Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

Genie stared at the small village in front of her with a sharp glare. There was now an increase in the number of villages between Elvenheim and the Elven Forest. Perhaps, Iris Guild might be able to take over the great city Allentian in the future. But the main point was what was in front of her.

‘I did not know that there was a Demonic Executive here……!’ 

The demonic races also had classes and ranks among them. And they were usually from the upper echelons. And the higher demonic race that was hiding in the village was one of the five important races that came to invade the Elven Forest.

The commander-in-chief of this invasion was named Rufel and he was a superior demon that held the Count title. There were also deputy commanders that hold titles that were actively invading the Elven Forest. There were also countless of superior demons that did not have any title in their ranks. And those demons with titles could exert a tremendous amount of force.

It was extremely surprising that a deputy commander was hiding in this small village in the front lines, a place that was a little far off from the big city, Allentian.

‘I’m sure that this village is quite different from other villages.’

She was sure that there was a special reward hidden in this town. 

Legend Guild was currently still behind most of the latecomers. And this place might be the stepping stone that they needed to climb up in a single breath. In addition, Legend Guild’s force could shine brightly since this was just a small battle.

“Start operations.” 

The members of Legend quickly moved following Genie’s orders.

Stab!

Abel, an assassin class user, quickly moved and dealt with the scouting demons all over the place. The Goddess of the Battlefield, Ascar, also moved along with him to hunt the other scouts. But no matter how much they tried to do things discreetly, and no matter how many scouts they dealt with, they were eventually found out.

“There’s an attack!!” 

“The enemies are here! Protect the deputy commander!” 

After hearing the shouts, Genie and the rest of Legend Guild saw the demons pop out all over the place. They also saw the deputy commander, Regel, a demon with a title himself, lift a staff encrusted with black jewels.

[The Eyes of the Demon King.]

[A pupil that can find the enemies.]

“……!” 

Not long after, a giant eye rose on top of the small village. The pupil of the gruesome and gigantic eye suddenly turned towards Genie.

“……!” 

Then, Regel burst out in laughter.

“Caught you. Keuhahahahaha!” 

The members of the Legend Guild heard a string of notifications.

[You have entered the Demon King’s realm.]

[Based on the Demon King’s realm, your physical and magical attacks will be reduced by 30%.]

[Your AGI has decreased by 20%.]

The other demons that hid started to appear one by one.

‘No way?’

Genie realized that there was a high probability that there would be a small number of elites that would be selected from the human camp to launch a surprise attack against the high-ranking demons. That was a good way to kill a good number of demons without making too much noise giving them an easy win. On the contrary, the demonic race had thought about things cleverly. Since there was going to be a small number of elites, then they set up a trap and drove them to despair.

Not long after, a streak of black magi shot out from the Demon King’s Eye. The black magi penetrated the bodies of all the Legend Guild members present on the scene. At the same time, like a beacon of light, all the demons saw their positions. 

“There they are!!!” 

“Goddamnit!!” 

They could assume that the demonic races’ deputy commander, Regel, was someone who had great control on black magic.

“Death’s Dancing!!!” 

Ascar’s sword dance was aimed at the incoming horde of demons.

Stab, stab, stab!

Slash, slash, slash!

“Keuhahaha! This wench has such a petty trick!” 

“Keuk! It’s much stronger than what I thought?” 

“Are they really the elites from the human race?” 

The demons appeared all over the place. Their numbers alone appeared to be over 70. 

What’s worse is that the most powerful demonic race present in Elvenheim is currently here. Right?

[Fire Whip!]

[Your fire whip will kill the enemies surrounding you.]

Crackle!

A fire burned in Genie’s whip as she whipped and slashed at the incoming demons.

Shwaaa!

Crackle!

“Keup!” 

The demons’ bodies caught fire and they hurriedly tried to extinguish and remove it. However, it did not seem like they received much damage since their attacking power was reduced by 30%.

Spurt!

“Kyaak!” 

Ascar staggered back after her arm got slashed by one of the sergeants of the demonic race. 

[Giant’s Fist.]

Khan’s fist became as big as a truck as he struck the demon.

“Kekeke! Your fists feel like cotton!!” 

A 30% reduction in their attacking power meant that they could only exert 2/3s of their usual strength.

The demon felt that the fist that struck him was just ridiculously weak. 

“This shit!” 

“…….If I wasn’t caught in the Devil King’s Realm.” 

Usually in these kinds of traps, those who exert more strength would be the more powerful ones. In fact, wide-area debuffs like this were quite hard to find so everything was just dependent on the strength of the individuals.

And aside from Regel, there was another strong demon who appeared. It was none other than Kona. Kona was not a deputy commander but she was one of the demon’s attack leaders. Kona was a female-like demon who wielded a powerful mace.

Baaang—

Locke flew back after being hit directly by the mace.

“Ugh!”

He fell to the ground and stumbled.

[You have received a huge impact from an iron mace.]

[You have fallen into a temporary stunned state.]

He shook his head as hard as he could as he tried to stand up by himself but it did not work. 

‘If it wasn’t for that damn 30%!’

In other words, their strengths were only at the level of someone at Lv320.

‘If we had our Kaistra with us then we could ignore this with his wide-area aggro but……’

Kaistra was currently in town and was not allowed to participate in the war.

Just then……

[Guild Chatting Ace: Your Captain-nim is here!!!]

Kiyeeeeeeeeee!!

A chilling cry of a dragon resounded in the area. Then, Genie saw a black air current flutter into existence in front of her. The black air current slowly turned into a figure of a man wearing a black armor with a black sword on his waist. There was even an ice dragon sticking out of the man’s arm.

Crack!

The ice dragon immediately let out an ice breath that covered a huge area.

“Keu, keuaaaack!”

“Ugh, aaaaaack!”

The entire Legend Guild was caught in surprise.

‘What the hell? That’s very strong, right?’

Then, the man looked up at the sky.

“Britney.”

Kiyeeeeeeeee!

At his call, Britney bellowed loudly.

[Britney’s Roar.]

[Release all abnormal status.]

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

Legend Guild was once again astonished. Then, magic suddenly started to go wild in front of the gigantic black dragon flying in the air.

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

And along with those loud bangs, several users, which included Ace, jumped down.

“Tonight, the star is me!!!”

“……?”

“……?”

“……?”

“That crazy little punk……”

Crow muttered under his breath as the man that was clad in all black wielded his sword and ran at a rapid pace.

Ching, ching, chaeng, chaeng, chaeng, ching—

Then, the demonic races, just like fountains, gushed out blood from their bodies.

‘S, strong……’

‘Wow…… Isn’t he crazy strong?’

He was on par or perhaps stronger than the members of Legend Guild. The same was also true for the mysterious masked men that jumped off of the black dragon a while ago.

Then, Ace spoke.

“Let’s shout our team’s slogan!!!”

“We!!!”

“Are one!!!”

“With the deprived elves!!!”

“Give us your heart!!!”

“……”

“……”

“……”

“……”

And among them was one blushing guy. It was none other than General.

‘Sob…… Why am I doing something like this here?’ 

The fact that he was playing Athenae came to the Chairman’s ears so he accompanied him.

Anyway, because of their sudden intrusion, they were able to clear out the demons. And along with an item called ‘Deputy Commander’s Totem’, Genie heard these notifications.

[You have succeeded in recapturing Philip Village.]

[Philip Village is a village with a special and extraordinary strength hidden within it.]

[The time to defend Philip Village has been greatly reduced.]

[If you defend Philip Village within 36 hours, you will completely recapture the village.]

[If you invest 250,000 contribution points in Philip Village, it will turn into a bunker type village.]

[You have acquired 200,000 contribution points.]

Then, the man clad in all black approached her.

“How have you been Ms. Jihye? Ah. Jisoo-yah and Seoktae-yah are here too.” 

“Fa, Father-nim?” 

Right now, Genie was caught in surprise when he heard a very familiar voice coming from the hero that saved them.

‘Who in the world are these father and son?’ 

Then, the two decided to form an alliance. The notifications then rang following their decisions.

[The guild ‘Black Dragon and the Boys’ has formed an alliance with Legend Guild.]

“……F, Father-nim.” 

“What’s wrong?” 

“No, nothing……” 

The rest of Legend Guild were all shocked.

‘Bl, Black Dragon and the Boys……’ 

‘A parody of Neotaiji and the Boys……?’ 

‘Their guild name is weird……’ 

Then, the users that were wearing their masks started to take them off one by one.

“The president of Noddugi……?” 

“Heok…… The president of Ilhwa Construction……” 

“Keok…… That’s the president of Ilhwa Distribution……!” 

And lastly, Black Dragon took his mask off.

“……” 

“……” 

“……” 

They were not idols but old men.

***

Argon heard a clamor outside.

“Catch that!!” 

“Catch that pig!!” 

“Huh, Huuuuuuh? What’s that posture that it did just now?!” 

“He looks like he’s going to poop?!!!” 

“I, I, I, I’m coming to get you!!!”

“Catch thaaaaaat!!!” 

There was a lot of noise outside. Then……

“Hello?” 

“……?!” 

Argon was shocked when he suddenly heard a voice out of thin air. Then, the blindfold was peeled off of his eyes. Argon couldn’t help but squint when the harsh glare of the light entered his sight. He finally caught sight of the world again after not being able to see them for quite a long time. But there was nothing around him. Not long after, a man’s face popped out of thin air.

“……!” 

“Shhh! I’m here to save you.” 

Then, the man looked around as he hurriedly reached out for the nails that bound his arms to the cross.

“You can’t take it out…… It’s a mineral with tremendous power. You can’t take it out. You need to bring the key that Baran has.” 

Just in time, the worst handshake happened.

“As expected, you’ve also infiltrated.” 

Then, the man wearing the cape took it off of his body. Argon quickly spoke to him.

“Baran is currently a middle class demon but he was once a superior demon. He was stripped of his title because of a mistake that he made in the past. However, he was still recognized for his skills. He’s a very strong foe.” 

“……Is that so?” 

Baran’s lips quirked up in a weird smile.

“That’s right. I can tear a man to death with just one hand.” 

“Hoo.” 

The man, Minhyuk, looked mildly interested. Then, a thick magi came out of Baran’s body.

“I’ll teach you about the fearsome demons. You, weak humans, are no match for someone like me.” 

Baran was a very talkative man. And he was a staunch believer of his strength. He was once a nobility with the title of a viscount and was once proclaimed by other demons as the ‘God of Speculation’. He was also good in 1:1 fights. Which was what Joy Co. Ltd. was aiming for.

The commander, who came in this place alone, had to deal with the demon that was dubbed as the God of Speculation.

He continued to speak arrogantly.

“I’ll give you the chance to go first, weak human.”

Minhyuk nodded his head at him.

“Then, thank you!!!”

Argon’s eyes widened in shock. 

You shouldn’t attack first. His armor is special. As soon as your sword stabs him, his magi will snatch it and throw it away.

“N, no……!”

But even before Argon could stop him, Minhyuk had already closed the distance between them.

Baran’s mouth was twisted into a devilish smirk.

‘First, I will defend myself with Baroque’s Armor……’

In the event of an attack, Baroque’s Armor could ignore the attack aimed at him. What was worse was that as soon as the sword struck the armor, the armor would immediately recognize it and grab it away from the enemy. In other words, the armor has the ability to keep the enemy from using their weapons.

Then……

Stab!

Just like what Baran expected, Minhyuk’s sword was embedded in his abdomen.

Then, a notification rang in Minhyuk’s head.

[Intangible Sword.]

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

[Lightning (Thunderbolt)]

[3 strikes!]

Bang, bang, bang!!!

“Keuaaaaaack?!”

Baran was stunned by the huge damage that was suddenly inflicted on him. However, before he could even straighten himself out, another notification rang in Minhyuk’s head.

[Lightning (Thunderbolt)]

[3 strikes!]

[Intangible Sword.]

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

Bang, bang, bang!

Once again, three thunderbolts accurately struck Baran’s body.

The Lightning (Thunderbolt), a skill that could only be triggered with a low probability, was triggered twice in a row for a total of six strikes. The Intangible Sword was even triggered twice in a row.

Then, Baran collapsed.

“But isn’t he too weak?”

Minhyuk spoke and tilted his head when he saw that the things were different from what he was told about.

“……”

Argon was left speechless.

***

Notes

[Tonight the star is me!!!] – 오늘 밤 주인공은 나야 나 This is a line in Wanna One’s Pick Me. The line where they go, oneul bam juinkongeun naya na! Lol. sorry it’s now stuck in my head. Damn.

[Neotaiji and the Boys] – This is actually a parody of Seo Taiji and the Boys. A band formed by Seo Taiji, Yang Hyunsuk (yes the YG guy), and Lee Juno. They were active back in 1992-1996.