Leveling Up through Eating

Minhyuk looked at the two other team members who would cook the Frenzied Ingredient with him.

‘There might never be a member line-up like this ever again.’

The Battle God, who led and ruled over tens of millions of armies.

The God of Cooking, the mother of all chefs and the one hailed by the Absolute Gods as the most incredible God of Cooking in history.

And the next generation Battle God, Minhyuk.

Minhyuk felt like he was standing with thousands of troops behind him. Not long after, the three reached the Maze of the Unknown.

“Many gods have been said to have lost their way there. There are still some of them wandering in this maze.” The Battle God explained to the nodding Minhyuk.

But even though he said those words, he still looked relaxed. That was something that only happened to ordinary gods. Then, the Battle God pulled out a compass and said, “A monarch who leads armies must never get lost.”

[The Golden Compass has started to guide you!]

They moved through the dark, twisted and complicated maze, following the path the golden compass pointed.

“Keuaaaack!”

“Grrrrrr!”

Sometimes, the Maze Trapped Gods and Level 750 mobs went out in droves. But Minhyuk and the Battle God efficiently dealt with them. Traps would get triggered occasionally, but they could not stop the three of them. They walked through the maze for at least an hour.

‘It takes at least an hour just to get through the maze. This is the reason why the gods get lost inside.’

Just like that, they walked past the maze's exit. The shocked Minhyuk was greeted by a cascading waterfall and a long stretch of river.

[You have successfully got out of the Maze of the Unknown.]

[You can make three wishes to escape the Maze of the Unknown successfully.]

They could ask for ridiculous rewards for any of these three wishes. But if one considered it more carefully, whatever rewards they could receive from these wishes could only be used and would only be in effect inside the maze. Since one could only use the rewards inside, it could not be considered crazy or outrageous.

Immediately, Arlene said, “Increase our chances of successfully cooking a dish inside the Maze of the Unknown.”

[Your first wish has been granted.]

[Regardless of the ingredient, you will have a much higher success rate than usual.]

“If we die or fail to cook our dish, allow us to reset and start again ten times.”

[Your second wish has been granted.]

[As long as you are within the Maze of the Unknown, you can reset everything ten times when you die or fail to cook your desired dish.]

[In a player’s case, they will not receive any forced logout penalties during the ten allowed resets.]

“We will hold off on the third wish.”

[Your third wish inside the Maze of the Unknown will be put on hold.]

[You can make the wish whenever you’re inside the maze.]

Arlene took a deep breath after setting up what they needed inside the maze. Then, with a faint smile on her face, she turned to look at Minhyuk and said, “Let’s make it happen.”

Arlene and Minhyuk both chuckled nervously.

‘The God of Cooking is nervous.’

It seemed like Minhyuk had thought of Athenae’s Frenzied Ingredient more lightly than he thought.

Not long after, Minhyuk took a small box from his inventory. When he opened the box, a pork backbone that looked completely appetising appeared.

“We must drain the blood first, then go right into the cooking. At this point, we don’t know exactly what this bastard will do to disturb us,” Arlene said.

Minhyuk nodded. In other words, they were going to play it by ear. Then, he took out his Bizarre Cauldron.

‘To be honest, draining blood from the backbone takes a long time.’

But both Minhyuk and Arlene planned to use each of their powers to drain this blood quickly. The two made eye contact.Minhyuk placed the backbone in the water at Arlene’s nod.

[You are now trying to cook Athenae’s Frenzied Ingredient.]

[Athenae’s Frenzied Ingredient is the Supreme Ingredient.]

[If you fail to cook the Supreme Ingredient, the penalty that you will receive for a forced logout will be seven times the normal.]

[Athenae’s Frenzied Pork Backbone will use all sorts of ways to interrupt your cooking.]

[The Supreme Monarch protecting the Frenzied Ingredient has been summoned.]

[The power of the Maze of the Unknown has pushed the Supreme Monarch to the maze's entrance.]

[Your reckless challenge will be known to the world.]

[Anonymous is trying to cook using the Supreme Ingredient!]

‘This is crazy…!’

Minhyuk was shocked to receive a notification about a penalty that was not written in the description.

‘If we fail to cook this dish, I will receive seven times the ordinary forced logout penalty?’

Minhyuk was Athenae’s Supreme. The penalty he received was just as high as his level. If he received a forced logout penalty seven times the normal, he would suffer a drop of at least ten levels.

This was the first time that Minhyuk had seen such a ridiculous penalty. It was so absurd that his lips even started to shake and tremble.

‘We have to do it, one way or another!’

They were already riding on a tiger.

Roar–!

Then, a loud and unknown roar rang from somewhere inside the maze.

“As expected, the Supreme Monarch will be pushed to the entrance once summoned from the maze. Thanks to that, we can buy some time. Let’s go, let’s hurry.”

Bang–!

The roars and explosions made Minhyuk extremely nervous.

‘It sounds like an earthquake is happening somewhere in there.’

The entire maze was shaking because of him. But Minhyuk was curious about one thing.

‘What did Arlene mean when she said that the Supreme Monarch does not die?’ Minhyuk thought as he looked down at the Frenzied Pork Backbone.

‘Why does it look like it’s swelling up…?’

Minhyuk saw the thin film usually attached to the backbone swelling rapidly.

[Please remove the film.]

[If you can’t remove the film on time, the ingredient will rot.]

Arlene and Minhyuk looked at each other in shock. And their shock grew even more when the film attached to the meat of the backbone began to twitch and wriggle.

[The slightest damage on the backbone will make the ingredient rot.]

The ingredient was very tricky to handle. Minhyuk and Arlene hurriedly pulled out their knives and began removing the film. He also triggered the Food God’s Almighty Tool and turned them into knives that moved to help them remove the film.

‘What the hell, why is this so tough…?’

But when Minhyuk’s blade made contact with the wriggling and twitching film, he felt like what he was removing was not a film but a thin layer of sturdy rock. At this moment, Minhyuk realised something.

“This…”

“Other than us, no other chef in the world can remove this!” Arlene cried out.

There were blue and red dots flashing all over the film. However, they could only be seen if one looked closely at the ingredient. The two easily understood what the flashing dots meant.

‘All we need to do to remove the film is to stab those tiny red dots.’

‘But if we accidentally touch those blue dots, the ingredient will be damaged.’

From what it looked like, only chefs who had reached the highest level and had dismantled, trimmed, and prepared ingredients tens of thousands of times would be able to do it. On top of that, there were tens of thousands of blue dots, while the red dots were few and far between.

Arlene and Minhyuk both gently poked the red dots in front of them at the same time.

Fwoosh–

Then, the film easily peeled off of the backbone. After that, red and blue dots continuously appeared on the film.

Thwack, thwack, thwack–!

The sound of the removed film being thrown to the ground rang.

‘What the hell? This is ridiculous…’

But that was not all. The more film they removed, the less red dot could be seen. Now, they had to stab a tiny red dot among hundreds of thousands of blue dots.

[You have entirely removed the film!]

The two looked very nervous.

[Please remove the rest of the film quickly!]

[If you don’t remove the rest of the film, the ingredient will rot.]

It was indeed a crazy ingredient. Even though there was only the slightest gap in their movements, it would immediately warn them that the ingredient would rot.

The tense and nervous Minhyuk and Arlene both gulped dryly. Minhyuk moved to poke the film.

“Wait!” Arlene shouted.

She grabbed Minhyuk’s wrist and then proceeded to stab the red dot, which had suddenly moved, by herself.

Shwaaaaa–!

[You have successfully removed the film.]

[Blood has started to flow out of the pork backbone.]

“Haa… Haa… Haa…”

“Ugh…”

Minhyuk’s hands were trembling. If Arlene had not grabbed his wrist just now, he would have stabbed a blue dot. What would have happened if he accidentally stabbed it?

‘The cooking would have already failed.’

At this moment, Minhyuk thought it was a good idea to ask Arlene to cook with him.

‘I could never cook this ingredient if I did it alone.’

Thud– thud, thud–

“I don’t think we have any more time to feel good about this.” The Battle God chuckled awkwardly.

They were so focused that they failed to notice how much time had passed and how close he had come. They took at least fifty minutes to finish this one step.

Boom–!

Along with a loud explosion, a portion of the Maze of the Unknown broke, and a certain being made an appearance. The man was around two meters in height and wearing a black horned helmet, black full-plate armour, and a black sword in his hands.

“Long time, no see. F*cking bastard.”

The Battle God was furious. This was the same bastard who killed the God of Cooking who came with him.

Vwoooooong–!

The Battle God knew that he had to give it his all at the very beginning since he had already been defeated by this guy once.

“Battle God’s Five Generals.”

Flash, flash, flash–!

The Battle God triggered his skill, which allowed him to summon his Five Generals, which only lasted thirty seconds. Along with a flash of light, the Five Generals appeared.

A shudder ran down Minhyuk’s spine. ‘This is crazy.’

The Five Generals immediately unleashed their pinnacle skills upon summoning? The Battle God was indeed the Battle God. Minhyuk felt overwhelmed by the Battle God’s power and charisma.

The God of Magic waved his hand and immediately summoned gigantic meteors in the sky. Dozens of meteors fell and struck the Supreme Monarch. Everything happened in just three seconds.

Bang–!

Bang, bang, bang–!

Minhyuk was delighted when he saw the explosions erupting one after another.

“We kil—!”

Slash–!

But soon, Minhyuk caught sight of the Supreme Monarch appearing instantly in front of the God of Magic and splitting his body in half.

“...?”

Minhyuk took a sharp breath.

Then, an arrow shot out and spun swiftly, creating a vast whirlwind that looked like it would tear the whole world apart toward the Supreme Monarch. But the Supreme Monarch received the attack with his body and just charged forward. It did not take too long for him to take the head of the God of Archery.

Thump–!

Roll, roll, roll–!

“...!”

Slash, slash, slash–!

In the end, the Supreme Monarch, who easily endured the pinnacle skills of all of the Five Generals, killed them and let their bodies fall on the ground.

Crack, crack, crack–!

Minhyuk could not help but freeze on the spot from the gruesome sound that rang in his ears. Even Arlene was terrified by the ridiculous sight presented to them by the Supreme Monarch. The only one who did not freeze was the Battle God. This was because he had already fought with the bastard once.

Bang–!

A bright and blinding silver light erupted from the Battle God’s body. Then, hundreds of sword lights wrapped in the same light appeared and shot toward the Supreme Monarch.

The Battle God also used his skill, Monarch of Millions, and sent millions of troops toward the Supreme Monarch. This skill had a duration of five minutes. But the Supreme Monarch just ignored the Monarch of Millions. He swung his sword and cut off one of the arms of the Battle God, who was attacking him crazily.

“Keuaaaaaack!” the Battle God screamed.

But the Supreme Monarch remained nonchalant, even opting to break the leg of the god that was already suffering from pain.

Slash–!

“...”

Thud–!

Minhyuk watched as the Supreme Monarch approached them. The Supreme Monarch cut off Arlene’s head. When he saw her head roll, he tried to move quickly and respond.

Stab, stab, stab–!

Minhyuk’s HP immediately dropped to the ground with just a few attacks from the Supreme Monarch. Minhyuk thought that perhaps this was the same scene that happened when the previous God of Cooking died in the past.

Through his slowly darkening vision, Minhyuk finally saw why the Supreme Monarch was said to be someone who could not be killed.

[Supreme Monarch. Level ???. HP and MP: infinite]

That was right. The Supreme Monarch’s HP and MP were infinite.

[You have been forced to logout from the Maze of the Unknown for the first time.]

[Resetting.]

Flash–!

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