Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

Paladin Corr was less powerful than Pope’s Guardian Voloch. However, he was also someone who had an immense amount of holy power and strength. It was unclear whether any of the users in the Korean Server of Athenae would be able to beat him in a fight.

And Corr’s chest strangely felt empty.

‘The light in her eyes, that expression, that tone of voice……’ 

Corr’s expression was bitter as he escorted Rowena’s carriage. He could see Rowena’s look on the chef’s face that was riding with her in the carriage was clearly that of love.

When he reported that he had sacrificed himself to eat the tteoks and save the Athenae Religion, Rowena shed tears that were filled with emotions. Of course, Corr also thought of the same thing. He was a great and cool guy. But when he saw Rowena act like that, he felt his chest turned empty. That was right! Corr also adored her! He knew that it was not something that a paladin should do but the woman named Rowena was so beautiful that no woman was comparable to her. He couldn’t help but fall in love with her.

At that moment……

“…..What’s that?” 

“What’s that over there?” 

“Heok?!” 

“Hey, hey, hey! Wh, what the hell is that?” 

The surroundings started to get noisy. Paladin Corr turned his head to look at the commotion. He could clearly see the hundreds of gigantic strands of magi pouring down from the sky with his own two eyes. 

“Sh, shit!” 

“FXck!”

“Paladins! Priests!!”

Rowena wanted everyone to step back leaving only Corr behind. This meant that she wanted to speak with Minhyuk alone. Corr had rushed to call them back but it was all too late.

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

Powerful magi began to fall in all directions. Then, demonic humans began to pop out from all over the place.

“Follow Verus-nim!”

“Verus-nim is the only monarch in this world!!”

Demonic humans appeared everywhere. Demonic humans were literally just demon worshippers. The only problem was that these worshippers that appeared were people who weren’t prepared and equipped with nothing at all.

Bang! Bang, bang!

“Keuaaack!”

“Aaaaaaaaargh!”

“What the hell. FXcker!!”

The users were also all left in disarray. And with their screams, many of them were forced to log out but most of them tore up their return parchments and left the premises.

It was at that moment when Corr’s sword flew up in the sky.

“Calm down! Keep the bastards out of the carriage!”

Corr shouted loudly. But now, more than anything else, he could see that the Athenae priests as well as the paladins were only halfway there.

‘Don’t tell me……’

Corr finally realized that Verus deliberately showed himself in front of Sir Voloch. If that was the case, then it made sense for him to calculate this situation. Right now, more than half of the paladins and priests were headed towards the Papal Office to remove the magi that the demon Verus had casted over at the place.

Slash—

After Corr slashed down on one of the demonic humans, he could see a presence following behind.

Bang!

It was the fourth Strongest Man and was now a demon worshipper, Carn.

[Frightening Worshipper, Strengthened Strong Man. Carn has appeared!]

[You have met with one of the Strongest Men.]

[Abnormal State. Demon’s Breath has been triggered.]

[Your breathing will get blocked.]

[Your HP will now begin to continuously decrease.]

[Demonic Humans will become 30% more powerful.]

[Whoever hunts and kills one of the Strongest Men will gain plenty of rewards.]

The users heard the series of notifications.

“Strengthened Strongest Man?”

“The fourth Strongest Man? So far, the only ones to have appeared were the fifth Strongest Man, right?!”

“Shit, if he’s strengthened then how strong is he now?!”

“Wh, what? C, cold sweat is…… I can’t breathe well……!”

And the users began to complain about their difficulties in breathing that was caused by Demon’s Breath. The users kept on throwing expletives. The Strongest Men would grow stronger as the number that was attached to them went down. This meant that the eighth Strongest Man, Rumad, who died not too long ago, was the weakest among them.

Stab!

“Keuaaaaack!”

“Aaaaaaaaack!”

With Carn’s appearance, the demonic humans gained more strength.

[Judge’s Sword.]

[The sword blessed by God Athenae will fly towards the enemies.]

Swoooooooosh!

A bright sword light stretched out from Corr’s sword. With Corr’s high holy power the power of his Judge’s Sword attack would double in holy power. This ability was a fatal blow to his enemies who wielded magi.

However, Carn just ran forward at a rapid pace. And the sword light that Corr shot out was brutally extinguished with a black lightning bolt that fell down from the air.

Bang, bang!

“……!”

Corr was shocked. Only when the magi was more powerful than the holy power would it be able to offset the attack. He could also see that there was an unknown barrier that had started to surround an area within a 10m radius.

[You have been caught in Verus’ boundaries.]

[Those who have been caught in the boundary will not be able to use any holy power related skill due to process.]

“W, we can’t use any skills related to holy power?”

“D, did you hear that? They can’t use any holy power related skills there!”

“Shit……!”

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

“Corr-nim!”

“Rowena-nim!”

The barrier prevented the priests and barriers from entering the area.

Meanwhile, the users……

“Wh, what the hell is happening right now…… Don’t tell me that our Rowena……”

“Are they trying to kill Rowena?”

“No way! You mXthXrfXcking bastards! I’m not going to run away!”

“What? Why are you going to make a stand?! You’re going to lose a level!”

“Ptew! A man is going to fight for the woman that he loves!”

“Protect Rowena!”

“Uwooooooo! Don’t touch our Rowena!”

Most of the remaining users did not run away and chose to make a stand on this battlefield to protect Rowena. However, the problem was somewhere else. They couldn’t get into the barrier where Rowena was. In addition, they easily sorted out the demonic humans since their numbers were too little.

“I can’t go inside!”

“Damnnit!”

“What the hell!”

The users, priests and paladins were all in a fluster outside of the barrier. The people outside of the barrier had no choice but to just watch and look at the situation inside. They even witnessed Paladin Corr being knocked down by Carn.

“Keheup!”

Carn slowly approached Corr but just as he was about to strike his sword down to cut his neck off……

“Stop.”

“……”

The edges of Carn’s mouth were almost ripped in two with his wicked grin. This was because the Saintess herself went out of the carriage and even took one or two steps forward.

“Aren’t I your goal?”

Carn nodded his head.

“No!!”

“Do we have no choice at all…..!”

“Shit……!”

Meanwhile, the attack in the Athenae Temple was being broadcasted over the internet by various users.

[lvlladll34: No! Don’t touch our Rowena!]

[Rowena’sMine: That bastard! I’ll tear him to pieces……!!]

[TheDevilWearsPanties: ……It seems like Rowena is going to die. Sigh…… The Demonic Human’s woman, Rowena, of all people……]

It wasn’t just through that. Rowena’s death was already expected by the people around the world through the rapid pace of broadcasting on the internet.

***

In Japan, there was a group of fanatics who were all in love with Rowena.

Watanabe, the president of the RLF fan cafe, was watching the real-time live broadcasts in Korea. He had a fat face filled with pimples.

“G, great Rowena!!!”

He screamed loudly as his hands sweated buckets while he hugged a Rowena pillow.

“You’re even stopping other’s deaths by sacrificing yourself, Great Rowena……! You can’t die!” 

Watanabe bursted into tears. Then, two teardrops fell on the Rowena pillow that he was holding so tightly as he watched Carn slowly approach Rowena in the video. Rowena suddenly knelt down as she began to pray to God Athenae. He watched as Carn’s hand that was holding the sword slowly went up in the air.

“P, please…… Someone, anyone, please save our Great Rowena!!!” 

Watanabe cried loudly but based on the comments that he had seen, it seemed like access inside the boundary was an impossible feat. There were only two people inside the carriage, one was Rowena and the other one was a user chef who was said to be visiting Athenae Temple for sightseeing. Even Corr, who surpassed the number 1 in the Paladin rankings, fell under the hands of Carn then it would be nigh impossible for the chef to intervene. It seemed like Rowena also knew of that fact.

Just as Carn’s sword was about to strike down.

[Get your hands off of her because she’s important to me.]

He heard an unidentified voice. When Watanabe turned to look at the direction of the sound he could see a man clad in shabby armor through the screen. The user was wearing a helmet with a small hand axe hanging behind his back. In addition, the artifacts that he had on his body were all too worn out. But he literally felt the same as Watanabe.

‘That user wants to protect Rowena too!’ 

He looked at the man with reddened eyes as the comment started to come up.

[He must be feeling the same way as us.]

[He also wants to protect our Great Rowena!]

[But…… He will not be able to protect Great Rowena……ㅠㅠ]

[That Strong Man is too powerful for him to be able to protect Rowena……]

Everyone denied his success and the same was true for Watanabe. However, something extraordinary happened the very next moment. Everything the man wore began to fade away and scatter in the air. What appeared in front of everyone was a frying pan on his back as well as a rugged-looking yet familiar helmet.

“……!” 

Watanabe’s eyes widened in shock. He knew that not too long ago, there was an unidentified user who swept everything away in Athenae: Korean War. That man’s name was ‘Minhyuk’. And some people called him the Frying Pan Killer.

And he had appeared in front of them.

***

Murmur, murmur.

“That’s the Frying Pan Killer, right?” 

“F, Frying Pan Killer?!” 

The users staying outside of the barrier started to make a fuss.

The Frying Pan Killer had completely disappeared from their sights after Athenae: Korean War. However, just a few days ago, he was able to meet the expectations of the users with the announcement of his third climb in the Hall of Kings.

And right now, he had appeared in front of them.

***

Rowena was able to talk to him inside the carriage.

‘Stay inside the carriage. I don’t want to see you uselessly die and disappear in front of me.’ 

That was clearly what she had told him earlier but he still came out and said this……

‘Get your hands off of her because she’s important to me.’ 

When she heard his words, Rowena’s heart thumped loudly. She had never felt something like this in her entire life.

Rowena was not aware of his identity as the Frying Pan Killer. Perhaps for her, the Frying Pan Killer was just your run of the mill ranker who was well known in the whole Athenae world.

However, his words thrilled her heart.

‘I, in order to protect me……’ 

You’re trying to die by yourself. And, maybe he……!

‘Maybe, no clearly, he also likes me too……’ 

Isn’t that the reason why he called me his ‘important person’?

“D, don’t try to sacrifice yourself because of me. I, I’m fully aware of your feelings. That’s why you should run away! Please!” 

“……You know how I feel? You know how I feel…… Then, how can you go out of the carriage without me! You’re a person who’s not supposed to die. Rowena! I’ll protect you.” 

“Aaaaaaaaah……” 

He was a man who just wanted to protect her. And Rowena felt the beating of her heart running amok inside her chest.

“Thanks.” 

***

“Thanks.” 

There was only one reason why Minhyuk was angry.

‘You dare touch Rowena?!’ 

If Rowena died, then Minhyuk would feel sad for a few days. He would be sad just because of one reason and one reason alone. It was because she hadn’t cooked a tteok dumpling soup for him yet.

How delicious must it be! A tteok dumpling soup made with ingredients that can only be found every hundred years! And that recipe is with Rowena! 

Just because of that, she had become an important person that Minhyuk needed to protect. 

‘For tteok dumpling soup!!!!’ 

He made a promise to himself. He would protect the person who would make his tteok dumpling soup. And he would definitely sprinkle some crispy seaweed powder on top of it so he could thoroughly enjoy his warm tteok dumpling soup!

At that moment, Rowena, who had drunk her kimchi soup straight from the pot, was shedding tears.

Minhyuk took a sword out of his inventory. The sword was none other than the Saint’s sword.

Then, a bright light bursted out of the Saint’s sword. The light illuminated everything as if it would reveal all of the secrets of the world.

***

Footnotes

[Drinking Kimchi Soup] – To drink kimchi soup is an idiom that is equivalent to the English ‘counting one’s chickens before they hatch’ in this case, Rowena had already believed that Minhyuk had liked her without confirming this so she counted her chickens before they hatched.

Notes:

[Strongest Men] – I’m sorry! I really can’t remember if I used Strongest Men or Most Powerful Men when describing the group of the strongest people in the continent. Huehue. Guide meeeeeee~ Either way, they mean the same so I might continue to use them interchangeably.

RLF Fan Cafe – I think it's Rowena Love Forever hehehehe. It was an abbreviation in and on itself so I had to mix and match to find the best description for the fan cafe.