Leveling Up through Eating

Apel, the world’s number one company in market cap, produced and sold the globally acclaimed smartphone Aphone. It also boasted the global number one in the market share of tablets and laptops.

The faces of the company’s executives sitting in their conference room were filled with laughter.

“My god! I did not expect him to promote it like that.”

“The entire world is currently watching this broadcast.”

“‘Achoo! Apel!’ ranks number one in real-time search terms across various portal sites.”

“Minhyuk’s single ‘Achoo! Apel’ has increased our stock price by 5%.”

Eight trillion won was a considerable amount of money for an investment. Recovering that eight trillion won was no easy task, even if they could obtain all the drops of millions of players marching toward the battlefield. Of course, Minhyuk’s existence alone was a profit for them.

“The Beyond the Heavens Empire needed around ten trillion won to finish its war preparations. It could not borrow or raise that much money. But Minhyuk was able to lure us in on the condition that he would give us a huge portion of the spoils of war.”

Of course, Apel was able to see through this matter. Johnson, one of the key executives of Apel and the one who signed a contract with Minhyuk, remembered something. He said, “I have mentioned this before, but there are additional details in the contract.”

When Johnson flew to Korea to meet Minhyuk and sign the contract after they promised to sponsor eight trillion won, the young man offered another clause to their contract.

If Apel generates over ten trillion won in revenue, please give 10% of the profits above that amount to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

Johnson still could not believe it.

“At that time, I was still wondering if we could ever recover the eight trillion won, so I did not expect him to offer such a clause.”

Johnson had spat out the words, ‘Are you nuts?’ when he heard him say that.

For a company that invested eight trillion won, it would already be a miracle if it could gain a profit that was almost 20% of its investment. Nevertheless, Apel invested eight trillion won to show its intention to participate in the battle to protect the second world and increase its reputation.

In Apel’s eyes, recovering eight trillion won through profits and revenue would be impossible. They estimated the maximum amount they could recover would be six trillion won. Even so, Apel did not lack money. At the very least, the loss of two trillion won was enough as long as they bought their reputation.

But Minhyuk mentioned ten trillion won.

“Ten trillion won… Well, it would depend on how long the broadcast was and how many drops they got.”

This was the most crucial factor.

One of the executives pointed out, “But if the alliance is destroyed in just a day or two, then they wouldn’t be able to gain two trillion won, let alone ten trillion won.”

Helenia, mankind’s enemy, slaughtered an entire empire in just thirty minutes. Destroying mankind’s allied forces in a day? It might not necessarily be impossible for her. On the other hand, would mankind’s allied forces be able to kill Helenia in just a single day? That was a challenging feat.

For them to gain ten trillion won in profits and revenue, the hunt for Helenia had to be done for as long as possible. Not only that, but many people had to play an active role on the battlefield and had to hit their PPLs evenly during the process.

“If they can generate more than ten trillion won in profits, then they will be able to obtain a hundred billion won of incentive for every trillion in excess.”

That was a massive sum of money.

All the executives turned to see the large army marching behind the Beyond the Heavens Empire as it advanced toward the battlefield.

***

The vast and magnificent Land of Ballad was where the sun always rose first in Athenae. It was so vast that it would still be spacious even if two billion troops gathered there.

Mankind’s allied forces, consisting of troops from the Luvien Empire and countless nations worldwide, were on standby in this place. The allied forces were a large army consisting of almost 500 million soldiers. It could be said that mankind was now risking life and death in this war.

The soldiers’ breaths had turned white from the cold as they stood on this ground covered with snow, yet each of the armies’ commanders shouted as hard as they could to increase their soldiers' morale.

“For the ones we need to protect!”

“For the Valais Empire!”

Despite their efforts, the soldiers’ nervous shaking remained.

The Luvien Empire had brought ten million of its elite troops, which were said to be equivalent to the 500 million troops present in this place.

Then, the Beyond the Heavens Empire arrived.

‘Is that the Beyond the Heavens Empire?’

With the emergence of ships in Athenae, people could cross through many places. As such, many were unfamiliar with the newly emerging Beyond the Heavens Empire.

Many young men who saw the approaching Beyond the Heavens Empire felt overwhelmed.

‘They’re a legend! They started from a small territory and grew into a large empire!’

‘Emperor Minhyuk is here!’

‘Can I also become like that?’

Many shared the same dream. Even Barnes, who was left alone hiding his name after his entire family was executed, shared the same dreams as other young men his age.

One day, I will take the throne and become an emperor like him.

The Beyond the Heavens’ emperor’s white cape fluttered behind him as he looked at the army trembling in fear amidst the darkness of the night. As if accompanying him, the sun slowly rose, chasing away the darkness.

The scene of the sun rising behind the hundreds of millions of troops and illuminating the world plunged in darkness was spectacular.

“You’re here?”

Barnes blinked blankly a few times.

“Huh…?”

Barnes finally saw a white flame burning and slowly covered his body. He could not understand what was happening. Looking around, he saw the same white flames devouring many people around him. The fire burned their flesh until it turned into white and pure bones.

Barnes looked away from them. He looked at the Beyond the Heavens’ emperor. Despite the flames devouring the man’s body, he was still giving out his orders.

Crackle–!

Finally, the flames devoured Barnes.

***

[Immortal Sorceress Helenia has appeared!]

[Spark of the White Flames.]

[Eight Pillars’ Disaster.]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[The Spark of the White Flames will burn for two seconds and deal 1,200% damage.]

[The Spark of the White Flames targets all of the enemies!]

Crackle–!

The world, still covered in darkness, was suddenly engulfed in the bright light created by the blazing white flames.

The sight of nearly 700 million troops bursting in white flames was like a beautiful painting.

[The Allied Forces have lost 257 million troops!]

All of the troops were in a united front. But in an instant, nearly a third of their numbers were burned by the white flames and turned into nothing but white bones. The troops of the allied forces, which had survived the catastrophe, all stood frozen as they watched Helenia stretch.

Meanwhile, thousands of drones flying in the sky dutifully transmitted the ridiculous footage to people's screens worldwide.

[W- what the hell…]

[This is ridiculous! She launched an attack that targeted all of the army's troops?]

[Helenia’s Eight Pillars’ Disaster burned almost half of the Allied Forces' troops.]

[Even the surviving troops all suffer from varying degrees of injuries.]

[The healers and priests of each religion have all died.]

[The Spark of the White Flames only burned for two seconds but dealt 1,200% damage. In other words, everyone who couldn’t withstand the 1,200% damage has died.]

[The 1,200% additional damage from Helenia is equivalent to 6,000% from ordinary rankers.]

[The only sound you can hear on the battlefield is the shouts of the healers.]

[Those burnt black are falling one after another.]

The frozen army was left in a daze at the sudden yet graceful appearance of Helenia.

“Heal! Please, give us some heals!”

“Hot! It’s so hot!!!”

“Uwaaaaaaack!”

Helenia, who heard their screams, licked her lips in regret. She said, “If only the Sun’s Ore had not been stolen by some bastard, then I would have been able to kill more.”

Fwoosh–!

[You have been hit with the Abnormal Status: Fear.]

[You have lost your will to fight.]

The army, still frozen, could not even move their legs.

“R- run!!!”

“Hiiiiik!”

The commanders, shouting at the top of their lungs for their victory a few moments prior, were now trying to run away. Some of the soldiers peed, while some fainted on the spot and collapsed. Killing hundreds of millions of people and smiling bitterly as if she felt that it was a pity that she could only kill that many made her look no different from the devil.

While most troops were in a daze, some still broke away from the fear and charged swiftly toward Helenia.

Thump, thump, thump–!

“Heleniaaaaaaa!!!”

They were none other than Beyond the Heavens’ Emperor Minhyuk and his executives. All of the troops looked at Minhyuk and his vassals. Despite the burn from the white flames, they completely discarded their fear and charged forward.

“I am weaker.” Helenia tapped her fingers on her lips and giggled. And with her beautiful face and cute voice, she said, “So, I’m going to stay in the rear!”

She then did a snap with her fingers.

Thud!!!

Pitch-black darkness fell, overshadowing the rising sun and turning the day into night again. Then, she snapped her fingers again.

Thud–!

Brightness engulfed the entire world once again. And in this bright world, a skinny old man accompanied by gigantic bipedal wolves appeared. Then, monsters began to fall one after another.

[Mutant Werewolf. Level 853.]

“...?!”

“...?!”

“Eat a lot. Hoho,” Helenia laughed as she turned around and left the old man to go to the rear. “Do your best. That wolf is powerful.”

Helenia’s gruesome laughter reverberated throughout the battlefield. Then, the two gigantic bipedal wolves ran swiftly.

When they saw that, Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens’ executives stopped advancing.

[Th- the werewolf’s level is over Level 850?]

[This is beyond the level of Great Demon Verus, no?]

“Out of the way!”

At that moment, hundreds of elite knights charged ahead of Minhyuk and his men. The elite knights who overtook the Beyond the Heavens Empire belonged to the most prestigious knight order of the Laffad Empire. Of course, it was not just them. Hundreds of millions of soldiers came back to their senses and followed right behind them.

Amber, the knight commander, was overcome with fury. This was because their second prince had died. This was the same prince who declared that he would protect his empire and fought and won against the other princes to participate in this war.

“You bastaaaaaard!”

“How dare you do that to our prince!!!”

“Uryaaaaaaaah!!!”

The knights, who vowed to make the second prince the emperor, would fight to repay the kindness and grace of their prince! And it was not just them. Named NPCs at around the mid-700s in terms of level also charged forward.

They had been systematically trained. All they needed to do was to kill enough of these bastards, cut through the monster corps, and eventually cut down Helenia. They believed that they could do so.

“Hoho. What you see with your eyes isn’t everything.”

The eyes of the werewolves suddenly turned red.

[The Mutant Werewolves have gone berserk.]

[Berserk Mutant Werewolves. Level 893.]

“...!”

Only at this moment did they wake up from the stupor that was brought about by their anger at losing their prince and realize that they had made a mistake

Boom–!

The head of the knight charging at the forefront burst with a single stomp from the werewolf.

Slash–!

One swing of their claws and the knights’ bodies were easily cut off.

Shwaaaa–!

The knights raised their swords and aimed for the werewolves’ necks.

“Kill the…!”

Clang–!

But they couldn’t pierce through the werewolves’ tough skin.

Thud, thud, thud!

Knight Commander Amber stopped when he saw the knights under his command were struggling. He was left speechless, a shudder running down his trembling body at the sight of the knights dying and falling in just ten seconds.

“Keuhaaaaaack!”

“Kihyaaaaaack!”

“Kiheeeeeeeck!”

Powerful balls of energy gathered at the mouths of the werewolves as they roared to the sky. Then, they shot those energy balls toward the charging troops.

Rumble–!

A single ball of energy created a huge wave that exploded and swept away many soldiers surrounding one of the werewolves.

Boom, boom, boom–!

The werewolves sent countless powerful energy balls toward the allied forces like that.

Helenia, who walked to the rear, gracefully covered her mouth and began giggling. She was delighted to hear the sounds of the soldiers exploding helplessly under the werewolves’ assault.

Helenia’s laughter, which was transmitted by a simple amplification magic, resonated all over the world.

[Hohohohohoho. Fireworks! Fireworks! Boom, boom, boom! Everyone, let’s enjoy these fireworks! Ohohohohoho! Keuhahahahaha!]

[Out of all the things the old man made, those werewolves are considered quite good.]

[If you can finish them in an hour, I will give you prais—]

At that moment, her words were cut short.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh–!

Slash, slash, slash–!

“Keuaaaack!”

“Kyahaaack! Aaaack!”

“Keuhaaaaack!”

Slash– Slash–!

“Ho- hoho… What the hell…”

Helenia heard the confusion in the Lord of the Monsters Barbarian’s voice. The puzzled Helenia was just about to turn her head when she received a notification.

[The God who Rules and Leads All Armies is looking at you.]

Twitch–

“...?”

The shocked Helenia slowly turned her head and finally saw the person who triggered that notification.

A year ago, this man was lucky enough to seal herself. But now? He was staring at her nonchalantly while holding the severed head of a werewolf in his hands.

Brod, standing beside him, held one head in each hand while Spear God Ben’s spear carried another.

In just a few seconds, the mutant werewolves’ heads were cut off and sent flying to the sky.

Thud– Thump, thump, thump–

Around fifteen severed heads rolled in front of Helenia.

At this moment, Helenia realized that a lot had changed during the year, and they had not seen each other.

With a cold expression, Minhyuk threw the head he was holding at Helenia’s feet.

Thud– Thump, thump, thump–

“Long time, no see.”

[The Battle God grins at you.]

That man had now become the Battle God.

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