Leveling Up through Eating

Translators: ChubbyCheeks

Sweat was pooling in Chairman Kang Minhoo’s hands as he stared at the TV screen.

[Player Carr started to run towards Player Minhyuk while shouting loudly!]

[Do they know each other?]

His son, Kang Minhyuk, also had a dream. He wanted to become a world-class gold medalist in kendo. That was his child’s dream. After he won that unofficial competition, he got a chance to spread his wings. But not long after that, a disease called ‘Bulimia nervosa’ struck him.

However, Kang Minhoo knew that his son fought against this disease more fiercely and strongly than anybody else. He kept on working out and exercising even though he said that he wanted to stop and felt in trouble. He knew it was to solve the ‘regret’ from that time. Although he was not able to become a ‘gold medalist’, perhaps Minhyuk could solve that regret right now.

However, the commentators were saying the contrary.

[No matter how fast Player Minhyuk dealt with those four players with his amazing abilities, his opponent is still Carr, a gold medalist.]

[It’s a losing battle.]

Then, the swords of the two young men collided.

***

Clang!

Minhyuk quickly swung his sword and defended against Carr’s attack. He dug in and penetrated in an instant as he stabbed him in the stomach.

Clang!

Carr gently defended as he aimed for his head.

Once.

Clang!

Twice.

Clang!

Thrice.

Clang!

But Carr could not create any gap. No, he was even able to attempt counterattacks at him.

Shwoooook!

He twisted his body to avoid the sword aiming at his side as he slashed strongly from top to bottom.

Clang!

He wondered if he could get some more force if he attacked him from behind. Meanwhile, Minhyuk dissipated the force by rolling around once.

Dash!

Carr began to run backwards while Minhyuk ran after him.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Sparks kept on pouring out whenever their swords met. Carr ran until he got near a wall. Then, he stomped on the wall as he used this force to stab Minhyuk strongly. Minhyuk skillfully twisted his body to avoid the attack while he aimed for his opponent’s neck.

Vwooooosh!

Carr avoided the attack as his entire center spinned with just a twist of his toes. 

“W, wow……”

Jeffie burst out in admiration. He thought that Minhyuk would not be able to hold out against Carr. But contrary to his expectations, Minhyuk was not losing ground against Carr’s flamboyant sword skills.

[Wh, what’s going on……?]

[Player Minhyuk is not losing an inch of ground with this fight against the gold medalist Carr……!]

[Something entirely unbelievable is happening right in front of us!!!]

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The cheers and screams in the audience stands were getting hotter and hotter. 

Meanwhile, Carr couldn’t help but be surprised as he continued to clash swords with Minhyuk.

‘His skills are not rusty at all……!’

It did not rust at all. It even looks like he had been undergoing special training for a long time too.

Flash!

At that moment, Minhyuk’s sword was stabbing straight towards his neck. Carr quickly struck out to defend. He couldn’t stop the chills running down his spine. If he hadn’t reacted quickly then his neck would have definitely been pierced by that strike.

Locke and Khan were also battling against the other players.

“Khan. Throw it to me!”

“Okey dokey!”

Khan, who was moving swiftly, slapped the face of one of the players that blocked their way.

“Keup!”

He grabbed the player that was holding onto his bruised nose and threw it at Locke, who was lying on the floor.

“Hello?”

“……!”

The player who flew down the floor was none other than Aegis. The mage user Aegis was startled when he felt that he was being dragged. 

Locke’s legs had not recovered yet! However, he had been learning wrestling for five years already. It was a skill that he had learned since he got beaten by Lee Sungmin and his group.

Grab─

Locke squeezed the neck of their opponent tightly. It wasn’t that long when Aegis passed out.

[Due to difficulties in breathing, you will be temporarily knocked out.]

“One man down! Another one! Throw another one!” 

“Wait!” 

Even though Locke’s legs were still recovering and were quite uncomfortable, he was still doing quite well. And the same was true for Khan too. Meanwhile, Carr was getting restless.

‘These crazy bastards. What the hell!’ 

Khan and Locke were both able to move fast in gathering spirits. Everything would result in failure if he wasn’t able to beat Minhyuk down quickly.

Then, at that moment…

[There are 10 seconds left for the Blessings of the World Tree.]

[9 seconds, 8 seconds, 7 seconds, 6 seconds, 5 seconds……]

The Blessings of the World Tree was coming to an end.

Carr’s mouth couldn’t help but grin wickedly. He knew that Minhyuk’s level was only 355. And even though he made a tremendous show in the Eat Quickly Contest, it was still a competition for production classes. There was a difference between heaven and earth with the production classes and the combat classes. It was not something that he could overcome easily. He believed that as soon as the Blessings of the World Tree ended, Khan, Locke and Minhyuk would all die straight away.

Then, the notifications rang.

[1 second.]

[The Blessings of the World Tree has ended.]

A smile formed around Carr’s mouth. He quickly took a step back as dozens of swords appeared around him.

[Chaotic Sword Manipulation.]

[Several dozens of swords will be fired from the Crown Prince’s body.]

Dozens of swords flew from Carr’s body. Carr, who was at Lv490, could unleash a formidable force with his swords that had an additional 100% attack power.

Shweeeeeek!

A sword quickly flew straight towards Minhyuk.

“Like the Wind.”

Minhyuk used his skill as he instantaneously moved a distance of three meters. The distance between them widened but it seemed like the Chaotic Sword Manipulation was like a homing missile as it followed him around. After using ‘Like the Wind’ once more, Minhyuk invoked his Rampant Sword.

[Rampant Sword.]

[A flurry of rampant swords with additional 40% attack power will be created for 14 seconds.]

Carr’s eyes widened when he saw Rampant Sword, with a longer duration, being unleashed. The sword images that he had created were shot down by the sword images that were created from Minhyuk’s skill.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

‘How can this be possible……?’

Carr had no choice but to look in horror. After all, defeating and cancelling an opponent’s attack would only be possible if they were in the same level. But Minhyuk was only at Lv355. And his class was even a Food God, a production class.

‘Come to think of it……’

Minhyuk had shown two skills in the Eat Quickly Contest. The first skill was the ‘Fluttering Sword’. Carr had also watched the Fluttering Sword in the replay and he had seen hundreds of leaves flashing like swords as they devoured and ravaged his enemies. Such a sword skill was exclusively available to fairly high-leveled sword class users or to users with special job classes. So he was quite surprised that he could pull out hundreds of such things like that. But he had only seen one sword skill and magical abilities.

‘No. But the level gap is……’

It was something that could never be narrowed down.

While he was lost in thought, Khan regained his strength and began to run and increase his momentum.

[Crazy Priest’s Reinforcement.]

[A powerful curse will be applied in both your hands. This curse can cause your enemies to rot in one strike.]

Locke was definitely a dealer as well as a healer. However, he tended to lean more on the ‘debuff line’ instead of the ‘heal line’.

[Giant’s Strike.]

[A huge fist will hit your enemies recklessly.]

He stretched his fist quickly as a huge fist formed and hit the players.

Bang! Bang, bang!

The players who were fast enough to block their bodies with their arms felt a sense of numbness as a feeling of bugs crawling around their arms slowly appeared.

[Your hands are beginning to rot at a fast pace.]

[Your HP is constantly being reduced.]

[Your hands will be incapacitated if you leave them unattended.]

Locke and Khan had been friends for quite a long time so when they fought together, they had some sort of tacit understanding that left the other four players at a loss.

‘I have to get this over with quickly.’

[Eight Legendary Greatswords.]

[Eight strong sword attacks will hit one player. One attack will have an additional 140% damage.]

A huge greatsword appeared and dropped down from the air. The other swords appeared and stuck to the ground with Minhyuk at the center.

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

Minhyuk could see that the swords that got stuck in the ground showed off an unusual energy.

***

“……I can’t believe that he got caught in such a skill.” 

The remarks of Jackal, the second in the official domestic rankings, rang loudly in the VIP stands. Jackal was donned with the name Black Star since all of his artifacts, even his suit, was dyed in black. And his words as a Lv472 user proved to be quite catching.

“Ah…… Jackal-nim has fought with Carr before, right?” 

Jackal smiled bitterly as he nodded at one of the tankers’ words.

“That’s right. At first, I thought that it was just a walk in the park but that skill killed me. That ability can trap and lock people up like bugs caught in a spider web. And its power is so formidable that a player will not be able to penetrate through it. I can tell…… because I was not able to penetrate through it……” 

“……” 

“……”

The users readily agreed with him. After all, Jackal was strong enough to be ranked second in the official domestic rankings. But not long after, a woman suddenly said……

“But I think he’s going to break through it?” 

“……Yes?” 

Their heads turned around. They saw the Legend Guild’s guild master, Genie, sitting with her legs crossed.

“Everyone, I believe you have seen only one part of the Frying Pan Killer. Right?” 

She looked quite confident as she uttered those words.

***

Minhyuk felt a sense of danger down to his very bones so he hurriedly tried to avoid it. However,  a notification sounded in his ears.

[You can’t escape while the skill is still in effect.]

‘What kind of fraudulent ability is this……’ 

The eight swords began to glow brightly. When Minhyuk realized that he could not avoid it, he decided to break it down.

He used his Fluttering Sword.

Swoooooooosh─

Hundreds of falling leaves fell on the eight 3m-long greatswords. Suddenly, a bright flash erupted from one of the greatswords.

Ping─

The flash that appeared instantly slashed Minhyuk’s arms. His HP got cut down by at least five percent. Then, one after another, the swords flashed and attacked Minhyuk’s body.

Ping, ping, ping, ping─

“Kghhk!”

Minhyuk’s body started to bleed after being torn by the flashes of light. His fluttering sword took a long time before being unleashed. And the skill that Carr had used also seemed to have a long duration before it got unleashed. However, he was the first one to invoke his skills so the flashes had already started to pour down from the eight greatswords. The flashes easily penetrated through Minhyuk’s body.

Ping, ping, ping, ping─

[Your HP has dropped below 60%.]

[Your HP has dropped below 40%.]

[You have received a fatal blow.]

[Your head will start to feel dizzy due to continuous bleeding.]

[Your HP has dropped below 20%.]

[Your body movements have been restricted.]

Carr smiled wickedly. He felt that it was not strange if Minhyuk’s body collapsed now since his body was bleeding everywhere already. However, contrary to his expectations, Minhyuk’s body did not collapse. The wind from his Fluttering Sword even began to blow intensely.

Vwooooooom─

At that moment, a flash pierced through Minhyuk’s neck.

‘I won……!’ 

Carr felt gleeful. He did not forget to stare straight at Minhyuk. This was something that he did not wish to miss.

[You have used the Armor of Immortality’s special ability.]

[All of your HP and MP is refilling at a high speed.]

Flash!

Minhyuk’s wounds began to regenerate at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a flash, his HP had already been restored to 100%.

‘What kind of ridiculous thing is this……!’ 

Carr looked on in horror. He couldn’t stop the chills that run down his spine when he saw this scene play in front of him.

***