Leveling Up through Eating

Blood rose like a fountain from Helenia’s chest.

He’s nothing but a trivial bug. This was Helenia’s evaluation of him. She thought that his abilities should have developed quite well when she descended a year later, and he could assuage her boredom.

Alas, that was mere arrogance on her part. While she was sealed and slumbering, Minhyuk had grown several times more potent than before. She would awaken every once in a while to search for her missing ores. Yet, while she was wasting her time doing that, he was constantly working hard and doing his best to improve while waiting for her descent.

And today? Helenia could not look straight into his eyes, and he was standing before her with the wings of a hawk. Her pupils shook when she finally made eye contact with him. At that moment, she felt his gaze was the same as hers when she looked at the humans as bugs. The contempt and mockery in his eyes brought a chill down Helenia’s spine.

I have to get away!

Her primal fear was engulfing her. No matter what she did, she could not move.

[You have been overpowered. You can’t move your body!]

In her entire life, Helenia had never suffered from abnormal statuses. At this moment, an overbearing force was weighing down on her.

[8 seconds.]

Time seemed to pass slowly. During that time, Minhyuk, who was looking at her with contempt, raised his sword and stabbed her through the heart.

Stab– Stab, stab–!

The power of the Sword of Frenzy ravaged her body.

[6 seconds.]

A gigantic sword light stretched out of Minhyuk’s sword as the power of the Heaven Tearing Sword cut off one of her arms.

[4 seconds.]

Hundreds of swords flew at her, cutting and hacking at her body. At the same time, Viel’s Puppet appeared and stabbed her in the back.

Drip, drip, drip–

Blood dripped down her chin.

[2 seconds.]

Helenia’s eyes snapped open. She couldn't be treated like this by a single individual, let alone a human! Yet Minhyuk was able to swing his sword straight at her neck.

“This… this is for Grandpa Beradon.”

Slash–!

Thud, thud, thud–!

Helenia’s head slowly fell off and rolled on the ground. Her eyes were wide open as she barely held onto her last string of reason. But soon, that string also broke.

Swoosh–!

Her head quickly reattached itself to her body. Now that she had let go of her reason, she had completely gone crazy. She wanted to return the disgrace and suffering this human being had made her suffer.

With an innocent smile and a devilish voice, she whispered, “Do you want to know something fun?”

Her creepy voice enveloped Minhyuk’s entire being.

“The way to kill me, the Immortal Sorceress…” She grabbed Minhyuk’s collar and whispered straight into his ears. “Killing me five times in eight minutes. That’s the only way to kill me.”

Minhyuk hurriedly shook off her hand. He did not have time. He immediately stabbed his sword, which was carrying the power of Calamity, into her.

Shwaaaaa–!

The first sword that fell stabbed through her head.

“Ahi? Hihihihihi! Can you do it? You still have to kill me four more times! Go for it! Ah, do you want me to set up a timer for you? Wouldn’t that be more convenient for us?! And if you fail to kill me four more times within eight minutes, then it will reset again. Got it?!”

Helenia looked at the sky above her. Despite the hundreds of swords falling down, she had a mad smile on her face. At that moment, the timer that she had created appeared above her.

“Hihi. Ahihihihi. Stab, stab. It hurts, huh? It hurts!”

She cackled like a lunatic.

Despite being stabbed several times by Calamity’s swords, she still did not die. This was the freedom of being a strong man. She might look like she had no defenses, but a shield covered her entire body to minimize the damage she would receive.

“You have to stab me like this, stab! Huh? If you’re going to do it like that, then you wouldn’t be able to kill me, you know?”

Minhyuk looked at her, his face showing how pathetic he thought she was. “Crazy b*tch.”

“...”

“It’s not just crazy, it’s really f*cking crazy.”

Silence blanketed the battlefield for a moment. Helenia acted like a lunatic to mock Minhyuk, but she felt awful for some reason.

Even if Minhyuk said those words, he was very nervous.

[6 minutes 47 seconds.]

This was because of the timer floating above Helenia’s head.

“Ahihihihihi! Why aren’t you killing me? If you’re not going to kill me, then…”

Helenia stretched her hand out.

Swoosh–!

The magic she cast was Compress, also Ali’s secret skill. Due to the sudden appearance of Compress, the skills of the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s powerhouses suddenly gathered in one place. She looked at Minhyuk with a vicious and threatening expression on her face.

“Calamity.”

At this moment, Minhyuk did not have the leisure to weigh the pros and cons and consider the penalty. After being hit with Calamity twice, Helenia finally died. And just like before, she resurrected once again.

[6 minutes 6 seconds.]

[Number of Helenia’s Deaths: 2]

“Tick.”

Helenia grinned at Minhyuk. Then, she stretched a finger and pointed it toward the Beyond the Heavens’ powerhouses.

Fwoosh–!

Dozens of Disses pierced through their bodies and left them in a very threatening situation.

“Tock.

“Tick.

“Tock.

“Tick.

“Tock.”

The air around them grew tense as Helenia spoke.

Tick– tock– tick– tock–

The freedom and ease of the strong. It was as if she was showing them this as she playfully whispered, “You must be thinking of a way to kill me three more times, no? Well, then. Let me help you.”

Bang–!

Helenia, who knew that Minhyuk had exhausted most of his skills, placed her hand on his chest and unleashed ten Explosions simultaneously.

Bang, bang, bang–!

[Your HP has fallen below 70%.]

[Your HP has fallen below 50%.]

[Your HP has fallen below 30%.]

It was just one attack, but the damage was too much.

Minhyuk was confident that he had grown tremendously since his first encounter with Helenia. To his shock, the moment Helenia’s delicate and graceful hand landed on his chest, his HP immediately dropped to zero.

[You have been forced to log out.]

[You have logged in.]

[Your level has dropped.]

Minhyuk had also taken the same potion the other players had drunk. He ignored the penalty and immediately logged back in. Then, he unleashed all of his skills, including Calamity, upon Helenia.

However, Helenia, who had already died twice, no longer intended to lay silently and accept his attacks. Only the first attack of Calamity, the attack with a 100% certainty of reaching its target, dealt significant damage. She alternated between Blink and Shield and completely overwhelmed Minhyuk.

Minhyuk collapsed after being shot through by hundreds of Disses.

[You have been forced to log out.]

[You have logged in.]

[Your level has dropped.]

After being turned into a hedgehog by the spears made of light, Minhyuk disappeared and appeared in another flash of light. The same fierce battle repeated non-stop.

[4 minutes 36 seconds.]

[Number of Helenia’s Deaths: 2]

The fact that he did not have much time left put pressure on Minhyuk, which ultimately held him back.

And when Minhyuk reappeared, Helenia was there waiting for him with her fingers waving around. Following the movements of her fingers, the tens of thousands of bombs and potions created by Bichor and Mandala floated in the air. All of them were taken from the players' inventory from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

Helenia might have been in a state of slumber, but she had felt the impact of the bomb that exploded and blasted Beauden Fortress before. That was why she knew that the being named Bichor was a very dangerous one.

“If all of those bombs exploded at the same time, everyone here would die, no?”

It was just like Helenia said. If those bombs truly exploded, then the entire earth would be scorched. All the players and NPCs in this place would die and disappear without a trace.

“If you don’t kill me, then I will detonate all of those bombs.” Helenia stretched out her dainty fingers. “And I will take away the power that you possess.”

If Helenia successfully took away Beradon’s Disciple System, she would crush Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire a thousand times over.

With a light wave of her hand, Helenia easily blocked the sword swinging at her with her Shield. “Haaaaa. I hope the remaining four minutes will go by quickly. Once those four minutes are up, I will kill you all and go to sleep.”

Minhyuk continuously swung his sword at her.

Clang, clang, clang–!

Helenia easily blocked it with her Shield and even went so far as to stab Minhyuk’s heart with dozens of Disses.

The collapsing Minhyuk fell into despair. ‘I can’t reach her.’

Helenia’s first death under his hands was only thanks to her carelessness and the power of Overpower. Her second death was mainly because her reasoning broke, and she went ahead and died on her own.

Helenia was genuinely vicious. She gave him this faint glimmer of hope before trampling on him. At this moment, the despair had almost swallowed Minhyuk up. He even felt like he wanted to give everything up.

[Beradon’s Disciple System has been activated.]

A notification gave a glimpse of hope to Minhyuk, who was dragged into despair.

***

Minhyuk smiled bitterly when he heard the notification.

‘I was wrong, Grandpa. It seems like I can’t do anything.’

Humans only experience frustration when they encounter a high wall that they cannot reach. Once they fall into frustration, they eventually put everything down and give up.

Minhyuk wanted to protect the Beyond the Heavens Empire and his precious vassals. He wanted to protect the lives of those who accessed the game after a long day of work and studies.

‘The game that made me want to live.’

Perhaps Minhyuk might have died at the young age of twenty-one if he had not encountered Athenae. He might even be recorded as one of the many patients who died because of his eating addiction, a disease that made his body grow until he weighed 200 kilograms.

A deeper sense of helplessness and despair washed over Minhyuk.

[Beradon’s Last Will will now play.]

Crackle, crackle, crackle–!

White noise appeared in front of Minhyuk and blocked his vision. The only thing he could see was the image of Beradon before he left this world.

Beradon, with blood dripping down his chin, spoke.

[There’s something that I did not tell you.]

[On the day you went to the God’s Prison, one of my disciples, also one of the Eight Pillars, came to visit me.]

[I asked him…]

[Why did you come here?]

Crackle, crackle, crackle–!

The white noise slowly disappeared. Then, Minhyuk saw the disciple that Beradon was talking about through his eyes.

‘There’s this guy I want to protect,’ the familiar man said.

[I told him that he should live for his own sake now. He just smiled at me.]

‘Master, I have never been this happy in my entire life.’

[He asked me for a way to protect the man that he wanted to protect. Of course, I knew a way. But I did not want to tell him. Even so, he could still find out before he left.]

Minhyuk saw through Beradon’s eyes the lonely back of Obren as he headed somewhere.

[He went to find the Colossal Brothers.]

Through his last will, Beradon explained to him what the Colossal Brothers were like and what kind of powers they possessed. They were beings who combined two small powers to create a mighty force.

[Minyuk.]

[You and Obren cannot undergo Fusion.]

[In the first place, a god and another god cannot undergo Fusion. It is impossible. The only exception to this is the Colossal Brothers.]

“...!”

Minhyuk could not understand. Things were just not adding up. Obren said he would protect him and went ahead and killed the Colossal Brothers to obtain Fusion.

[Fusion might be impossible, but there was a stopgap. And I told him about that stopgap. It was something that I should not have said.]

[Because… the moment he uses that stopgap, there is a high chance he will be trapped forever.]

[I know, I shouldn’t have told him. But…]

“...”

Minhyuk remained silent as he listened to Beradon’s will.

[When I told Obren the stopgap, he showed me the happiest smile in the world.]

[That stopgap…]

Tears started to fall from Minhyuk’s eyes. He wanted to give up already, but Obren worked hard and pursued a method that he should not have pursued. Only now did he realize why he had not seen or heard from Obren for a long time.

Someone caught the falling Minhyuk. He was a very handsome man with black hair framing his smiling face.

“Don’t you regret it?” Minhyuk asked.

The man just smiled at him.

[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path, and Protects Someone, the Guardian God is with you!]

Obren reached for the Continent Destroyer Sword in Minhyuk’s hand. Then, he said, “Fusion.”

His body turned into a black mist of energy that got sucked inside the blade of the sword. Before he completely disappeared, he gave Minhyuk a bright smile.

As it turned out, the stopgap was…

[Obren, that child… He will become your sword.]

Bzz, bzz, bzz–!

Black light appeared and filled the entire world.

Flash–!

When the light disappeared, everyone saw Minhyuk.

Minhyuk, whose hair and white cape fluttered with the wind, held a noble and majestic black sword in his hand and looked at Helenia.

[Minhyuk. Level 1418]

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