Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

71 Hungry Children

Conir grabbed his sword before swinging it as hard as he could. As soon as the sword was swung, dozens of black sword lights rained down on the guild members.

“Ghost’s Protection!” 

“Jeffrit’s Giant Shield!” 

“Whip Shield!” 

The members of Legend Guild hurriedly activated their defensive skills. Dozens of ghosts appeared and blocked the way to Ascar with their shields while Locke slammed a huge red shield on the ground. Genie’s whip created a hexagram in the air as it formed a shield in front of her. Each of the guild members gave their all to defend themselves.

But something shocking happened. The sword lights that were heading straight towards the guild members suddenly changed directions. The person that it targeted was none other than Ali.

“……!” 

“……!”

Each and every one of them were shocked.

A sword that changes its trajectory? This is the first time that I’ve seen something like this.

In addition, they thought that Conir was just a ‘thoughtless chimera’ but it seemed like that wasn’t the case at all. He even went so far as to remove Ali, the most dangerous person to him. This was because Ali’s one shot attacks were much more powerful than Minhyuk’s since Minhyuk’s Holy Power could not exert its full effects. The sword lights instantly appeared in front of Ali’s barrier.

Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak!

The black sword lights began to strike at his barrier. Ali couldn’t help but look on in horror at the scene in front of him. And Conir even kicked the ground and moved.

Dash—

[Failure’s Slaughter]

[A sword filled with tremendous frustration and setbacks.]

Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak!

Blood spurted out from the bodies of the guild members that were in Conir’s vicinity.

“Keuaaaaaack!” 

“Ack!” 

The guild members received severe damage from his sword’s light swings. Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance between them as he used Sword of Fury. His sword was surrounded by a bright red light as he aimed straight at Conir’s vital point.

Shwiiiiiiiiiik—

At the same time, Conir slammed his sword down on Minhyuk’s sword.

Bang—!

[Sword of Fury has been offset.]

“……!” 

It was a skill offset. Then, Conir’s sword quickly stretched towards Minhyuk. As soon as Minhyuk twisted his body to avoid the strike, the sword stretched in and on itself before digging on his sides.

Stab—

“Keuheuk! Too strong!” 

Minhyuk was not the strongest as of yet. But he clearly had the potential to be one. He even won against the Olympic gold medalist Carr. However, he was helpless in front of the Slayer of Failure, Conir.

Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak!

Minhyuk was easily pushed back by his fast attacks.

Then, the Slayer of Frustration suddenly lowered himself as he twisted his toes before spinning and brandishing his sword. As soon as he moved, dozens of blades spinned wildly. The spinning blades created a slight storm in the area.

Spin, spin, spin, spin—

“Rampant Sword!” 

Minhyuk quickly used his Rampant Sword to counter and fight against the storm of blades that was in front of him. Dozens of afterimages fought against the storm of blades but Conir did not even miss the gap as he launched another attack. The tip of his sword was aimed straight towards Minhyuk’s chest.

“Mi, Minhyuk-ah!” 

The guild members shouted in shock. Then, two black kitchen knives suddenly popped out from behind Minhyuk.

Hwaaaaaaang—

The two black kitchen knives formed a cross and protected Minhyuk’s vital point.

Clang!

Without missing that split second of reprieve, Minhyuk used ‘Like the Wind’ to increase the distance between them. Then, he hurriedly took out a chocolate bar from his inventory. He took it out so he could use his ‘Absorption Transition’ to restore his physical strength and HP. He had the potion that he received front he elves that could instantly fill his HP and MP back to 100% but since he had used it earlier, a cooldown was imposed.

Then, at that moment……

“Grrr?”

The Slayer of Failure reacted strangely.

“……?”

Just when Minhyuk was about to place the chocolate bar on his mouth, he saw his eyes opening wide. And when he slipped the chocolate bar down instead of putting it into his mouth, his eyes went back to normal.

Shall we try to put it in my mouth again?

“Grrr?!” 

“……”

Then, take it off again.

“Huwoo……”

Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth again as he bit on the corners with his front teeth.

“Grrr……?!” 

Tears started to well up in his eyes.

“Huwoo……”

“……”

Minhyuk was left speechless.

‘I guess he’s really hungry……’ 

It would have looked like a funny situation to others but Minhyuk could understand him and his situation more than anybody else. Because those who tend to suffer from extreme hunger would react just like that. Besides, he could tell from the look in his eyes.

I don’t want to have just one bite. I’m willing to give you everything so please give me something good to eat.

Minhyuk did not know about Conir’s situation. However, as someone who had all the money in the world but still couldn’t eat, he could sympathize with him. He felt sad at the thought of someone who felt that hunger.

Then, Abel shouted loudly.

“I, I thought of a way!!!”

“A way?” 

“Yes. Let’s lure him away with food!” 

“……”

However, Minhyuk did not like that at all. First off, he did not like that thought of playing around with food. And second, he did not want to take advantage of that hunger.

‘But even if I don’t like it……’ 

I can’t let everyone die here. My dad is even here.

“……I……am……hung……ry……pl,pl……ease……” 

The Slayer of Failure muttered slowly with his broken words. Minhyuk first placed the chocolate bar in his mouth.

“Keuwooo……”

Tears welled up in Conir’s eyes again. However, Minhyuk ate it all up to heal and recover.

Fwiiiiiish—

And along with that, the wounds in his body started to heal up and disappear.

[Guild & Alliance Genie: Everyone, prepare for another attack.]

[Guild & Alliance Locke: Then, I’ll throw him something to eat, Minhyuk doesn’t have to be the one to throw it.]

It was true that Minhyuk did not need to be the one to throw the food. Others could do it.

Everyone stood firm on their places as they prepared for another attack. Then, Conir’s sword began to draw a circle in the air. The circle that he created turned out to be a moon that was stained with blood. It was quite a strange sight. However, what everyone was certain about was the fact that they had to get ready and kill him before this attack was unleashed.

Then, Genie gave the signal.

Locke quickly took out some food from  his inventory. It was none other than the sweet red bean bread.

‘Ugh… Throwing that delicious red bean bread…’ 

Minhyuk felt frustrated. However, he was still preparing his Scattering Sword for the attack.

“Guwoo?” 

Conir quickly threw himself on the ground where the bread was going to fall on. Together with his jump, the bloodied moon that was hanging quietly in the air slowly disappeared.

Then, they let out a rain of attacks.

“Diss!” 

Spears of light.

“Giant’s Howl!” 

Consecutive punches with additional 180% attack power.

“Hell’s Red Flames!” 

Exploding horses straight from hell.

A variety of skills flew straight towards Conir. However, not long after, notifications suddenly rang out to everyone who sent an attack towards Conir.

[The conditions for triggering a quest have been met.]

[The Hidden Quest: Hungry Children has been created.]

[Only 1 person is allowed to do the quest.]

[You have successfully hunted the Conir the Failure.]

[You have acquired the skillbook Failure’s Sword Dance.]

[You have acquired 2,616,751 EXP.]

Right at that moment… Conir, who died at that same spot, suddenly appeared again in front of them.

“Heok!” 

“K, Kill!!!” 

“What the hell!!!” 

It was clearly Conir who appeared in front of them. However, it was just a spiritual body. Then, Conir opened his mouth.

[Me…… too…… Help…… Child…… ren…… save……]

“……” 

“…..” 

“Wh, what’s happening?”

Everyone present in the area felt flustered. When he heard his words, Minhyuk quickly looked at the quest window.

[Hidden Quest: Hungry Children]

Rank: SSS

Restrictions: Someone who hunted Conir

Rewards: The Essence of Flavor

Penalty for Failure: None

Description: The strongest among the chimeras was the Slayer of Failure. The chimeras that Rufel led were all made from and created by humans. They were created from extreme and terrible hunger. Listen carefully to Conir’s story.

‘Th, the chimeras were created from extreme and terrible hunger? What the hell?’ 

Hunger?

He did not know what they were hungry for. But there was one thing that crossed his mind. The humans had used hunger to create these chimeras.

‘What a stupid thing to do……’ 

His brows furrowed.

***

Asvon, the current Emperor of Cordis Empire, was known as the most powerful Emperor in the history of Cordis Empire. He was as powerful as Ellie. In addition, if Ellie was known to be a sword genius, then Asvon was known for his strong fists and sharp kicks. In fact, he was a talented person who could go toe to toe against Ellie.

Emperor Asvon had everything that he could have. But there was one problem.

“……Goddamn.” 

He peeled off the wig that was covering his head and showed his shining bald head. It seemed like the middle of the top of his head was a dessert compared to the prairie at the sides of his head.

His biggest problem was none other than his ‘baldness’. His father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather and his ancestors were all bald. But all of them had worn wigs to hide this fact. The same was true for Emperor Asvon.

The absolute and unconditional problem that none of his ancestors had not solved for hundreds of years was none other than ‘baldness’!

There was no useful method at all. He already applied the blood of a troll on his head and even rubbed a phoenix’s feather gently on it but not a single hair had grown at all.

At that moment, his aide, Harman, came inside. Harman was the one and only person who knew about this secret. It was quite fortunate that Harman’s lips were sealed tightly. He would have slit his throat if he had heard him saying ‘His Majesty, the Emperor’s head is smooth, shiny and bald~’.

“Y, your Majesty……!” 

“You did not even knock…… What a shame. Do you want to lose your head?” 

Even if Harman is my aide, don’t I still need to protect this part of me? 

Asvon was furious. However, what he brought was urgent news so Harman hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Y, your Majesty! I’ve found a way to cure your incurable disease!!!”

Of course, the incurable disease that he was talking about was his baldness. 

“What?!!!!”

This was the curse that had been passed on for hundreds of years!

You’re telling me that you have the solution for this goddamn curse?

Harman continued to speak.

“It’s the Talmor Religion.”

“Talmor?”

For some reason, he felt that the name was quite unpleasant. However, Emperor Asvon heard about the miraculous story about a small town located in the Northern Continent.

Hearing that it was a small town, he did not look worried at all. He was already gracious enough to let the town lord and his town serve him. After all, they were still not the people from Cordis Empire.

“Quickly, send an invitation to the Lord of Valhalla and to that man named Talmor and bring them to me in person!!!”

“Yes!!!”

Harman moved quickly. 

Emperor Asvon’s mouth twitched in joy at the thought of finally having the cure for his baldness.

***