Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

It had only been two years since Athenae opened and started. There were still plenty of people who had hidden their strength. This was especially the case for NPCs and mobs. However, even with those things taken into consideration, the Slayer of Failure Conir’s level was so high that one could only say that it was crazy.

It was at that moment that Abel saw one of his guild members rushing forward to deal with the Slayer of Failure.

“N, no……!”

But even before he could finish his words, he was already using his beast transformation to leap high into the air and attack the Slayer of Failure with his lion claws.

Then……

Slash, slash, slash, slash—

The sword of the ‘Slayer of Failure’ moved in a straight line. The movements were so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.

[Guild Chatting: Kancho-nim has been forced to log out.]

“……!”

With the appearance of the ‘Slayer of Failure’, Legend Guild began to stumble and falter.

“This fucker!”

Locke rushed towards the Slayer of Failure with his two huge axes. Two strong and powerful forces flew straight towards the Slayer of Failure.

Bang—

And at that exact same moment, the Slayer of Failure gently waved his sword. His gentle and soft wave had easily cancelled the huge force that was coming straight at him.

Then……

Bang—

His sword stretched forward as the tip of his sword stabbed at Locke’s shoulder.

“Keup!”

Locke flew back strongly.

Dash, dash, dash!

Abel hurried forward. He quickly threw a smokescreen before the Slayer of Failure could move to slit Locke’s throat.

Poof!

Bang—

Then, he quickly fell back with Locke.

“That bastard is strong……”

“He’s extremely strong…… I don’t know if he’s even made to be killed……”

Abel looked around. He could see that his guild members who were doing well earlier were starting to get pushed back. Some were even collapsing.

“Heok— heok—”

Khan’s rough and ragged breathing seemed to ring loudly in Abel’s ears.

The commentators were shouting loudly.

[It’s over.]

[This is their limit. However, Legend Guild still did a great job.]

[They’re really amazing. Even Black Mage Ali, who’s floating above them, has not yet dealt with the Slayer of Anguish.]

[Right now, what’s left is the Sun Guild Alliance.]

On the other hand, many of the viewers were disappointed. However, regardless of their disappointment, they still clapped their hands.

[Good job, Legend.]

[This much is good enough. Who can even kill thousands of those beasts with just their numbers?]

[Agree, agree. Let’s drop the items and die in a flash!!!]

However, at that moment, Genie fired a flare.

“Run!”

[R, run…..? Where to?]

[Do they have somewhere to be?]

The commentators expressed their confusion and doubt while the members of Legend Guild who were fighting fiercely in front of Philip Village fell back and went back inside the village in unison. They made sure to tidy up the demons and mobs as they went inside. And the moment they all entered……

Genie shouted loudly.

“Using 250,000 war points. Convert the village into a bunker!

[You have used 250,000 points.]

[Philip Village has now transformed into a bunker-type village.]

At that moment, something extraordinary happened.

When a demon tried to enter the village, the ground shook loudly. Then……

In a row.

Chaeng!

Iron bars rose from the ground one by one, splitting the body of the demon who almost stepped inside the village.

Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak—!

Iron bars continuously rose from the ground as they began to circle around Philip Village.

It was like……

[A, a turtle ship?]

[Wh, what? Something unexpected happened!]

The sturdy iron bars had spikes covering them. It was literally a bunker in the shape of the turtle ship. And it was so sturdy that the mobs couldn’t easily break them.

Just then, the centermost part of the top suddenly opened. Then, something stuck out of the opening.

“Kiyeeeeeee!”

[It, it’s a dragon!]

[A dragon came out!!!]

[H, how can this be? For the first time in broadcasting history, a dragon is being shown live on screen!]

A black dragon soared into the sky. They could see that there were a few people standing on top of the dragon. And another dragon was flying underneath it!!!

[Keheok!!!]

[Th, there are two dragons!!!]

[Crazy! Is there a dragon tamer?!!!]

And on top of the black dragon, there was a taciturn man with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Genie smiled happily as she looked at them.

“This is our 2nd sortie.”

Along with her words, the man riding on the black dragon opened his mouth. The viewers, commentators and even the demons all held their breaths as they focused on his mouth.

“Roar! Black Dragon and the Boys!!!”

And Genie almost burst to tears.

“F, Father-nim…… Pl, please……”

[Bl, Black Goat and the Boys?]

Due to the commentators’ mistranslation, ‘Black Goat and the Boys’ appeared as the top article in the real-time search terms.

Meanwhile, Genie could see the appearance, defense and special powers of the bunker fortress in advance thanks to the hologram projection. This was their privilege for securing Philip Village. She also divided themselves into two teams. The first team was the members of Legend Guild with their slightly large number while the second team was the Black Dragon and the Boys.

Black Dragon and the Boys were only composed of seven people. However, each and every single one of them were much stronger than the members of Legend Guild. Especially the two dragons, they also had the same strength as those of the members of Legend.

This was a military operation.

This was a large-scale war. If their opponents had an advantage in number, then they needed to have a certain amount of rest to continue on. They needed to have the time to drink potions, restore their cooldown time and restore their stamina. That was what they were going to do in the bunker. Then, once the 2nd team jumped out and got tired, the 1st team would go out. They would go in turns as far as they could go. In addition, the bunker had a harder, sturdier and more powerful strength than what she had thought.

“Kiyyyyyyeeeeee!”

A huge amount of force condensed and concentrated in the mouths of both Britney and Destiny as they flew in the sky.

[It, it’s like those things that I saw in a fantasy novel!!!]

[D, dragon’s breath!!!]

At that moment, a huge burst of flame poured out from Britney’s mouth.

Puhaaaaaaa!

And as if proving that she would not lose, Destiny also let out a huge ice breath.

Most of the troops that surrounded Philip Village, which had now turned into a bunker, were destroyed by Britney’s flames while the creatures that were directly hit by the ice dragon Destiny’s breath were frozen into popsicles.

At that moment, General, who was standing on Destiny’s back, threw a shield.

Spin, spin, spin, spin—

As if it had consciousness, the square shield that was thrown and spinning fiercely descended and flew around the frozen creatures breaking them one by one.

Crack— crack— crack—!!!

Grab!

General single-handedly grabbed the shield that came back to him automatically. Although he was not as strong as the four Hyenas, Black Dragon and the members of Legend Guild, he was still listed as a semi-ranker.

And from the hands of the Mage Kille, a whip made out of white light, formed.

Crackle!

His whip stretched out as it wrapped around the ankle of the ‘Slayer of Anguish’ that was entangled with Black Mage Ali.

“Th, this coward……!”

The Slayer of Anguish, who was enjoying her 1:1 battle, shrieked loudly. Ali, who approached her quickly with Fly, shouted back in answer.

“What’s so cowardly about being able to live instead of dying?!!!”

Then, a storm of magical attacks fell on her body.

“Double Fireball! Wind Cutter! Lightning Sword!!!”

Chaechaechaechaechaeng—

Dozens of shields quickly formed in front of her.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—

Defending against the incessant bombardment of magical attacks, she sometimes even flicked her fingers and used dispel.

Baaaaaang—

“Ugh!”

Not long after, the whip made of light that wrapped around her ankle and tied her down to the ground slipped and disappeared. And Kille, who was also standing on Destiny’s back, delivered magical attacks one after another at a fearsome speed.

“Laughable fools!”

She casted magic one after another to defend against Kille’s attacks. She even countered and used magic against Kille who was high up in the air.

Flaaaash—

A giant fireball flew towards him at a speed that was comparable to a bullet being shot from a gun. Kille hurriedly created a shield to defend against the attack.

Crack—

However, Black Mage Ali was not aware that it was not a magic that Kille could handle.

Craaaaaack—

Bang!

As soon as the shield broke, General stepped forward and struck with his shield. Successfully defending against the attack that almost slammed at Kille.

“You’re just the same……”

The Slayer of Anguish laughed as she watched them rushing to defend themselves. Then, she suddenly realized something. She realized that Ali, who was constantly bombarding her with magic, had turned quiet. When she turned her head in a rush, she could see an influx of white dots rapidly forming at the speed of light in the sky from the torn space.

Before she could move, something appeared in front of her.

Stab!!!

A huge spear made out of light stabbed through her chest.

It was his most powerful magic, his magic with the highest damage. It was none other than Diss.

“Urk!”

She was appalled by the huge amount of damage that she had incurred.

Without missing a moment, Kille and Black Mage Ali bombarded her with magical attacks.

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

“Kyaaaaaak!”

“She has the ability to recover so we have to destroy her until she doesn’t have any shape or form.”

“I know! Fire Field!”

Crackle!

All three of the chimeras had tough resilience and because of that, the two of them poured down their magic like crazy. They did not stop until the notification rang!

Then, the notification rang loudly in Ali’s ears.

[You have successfully hunted Kenny, the Slayer of Anguish.]

[You have gained 2,552,315 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have acquired 194,171 contribution points.]

[You have acquired the Wand of Anguish.]

“Yes!”

Black Mage Ali was very happy.

Since he basically hunted with Kille, it meant that they would share their contribution and EXP. In addition, the Wand of Anguish would be divided equally with the Legend Guild.

Then, Black Mage Ali once again joined the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Black Dragon had ordered his two dragons to use their breath thrice until they were no longer able to use it.

“Descend!”

“Descend!”

The six men, who descended at a high speed, rapidly dealt with the mobs that were sticking close to Philip Village. Black Dragon also flew at a high speed with Britney and Destiny as he attacked the Silver Wolves.

Bang!

“Graaack!”

Destiny’s fangs were embedded deeply on the thick and hard skin of the Silver Wolves. The black dragon on top of it glared fiercely at the wolves as Black Dragon bombed his way through leveling up.

With his ridiculously overgeared self together with his unexpected(?) gaming skills, he had done a tremendous amount of leveling up with the help of the two dragons, Britney and Destiny.

[Merchant’s Sword.]

[A quick sword dance that can easily destroy the enemy.]

The black sword lashed at the Silver Wolves at a very rapid pace, leaving only after images behind.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

“Kiryaaaack!”

Vwoooooooom—

A Silver Wolf collapsed. This was the first successful hunting of a Silver Wolf.

Black Dragon threw his sword as he scrutinized the demonic beasts with his sharp glare.

[Sword Manipulation.]

[Your sword will wander and fly through the air according to your orders.]

[Your attack power will temporarily be increased by 170%.]

Pipipipipipipipi—

Black Dragon’s sword flew in a straight line stabbing through a line of enemies in an instant. His sword moved towards the path where his arms pointed at.

Not long after, Black Dragon’s sword penetrated through the center of the enemies.

[Thorn Festival]

[Thorns, with 140% additional attack power, will fly from your sword and stab your nearby enemies.]

Hundreds of black thorns bursted out of the sword as they stabbed through the enemies.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

Then, they floated in the air for a bit before coming back to the sword. When Black Dragon moved his hand, his sword came back to his hand immediately.

[Wow, s, so powerful!!!]

[Black Goat and the Boys are unexpected odds in this situation! That’s some unbelievable power! They even defended Philip Village from the enemies that stuck close to their walls!]

And then, another surprising thing happened.

Hundreds of thorns sprung up in the Philip Village that had turned into a round bunker that looked just like a turtle ship.

Genie murmured to herself.

“Launch the cannon.”

[Launching the cannon.]

[You have used 30,000 points.]

[Available number of uses 2/3]

Creak, creak, creak!

Creak, creak, creak, creak!

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Hundreds of thorns flew and rained down on the enemies at a high speed. A long chain of thorns stabbed through the enemies.

Stab—

Stab—

Stab—

The sharp and pointy thorns stabbed at their incoming enemies before quickly exploding.

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

The blast that swept off the nearby enemies showed an enormous amount of power.

Creaaaak!

The thorns recovered and returned back to the bunker all by themselves.

[Magnificent.]

[I didn’t know that they were hiding such a special village.]

[Legend Guild is doing really great!]

[Even with the contributions, they have been running hard towards first place!]

[The netizens were divided as to whether they would not last for 5 minutes or 10 minutes but unexpectedly, they have been holding on for more than 20 minutes now!]

[Right as we speak, the 2nd team had gone back on top of the dragons. They headed back inside the village through the top opening!!!]

[The Legend Guild Members are back again.]

[It’s a very smart strategy!!!]

***

The Elf King Gorn was clairvoyant and he could see everything within a thousand li. For that reason, he was very amazed when he saw that the defense in Philip Village was doing unexpectedly well.

However, darkness still encroached upon his face.

‘Rufel hasn’t sent all the chimeras yet……’

Once they come out, then they will just eventually collapse.

Right at that moment……

Clip, clop, clip, clop—

Gorn’s ears twitched when he heard a mysterious sound. Most of the elves had good hearing and sight. And among all of them, Gorn was a cut above the rest.

‘The clattering of hooves……?’

His head turned to the direction where the sound was coming from.

***

Notes

Turtle Ship – a warship made back in Joseon Dynasty. They were used by the Royal Korean Navy until the 19th century. You can look for their pictures with just Turtle Ship.

Sortie – an attack made by troops coming out from a position of defense.

Semi-ranker – I think I’ve written this before as middle-ranker. It seems like it’s more of a semi ranker instead of a middle ranker.