Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 518: Victory

[Ali, with his golden hair fluttering in the wind, stands at the vanguard and created more than ten Disses alongside the dragons.]

[Adding together the Disses that the dragons behind him created, there should be around 200 of them in total.]

The golden-haired Ali coldly spat out, “Diss.” as hundreds of spears of light lit up the world and shot toward Asura, who immediately brandished his bloody greatsword and broke the incoming spears of light.

Thud— thud—

The bright spears of light shone even more brightly once they got broken, continuously brightening and darkening the battlefield. But no matter how fast Asura was, he would eventually reach a limit. It was extremely difficult to completely block hundreds of spears of lights.

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab—

The spears of light pierced through Asura’s shoulders, flanks, and even his chest. Just like a machine gun, the Disses continuously stabbed through Asura’s body, creating holes that spurted out blood.

But Asura was still standing tall, rushing out to break the Disses sent his way. Asura then shot toward where the dragons were. Bloody wind surrounded Asura’s body as he approached them while still being stabbed by Disses.

The blood that the dragons, the humans, and Asura himself shed flew all the while showing signs of exploding. With that, Asura stopped breaking the Disses coming his way and only moved his body to evade the attacks. The guild members, the NPCs and the dragons realized that the entire area would be wiped out once this bloody wind exploded. They desperately tried to use their skills to offset the explosion. However, it seemed that they were going to be a step too late.

“We have to avoid it.”

“Damn…”

“How? He already got hit by so much Diss…!”

Even the dragons failed to predict this move of Asura. Despite receiving the baptism of hundreds of powerful Disses, the man was still able to move freely and swiftly. But that was the reality they were facing. The dragons knew that they would not be able to regenerate from the damage that they would receive from this explosion.

“The joke ends here.”

Asura was aware that his attack was being restricted by the transparent barrier that surrounded Minhyuk. However, that would not stop him from cleaning up the beings outside of that barrier and he would do it swiftly. Even if he could not kill everyone from this attack, Asura was sure that he would be able to deal a fatal blow to his enemies.

Just as the thought flashed in Asura’s head, the golden-haired Ali, who was holding the Staff of Despair, turned to look back at the dragons and made eye contact with Dragon Elder Velach.

‘Please watch my back.’

Velach suddenly felt an unknown emotion flash in his heart. Then, Ali opened his palm and said, “Compress.”

[Compress.]

[You can gather all of the beings in one place. However, you will be placed in a stunned state for 1.2 seconds.]

[You have received the Chicken’s buff effects. With the increase in magic tier, additional effects have been added to your Compress.]

[You can now compress and gather your enemies’ attacks, skills, and magic.]

Shwaaaaaa—

The moment Ali closed his open palm, the streaks of blood that Asura created gathered together in front of him. Compress was originally a skill that was used to gather people in one place so the skill user could attack them easily. But thanks to the buffed dish that Minhyuk created, Ali’s magic tier had increased, which added an additional effect to the skill and allowed him to gather and compress his enemies’ attacks and skills. As long as Ali could gather the skill in one place and use Blink, then they could safely avoid it and offset the damage.

But that was not what Ali did.

With the skills and attacks momentarily ‘compressed’, the Disses that were bombarding Asura stopped for a second.

“Can you stop it?”

“Yeah. I can,” Ali answered, smiling softly at Minhyuk, who was still standing behind the barrier.

“Frieeeeeeeeeeeend!!!” As always, Ali raised his left arm and shouted amidst the ticking Blood Explosion before spitting out, “Barrier.”

“What…?!”

A huge golden shield surrounded both Ali and Asura. Barrier was a skill that boasted an absolute, invincible defense. However, as a penalty for completely neutralizing the enemy’s attack, the skill user would not be able to send any attacks.

But what would happen if the enemy was the one that was attacking? And what would happen if the barrier was cast within 0.1 or 0.2 seconds before the attack was triggered? Then, the attack would be cast inside the barrier.

That was right. The method that Ali chose was suicide bombing. The Blood Explosion exploded in the small space enclosed by the barrier. Up until that moment, Ali was smiling at Minhyuk, his guild members, and the dragons.

“Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!” Ali roared out passionately as he raised his left arm and showcased the symbol on it.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang—

A huge explosion bloomed inside the barrier, shaking the ground. The blood splattered and covered the golden barrier from the inside. However, none of Asura’s attacks was able to break through the barrier.

Shwaaaaaaaaa—

Then, the blood slowly flowed down as the barrier disappeared. Everyone knew that the barrier’s termination signaled Ali’s death. Although this was a game, the death and forced logout of Ali, one of the top rankers, brought a huge impact to everyone. Even the dragons, who were aware that the foreigners could easily come back to life, felt some strange emotion after witnessing Ali’s death.

‘How?’ Velach asked. How could that man smile widely when he sacrificed himself and died for them?

‘The humans that I knew…’

Humans, in Velach’s eyes, were greedy and selfish people that only cared about their own safety. They even waged wars and killed to plunder from others. So why did this human do something like that?

‘That old man was the same too.’

The old man, Ghost Spear Ben, was a human that Velach admired and acknowledged. He admired the old man’s spirit of sacrifice. Velach turned his gaze to another place.

‘The face of the king that these people serve.’

Velach saw a different side whenever he looked at Minhyuk. A king that could be trusted, a king that they could devote themselves to, a king that they could entrust their loyalty to. The reason why these people made that choice and went through with it was all because of their king. Velach felt his heart thump wildly.

‘The greatest lord. Now, I know why the lord is walking the right path.’

Just when the thought flashed in Velach’s head, Asura, who was trapped in the explosion appeared. Even if it was the skill user, in Athenae, they would still receive the same damage as long as they were hit by it. That was why Asura’s body was all torn and battered. Even so, Asura’s mangled body was slowly regenerating.

At that moment, ominous notifications rang.

[All of Asura’s life force has been exhausted.]

[Asura will no longer be summoned.]

[Asura’s true power has been released.]

[Asura’s attack has increased by 1.5x.]

[Asura’s defense has increased by 1.5x.]

[Asura’s skill cooldown has decreased by 50%.]

[Asura’s HP Volume has returned to that of his main body.]

Everyone present could not help but groan helplessly when they saw Asura, who was dragging his feet, emerge from the chaos. Asura’s appearance right now was similar to the description of his appearance in history books. He had three heads and six arms, with each of his arms holding a bloody greatsword.

One of the people exclaimed after hearing the notifications, “The HP Volume of his main body…?!”

When they thought back on it, they realized that Asura’s body was easily damaged and cut down compared to what they expected after receiving strong attacks. It was to the point that they wondered if his body truly had reached the level of a demigod. In fact, it was not actually Asura who died during those three ‘deaths’, but his shell.

Asura’s three heads looked around as he spat out, “What a disgrace.”

Asura had only been forced to reveal his true form in the past when the Continental Gods and the Gods worked together to restrain him. The fact that these measly beings in front of him had driven him to this point was very humiliating to him. Then, Asura’s three heads looked up at the dragons in the skies. Seeing this, the dragons immediately created shields one after the other. But one of Asura’s greatswords had already hacked at the shields. The problem here was…

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

“…?!”

…Asura’s damage. Asura might have reverted to his original appearance, but each swing of his greatsword could still inflict three damages each.

“This is crazy…!”

“This is a scam! Ridiculous!!!”

If that was the case, what would happen if Asura used all six of his arms to attack them with his greatswords? The answer was simple. They would receive eighteen damages in total. Just like now, when Asura hacked at the shields that the dragons had created.

Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack—

The moment the remaining five greatswords slammed on the shield, the shield cracked under the pressure of the damage that was fifteen times that of Asura’s regular attack. Then, Asura immediately bypassed the broken shields and cut down the tail of Dragon Anarchon.

Fwiiiiiish—

Spuuuuurt—

Swooooosh—

Spuuuuuurt—

Six blood trails were carved on Anarchon’s tail, each blood trail dealing two consecutive damages. The first attack’s damage had torn the scales on Anarchon’s tail. The second damage pierced through his flesh. By the time the third attack landed, it cut the appendage off.

Thuuuuuuuud—

Anarchon’s tail fell down on the ground.

“K, keuaaaaaaack! Graaaaaaaaaa!”

It was just one slash.

Then, Asura jumped in the middle of the dragons and sent an attack every 1.5 seconds, forcing the dragons to collapse and fall on the ground one after the other.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaang—

Asura’s six greatswords forced a total of four dragons to collapse. However, his momentum and power were still going strong. With another swing, sixteen powerful forces shot up to the skies toward the dragons. The dragons desperately tried to offset the force but it was futile.

Seeing this, the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom gave their all and fired their skills to protect the dragons. But there were quite a few cases where the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had to step forward and bear the brunt of the aftermath of the colliding skills.

“Kgghk…” Ascar groaned, her body falling helplessly on the ground.

“Why?” The dragon carrying Ascar asked after seeing her and the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom take the hit on their behalf. As they fought this battle alongside the humans, the dragons started to learn about a new emotion.

‘Why? Why did they throw themselves in front of us…?’

Then, Asura’s gaze turned to where Death, the undead, and the Hell Warriors were fighting a bloody battle. Death had also grown stronger after eating the chicken that Minhyuk prepared, becoming more proficient in controlling the undead.

Asura suddenly opened one of his palms, blood gathering on top of it. Then, he clenched his fist together and squeezed the blood that gathered in his hands.

Booooom—

Tremendous amount of blood suddenly gushed out from the ground, seeping into the bodies of the Hell Warriors and strengthening them, while devouring the bodies of the undead and turning them into dust.

“This…” Death muttered, face turning horribly distorted as Asura instructed the Hell Warriors to deal the final blow on the dragons that fell down on the ground. With the disappearance of the undead, the Hell Warriors were now free. They immediately moved and approached the fallen dragons, while Asura moved to the skies to greet everyone with another disaster, the very same power that Minhyuk had stopped earlier.

“Blood Carnival.”

[Asura’s Blood Carnival has been triggered!]

[Asura’s Blood Carnival covers a 250 meter radius and will inflict 4,900% additional damage.]

[If you get directly hit by Asura’s Blood Carnival, your HP will fall by 3% per second. Only a high-ranking priest’s blessing magic can cancel this condition.]

The Blood Carnival that Asura had cast was much stronger after he showed his true form. With his skill cooldown reduced by 50% and most of the people collapsed on the ground, no one could stop him anymore. Thousands of droplets of blood appeared in the skies and rained down on the ground.

Shwaaaaaa—

Shwaaaaaaaa—

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

The Blood Carnival that covered an area with a 250 meter radius engulfed everyone present and swept everything away, giving way to a catastrophic disaster. Ellie, who was trying to stop Asura, dashed forward while evading the blood explosions. Asura just grabbed her neck with one of his arms the moment she arrived in front of him.

“Keok!”

Then, Asura used another of his arms, swinging a greatsword and aiming to decapitate her.

The cameras from the stations all over the world could not see what exactly was happening at ground zero. Everything had been covered by the blood that exploded from the Blood Carnival. No, in fact, they could see the silhouettes of the people through the haze of blood, but they could not clearly see who or what was happening exactly.

Even though that was the case, the scene of something falling on the ground and rolling was very much clear to them.

Thump—

Roll, roll, roll—

***

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The entire world was terrified. Sword Emperor Ellie, the emperor of Eivelis empire and strongest and best NPC in Asgan Continent and the person hailed as the Continental Emperor, had died. This was both shocking and terrifying. Lee Minhwa, the Special Players Management Team that was watching this, suddenly covered her eyes as tears began to fall on her cheeks.

“No…”

Ellie was a cold-hearted empress, an empress that would not bleed or cry when stabbed by someone. But Lee Minhwa had seen how Empress Ellie expressed her emotions clearly, whether through smiling or crying, whenever she met with Minhyuk. She was a woman that fought for her people, even though the decision was very foolish and undesirable. She was also both a sister and a friend to Minhyuk.

Lee Minhwa saw a head roll on the ground from the hazy screen. She was sure that this was Ellie’s head. The thought of Minhyuk’s frustration and anger at her death made Minhwa feel sad both for him and the future of Asgan Continent.

“Sob, sob, sob, sob…”

However, Lee Minhwa was an employee of Joy Co. Ltd. She had to gather herself together and force herself to accept this more calmly than the players. But no matter how hard she tried, Lee Minhwa could not do so. There were also the real-time comments displayed on her screen posted by the viewers.

[E, Ellie… died…? She died just like that? She died in vain? Without doing anything?]

[Shit… Empress Ellie has died?]

[This must be a nightmare…]

[No…]

Ellie’s death also came as a huge shock to the viewers. This was because Ellie was someone that wielded a huge power and was of great importance to Athenae. While Lee Minhwa wiped the tears away, Team Leader Park Minggyu continued to stare at the monitor, his hands clenched tightly into fists.

Then, he suddenly jumped up, which made Lee Minhwa jerk back and look at him, as he shouted, “It’s not Ellie…!”

“…What?”

Lee Minhwa slowly turned to look back at the monitor. The blood that covered the lenses of the cameras slowly dripped down until it finally revealed the truth. The monitor displayed a man gripping Asura’s hand tightly as he forced the monstrous demigod to his knees while Ellie breathed heavily, catching the breath that she almost lost.

As for the head that fell on the ground? It was one of Asura’s heads, the leftmost head.

Team Leader Park Minggyu felt a flame burn hot in his heart as he said, “The Food God has made his move.”