the door.

“It’s definitely good to take the lead. But……” 

He was more likely to become everyone’s target. Especially because this War of the World Tree does not allow the players to use potions. If he suffered from a fatal injury even just once, then he would be in big trouble. In addition, Locke’s abilities eat away a huge amount of mana.

What was worse is that this competition……

‘The blessings of the World Tree can be triggered any time……’ 

As soon as the blessings of the World Tree was triggered, all the users would depend on their control and ability to fight. But their biggest issue was……

‘Carr won’t stand still.’ 

Genie had also heard about what went down yesterday. She turned to look at the screen.

‘What, that person?’ 

There were some unofficial rankers in the competition. There were even some users whose faces were completely unknown to the public. Those users were even moving fast towards where Khan was.

“What’s happening……?” 

Khan was also gathering spirits quickly but it wasn’t enough for people to be wary of him.

So why are they moving towards Khan?

And when she saw the expressions of the two unofficial rankers…… she seemed to realize that they were not that interested in the competition.

“……Don’t tell me.” 

Genie’s eyes widened in shock.

“Blackstone?”

***

A man was watching the Korean games. The man had a grave smile on his face.

He was quite surprised to know that Kaistra had turned his back away from Blackstone. And even the Pharaoh’s Incarnation couldn’t deal with the Frying Pan Killer. No, it was more like he had received some backlash from trying to deal with him. After all, it was the Sword Emperor Ellie who was protecting him.

‘You are under the Empress’ protection……’

It was quite an interesting tale but that was all. He had no intentions of letting his opponents walk freely in Athenae anymore.

[Ah! Player Carlin and Player Aegis started attacking Player Khan!]

The two people who attacked Khan were members of Blackstone. And so was Carr.

As he watched the games, he signed an approval letter. He signed the name ‘Rausch’ on the paper. And the title written above it was……

Rothschilde. 

It was a world-class aristocratic family. This family had accumulated large assets in the financial sector. And the person sitting in the highest position in this family was none other than……

Callauhel Rausch.

His family was estimated to be among the top five families in the world with the most wealth. Of course it was the family property but it was still a fact that Rausch was among the world’s greatest billionaires.

He stood up as he went to access Athenae.

‘The competition will be resolved without me watching over it.’

The blessings of the World Tree was not a problem for them. He was sure that Carr would win this competition. After all, Carr was an Olympic gold medalist. He was even superior to Kaistra in Athenae. It was only natural that he would stand out even if the blessings of the World Tree was triggered.

This was how Callauhel made his decisions. He used all the financial power and information that he could get his hands on.

Notifications went off as he took a step forward.

[You have become the first user to step into the Demon World.]

[You have gained 300 reputation points.]

***

Locke could see that Carr’s performance in the competition was in hot pursuit of his.

‘Maybe……’

He was an extraordinary punk. What worried Locke the most was the ‘Blessings of the World Tree’ that could be triggered anytime. He knew that Carr would definitely go after him once that happened. 

So Locke just ran after the spirits again. But he had no choice but to stop.

“Huh……?”

There were four users blocking his path. In a way, the situation that Locke was in was already a given. After all, the others would definitely try to keep Locke, who was going up to the top quickly, in check.

But four people? There’s obviously a different reason for this.

[Player Khan, Player Carlin and Player Aegis has collided. This is surprising! Player Khan is too overwhelming! He’s overwhelmingly strong! He doesn’t even fall behind against two users who are the same level as him!]

[Player Locke is also being surrounded by four other players. Three out of the four users are widely known! They are Users Becker, Jahdi, and Kelman. The remaining one is an unofficial ranker!]

[Players Khan and Locke are truly going up fast, but don’t you think those who are keeping them in check are going at it faster than we thought?]

Becker, as if they knew that they would be questioned, opened his mouth.

“We won’t get to win anyway. After all, Carr is in this competition. But we’re here since we thought that you were too rude yesterday. We believe that you shouldn’t win because of this.”

It was a complete load of bullshit. Who would use such nonsense as if they could judge him on behalf of the people.

‘Such a ridiculous excuse.’

It was so absurd that he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. 

“Why don’t you just say that this competition in and on itself is for ‘him’ in the first place?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really disgusting.”

Locke grinned darkly.

How many MPs do I have left? What about my skills’ cooldown?

Locked chattered away in his heart.

‘Me too…… I also want to be the best too……’ 

He was always in the background. From young until now, there was always someone outstanding standing in front of him. The only thing that he was good at was playing ‘games’. But right now, there were many people who were preventing him from winning such a game.

Not long after, a message was spread to all of the users.

[In 5 minutes, the Blessings of the World Tree will descend.]

The Blessings of the World Tree. However, it was more of a curse than a blessing.

Those who came in late might be able to keep up with them with their control and ability but they might be pushed back by those with high stats, high skills and high leveled items. They could only survive by avoiding them.

Locke clashed against the other users.

***

[Ah, Player Locke will eventually collapse! He’s going to collapse!]

[But Player Locke did a good job. He did not fall behind those users even though he was all alone. I think he even scared them.]

[Huh? But why aren’t they forcing Locke to log out?]

Not long after, one of the four users said……

“You were really rude yesterday. As a Korean, I also feel ashamed of you. In this competition where you can’t even use a potion, I want you to watch someone else win with you all hurt like this. Or maybe, you’ll get eaten by the termites and be forced to log out first.” 

The audience reactions were divided into two.

“Justice prevails!” 

“Waaaaaaaaaah!” 

“Didn’t you pretend to vomit in front of Player Carr yesterday?” 

“I’m looking forward to Locke’s reversal!” 

“Isn’t this a complete mockery, though?” 

“What the hell are you saying?!” 

“Eyy. No matter how you look at it, that’s not the case!!”

The stands were divided. Half of them were cheering while half of them were criticizing. Then, the four users stepped out of the cave. But Locke only smirked.

‘I’m not like an MVP at all……’ 

In the past, when he ate Minhyuk’s buffed dishes, he could also use regular heals in addition to using heals that could cut his opponents HP. But now, the buff’s effects were all gone and his heals were of no use anymore.

Then, at that moment…

The commentators were in a clamor.

“What? Someone joined in the middle?” 

“Who? No. All 30 of the qualifiers participated in the first place. But how is he able to participate?” 

The commentators asked a lot of questions after they had heard that a user will participate in the middle of the competition.

Will there be a user who can participate even though all 30 people who participated in the qualifying rounds are already there?

However, the commentators’ eyes widened in shock when they heard the official’s words.

“Th, the user from the Hall of Kings……?!” 

“The user who climbed it twice?!” 

“Is that user finally willing to show himself?!” 

Then, the commentators started shouting in their microphones.

[Breaking news! The user who recently climbed the Hall of Kings has expressed his intentions to participate in the competition. As you all know, users who climbed the Hall of Kings has the opportunity and privilege to join and participate in any event!]

“Ha, Hall of Kings……?”

“The Hall of Kings?! The guy who climbed it twice in one day?!”

“Who is it?!”

Everyone was curious. Even the commentator who was going to identify his name had his eyes wide open in shock.

“Th, the name of the person who climbed and stamped his name on the Hall of Kings twice in one day……? This person is a production class!!”

As soon as the voice was transmitted through the microphone, a light flashed and spread among all the users playing the game on the World Tree. The light enveloped all of the players.

[The players abilities and skills are temporarily made equal.]

[The abilities and skills of the termites have been lowered compared to some players.]

Then, the commentator shouted……

[He, he is the user who participated in the Eat Quickly Contest just recently! The Food God. Us, User Minhyuk!]

The audience began to shout in surprise.

“D, did they say Minhyuk?! That User Minhyuk from before?”

“Impossible…… How can a production class climb the Hall of Kings twice in a row?”

And the news began to spread rapidly through the commentators all over the world.

***

TL’s corner!

I want to see Lee Dawoul getting trashed by Minhyuk! Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase.