Leveling Up through Eating

The notifications did not stop there.

[Mass Teleport]

[The Monarch summons all of his opponents.]

Light flashed everywhere as the users began to appear one by one.

“Cough!” 

“Treatment! Priests! Hurry up! Use heal!” 

“Shit, fXck!! He’s too strong!!” 

“What priest! All the priests and mages are dead now!!”

“Everyone else from my team is annihilated, except me?!”

“Is this a bug? How can you break this?!”

The users were all flustered and confused. Kentaro, whose armor had turned into rags, stood firm as he maintained his defensive posture by crossing his katanas together.

‘This……. We’re supposed to break this……?’

Kentaro raised his eyebrow.

Something’s wrong, something is terribly wrong.

‘Isn’t he impossible to hunt as of the moment?’

The users in Athenae continued to level up. As their level grew, their strength would also grow stronger. As a result of this, Athenae continued to provide new updates so the users would not get bored and tired as they set new goals for themselves. But the Ancient Monarch in front of them was something that has gone beyond that category. He could estimate that the tankers present now would only be able to hunt him six months later. 

Athenae put something like this here?

‘Do you want us all to die?’

Looking around, he could see that most of the users were out of commission with just the blow from earlier. Most of them had lost their armor’s durability and even the wounded users had to try and survive on their own after the priests were forced to log out. The current number of the warped surviving users were 20. But Kentaro could see that there were still two people who were standing strong. They were none other than Minhyuk and Ali.

The first strike of the Monarch’s power was meant to strike the other users and not the two people in front of him. But then, the Ancient Monarch swung his sword again. 

“Apologize with your deaths! Foolish men who are against me!”

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

As soon as the sword struck out, the ground blew up and shot at the unprepared users.

Grrrrrrrr!

“Keuheuk!”

“Keuhack!”

The users let out shrieks. But that did not mean that those users were just going to be pushed back so easily. They quickly came back to their senses.

“Kentaro! Give an order!”

“You have experience hunting him once, right? We’ll trust your orders!”

Their teams might be different but each and every one of them had realized that this was not the time to gobble up scores and check their scores out. All they needed to worry about was whether they could survive and not be forced to log out.

“Archers, pull back and continue to deal damage. Tankers, step forward and dealers follow right behind them. Use all of your skills and don’t save anything! The moment we try to save just one skill, we will all be annihilated!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

The users quickly moved to follow his instructions.

[Wind Arrow—!]

[Piercing Arrow!]

[Homing Shot!]

[One Shot!]

Twang, twang, twang, twang, twang, twang!

The arrows that were filled with strength were shot straight towards the Ancient Monarch. But at that moment, a mysterious golden blade appeared out of thin air before ripping the arrows in half. Then, the Ancient Monarch began to run.

“Tankers!” 

Kentaro shouted hurriedly.

“Keuwoooooo!” 

“Uwaaaaaaaaaa!” 

The tankers’ bodies started to harden.

[Golem’s Heart.]

[Your entire body will become as firm as an Iron Golem.]

[Active Endurance.]

[HP increases by 180%.]

[Gold Knight.]

[The glittering golden armor increases your defense.]

Bang!

The user named Max clashed with the dashing Ancient Monarch with his large square shield. Just a moment ago, Max was feeling happy after using his ability ‘Golem’s Heart’ to make his body as hard as stone.

‘If I block this in front of the users from all over the world…… I will be a hero!’ 

As a tanker, Max was more confident than anyone else about his defense. His defenses were extremely high and his artifacts were also splendid.

Bang!

But the moment the Ancient Monarch’s sword collided with his large square shield……

“Keuk!” 

Max grinned. Just like he expected, his square shield was impregnable. He had personally commissioned a dwarf to make this Manir’s Absolute Shield!

But something unexpected happened. Something was rising out of the Ancient Monarch Sword straight towards Max’s square shield.

“Hiiik?!” 

Max was caught in surprise. When he looked closely, he could see the root of a tree. And thinking about it, he realized that the Ancient Monarch could freely use the surrounding soil, plants and trees.

Then, the tree roots began to tighten on the square shield.

Cra, crack!

“……Cr, crazy!” 

Since his artifact had an infinite durability, no matter what happened to it, it would reset and return back to normal after 24 hours. However, this was the first time that he had seen this happen. And one after the other, the Ancient Monarch wielded his sword.

Bang!

Sand gushed out with every brandish of his sword. As soon as the sand touched their skin, it began to heat up.

“Keuaaaaaaack!” 

Max shrieked. And the two users who tried to block the Ancient Monarch from behind him were also caught in surprise. This was because the roots of the trees that rose like tentacles broke through their high defenses and penetrated through their bodies.

And that was not the end of it.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

A powerful explosion broke out which shattered their bodies to pieces.

“Sh, shit! This fXcker!” 

“H, how can we kill something like that!” 

“This is crazy! I don’t even want to be logged out!!” 

The users shrieked in panic. Since they were high-leveled players, they would receive higher penalties compared to other users. Even the thought of their artifacts dropping in their death had made them dizzy. 

Shweeeeeek—

A powerful force shot up through the sky. When Kentaro saw such a powerful force, he couldn’t help but be in despair.

‘We can’t stop that, this……’ 

He felt like he wanted to log out and the same was true for the other users too. The force split in the air and flew in all directions as it aimed for the users.

At that moment.

[Compress.]

[Drags all users in one place.]

The Black Mage Ali swayed his staff. All of the users were dragged by the power that Ali shot out. All of them were firmly gathered behind him. Then, a powerful force shot out from Ali’s staff as it formed a protective barrier around them.

“Barrier.”

“……!” 

“……!” 

“……!” 

“……!” 

The users were shocked. Barrier was a top-notch skill, it was an evolution of shield. This skill would form a shield that was ten times stronger than the normal shield. However, as a penalty, the mage and the people that he was protecting would not be able to use any ability or even prepare for combat while still under the protection of the barrier.

The barrier quietly surrounded the surviving users.

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

The power of the Ancient Monarch struck fiercely against the barrier. However, surprisingly enough, there were no cracks that appeared on the barrier.

The users were well aware that Alex, the world’s number one mage, was still not able to learn the eight class magic, Barrier. This was the reason why the users were all in shock.

Then, Ali spoke.

“I didn’t let you live because I liked you. It’s just because we need to have a lot of people to help us.”

Kentaro gulped dryly at Ali’s words. At that moment, they saw Ali look somewhere else. There was a man who was standing outside the barrier.

“Like the Wind.” 

If they were inside the Barrier, then they would be protected under a shield but once they were outside the Barrier, they would lose all of this protection. However, the penalty that stopped them from using any ability to attack would also disappear.

The man appeared in front of the Ancient Monarch in an instant. Then, he used a skill.

“Rampant Sword.” 

The Rampant Sword that would last for 14 seconds! The skill that Minhyuk used began to create dozens of sword lights. These sword lights immediately attacked the Ancient Monarch.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

Twang, twang, twang, twang!

[Fatal Strike!]

[Intangible Sword.]

[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy’s defenses.]

Spurt!

Blood spurted out as the sword light penetrated through the Ancient Monarch’s thick and sturdy full plate armor.

“Keuaaaack! Such an absurd rookie bastard!” 

Vwooooong!

The Ancient Monarch wielded his sword. However, Minhyuk just defended lightly, he was not backing down. It even seemed like he was continuously pushing against the Ancient Monarch.

“……”

Kentaro was left speechless.

“Crazy……!” 

The same was true for Ali. Ali already knew that Minhyuk was strong but not to this extent.

It was hard for anyone to gauge someone’s level when they were fighting against relatively weak opponents. However, they would be able to see the true power of that person once they fought against an extremely strong adversary.

Baaaang!

At that moment, the roots of the tree that were wrapped around the Ancient Monarch’s body stretched forward as it shot out towards Minhyuk. The Rampant Sword chopped off the incoming roots but there were still gaps that allowed it to gain access to Minhyuk’s body.

That was the moment when Kongie appeared.

“Oink!” 

With his flipping blade, Kongie chipped away at the incoming roots at a high speed. Then, he grabbed Minhyuk’s arm as he urged him to spin him around before kicking at Minhyuk’s arm.

“Oiiiiiiiink!”

Kongie’s small body flew straight towards the Ancient Monarch. He continued to attack while skillfully avoiding the roots that tried to catch him.

Clang!

Thanks to Kongie’s buffs, Minhyuk’s speed increased again. It was at that moment when the Barrier disappeared.

“Let’s go!”

“Run!”

The global users began to run after Minhyuk’s lead. Kentaro clasped his hands as he placed his two index fingers together.

Poing!

Kentaro suddenly became three as he continued towards the Ancient Monarch. All of the users prepared their attacks as Minhyuk silently fought in front of them.

“I’m…… the Monarch……! The Monarch…… who can shake the world with just a swing of my arms! I am stronger and greater than anything…… I won’t lose to such puny little punks like you!”

Minhyuk did not answer the words of the Ancient Monarch. Then, the Ancient Monarch roared loudly.

“Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!”

“Keup!”

“Ack!”

“Ugh!”

“Keok!”

All the users screamed. It was because of the notification that popped in front of them.

[Monarch’s Roar.]

[Your magic and skills will be unavailable for 5 minutes.]

“……!”

This is a failure.

The strength of the high-leveled users might be influenced by their stats and items but the biggest influence and contributor to their strength were their magic and skills. Their skills and magic would grow together with their levels. For example, a Class 1 Mage would only be able to summon a fireball the size of a fist but Ali could summon a giant fireball that was called Hellfire.

But you’re telling me that all of our skills and magic are out of control?

Kentaro’s clones that were running with him also scattered and disappeared.

‘That person will die now……’

Kentaro sighed deeply. The hunt for the Ancient Monarch was a disaster and there was only one man who was facing the fiercely monstrous Ancient Monarch.

The Ancient Monarch fiercely struck the ground with his fists. Then, at that moment……

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

A loud and powerful explosion engulfed the users.

“Keuhaaaaack!”

“Kaahaaaaack!”

“Aaaaaaack!”

“Keup!!!”

Kentaro saved Ali by flinging him away.

“I’ve repaid the life that you saved once.”

Ali stared at Kentaro before looking around. Except for one Chinese user, Ali, Kentaro, and Minhyuk, all the other users were forced to log out. He saw the remaining Chinese user smile subtly at them. This was none other than Haochen Guild’s Master, Bedu.

‘Everything is going according to plan……!’

Once the three other people died together with him, then they would not know what they have done. They would all disappear leaving only their artifacts behind.

Right now, Bedu was grinning widely.

There are artifacts all over the place!

There were also users who were wiped out along the way so he was sure that there were artifacts there too. All they needed to do was to come back the same path they took in climbing up and pick up those sweet, sweet artifacts. It was literally the epitome of awesomeness in his books.

Then, at that time……

“I will punish you, you arrogant bastards!”

The Ancient Monarch demonstrated another wide-area magic spell. The grounds twisted as the roots of the trees elongated and shot out towards them. 

At that time, Minhyuk shouted.

“You don’t had that many abilities! Is this the end?!!” 

“Absurd punk!” 

The Ancient Monarch gathered all of his strength.

Brrrrrrrr—

It felt like the entire world was vibrating that even the lazy birds from the nearby trees flew away in a squawk. A powerful force penetrated and flooded the users including Minhyuk.

“What a provocation!” 

Then, using ‘Like the Wind’, Minhyuk appeared in front of Ali. He could see Kentaro and Bedu standing next to him. They saw Minhyuk pull out an artifact from his inventory.

“……?” 

“……?” 

“……?” 

Ali, Kentaro and Bedu all looked at him incredulously. 

What he took out was none other than the Bowl and Mixer Machine. The Bowl was usually used to store ingredients while the Mixer Machine was used to whip eggs or dough. But Minhyuk just suddenly started turning the Mixer Machine with an empty Bowl.

‘What the hell? What’s this idiot doing?’ 

‘Mi, Minhyuk-nim…… yo, you’re acting strange……’ 

‘What the hell is with this person?’ 

The Ancient Monarch felt that he was too preposterous.

“You moronic human!” 

Just as the power that the Ancient Monarch released was about to strike into them, a white light appeared in the Bowl of the Mixer Machine. The more he turned the Mixer Machine, the brighter the light inside the Bowl. Then, the light burst out.

And……

Shashashashashashak—

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr—

The twisting roots disappeared back into the ground and the raging land sank down again. Even the surrounding trees that started to rage returned back to their original form. All of the abnormalities that were caused by the Ancient Monarch returned back to their original form.

[Cancel.]

[All of the magic and skills will be nullified and void within a 5-meter radius from the user.]

Then, Minhyuk quickly stored the Mixer Machine back in his inventory before shouting.

“It’s fake! Complete bullshit!!!” 

“……!”

“……!”

“……!” 

“……!”

“……!”

The three people around him were all shocked.

Then, the Ancient Monarch said……

“Ridiculous……”

The Ancient Monarch looked as puzzled as the rest of them.

***

TL's corner!

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