Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 576: Battle of the Thrones (3)

Thud, thud, thud!

Everyone could hear explosions going off outside constantly.

“…Thank you.”

“It’s my honor to fight with you.”

“You have my respect.”

Whenever an explosion rang loudly, the rankers would think of him, who was fighting alone outside the walls. Even if this was a game, it was still scary to think that one would face more than 200,000 enemies by themselves, right? But after using this unbelievably OP AOE skill, Minhyuk still chose to jump alone and fight against the enemy.

Many of the rankers present here had either ridiculed, mocked, rebuked or condemned the Food God before. That was how people were. If they thought someone was better than them, they would definitely scrutinize and mock that person. However, today, these rankers came to realize why the Food God became a king and why he was hailed as the best ranker in the world.

Genie said, “He’s cool, right?”

“…He’s cool.”

“He’s amazing.”

Genie smiled softly. The rankers all turned to focus on her as she opened her mouth. Whatever she said right now would definitely leave a huge imprint in their hearts forever. She said, “Do you want to join Beyond the Heavens?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

‘No. Why did you suddenly destroy this touching moment? Is this how you recruit people into your guild? But… why do I feel the strong desire to join you?!’

Genie’s eyes sparkled. She could tell that many rankers would flock to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom from this point on! Then, she turned to look at the still warm steak in her hands. Everyone was busy trying to gobble up the food in their hands. Just like them, she placed a piece of cube steak in her mouth.

A gentle smile curled up at the corner of Genie’s lips the moment the cube steak entered her mouth. The rich and savory flavor of the steak was evident in just one bite; the more she chewed, the more juices came out of the steak. Then, Genie took out a can of cider from her inventory and gulped it down.

After seeing her, many of the rankers suddenly started asking…

“Do any of you have some cans of cider?”

“I don’t have one either?”

“Why do all of the members of Beyond the Heavens have cans of cider with them? Huh, someone also has a cola with them.”

“Why is Locke suddenly drinking alcohol on his own…?”

“Strangely enough, Locke’s back looks similar to my dad whenever he drinks soju while eating dried anchovies…”

This was the influence of the Food God! Because of Minhyuk, the members of Beyond the Heavens started to carry cans of cider and canned beers with them at all times. This way, they would be able to enjoy Minhyuk’s delicious dishes better, anywhere, anytime.

“Kgghk…” Genie let out a sigh of admiration after drinking her cider. This time, she stretched her fork toward the well-grilled King Oyster Mushrooms, which was immediately followed by the well-mixed potato salad. Just as she had expected, Minhyuk’s cooking was still the best of the best.

However, both Genie and the Korean rankers thought that it was virtually impossible for all of the dishes that Minhyuk gave to all the rankers here to eat would be excellent.

“Eyy. No matter what happens, this is the Food God’s dish. It probably has a buff that can increase our powers by 10%.”

“Right, yeah.”

The dish created by ‘Everyone’s Happiness’ did not have an explanation. It seemed like they would only be able to confirm the effects after eating the dish themselves.

But then, Twilight Chef Black suddenly retorted, “You’re talking nonsense.”

Twilight Chef Black was Korea’s best chef and was ranked third in Athenae’s global chef rankings.

“The higher the level the chef has, the more cooking skills they will learn. A typical example of a skill that they could learn is the skill ‘Cooking Together’.”

Cooking Together was a skill that chefs over Level 400 were able to learn. Just like Everyone’s Happiness, Cooking Together was a skill that would allow many people to get the buff effects of a single dish.

“The problem is that the more the number of people eating the dish increases, the less the buff effect in the dish. If you feed three people together, you will get a 20% decrease in the effects. If you feed ten people, you will get a 40% decrease in the effects. If you feed twenty people, the buff effect that one will be able to receive will only be at 50%. So, what do you think will happen in our situation?” Twilight Chef Black said, his eyes looking at the people around him. There were around 10,000 surviving rankers present. Then, he continued, “It would be a miracle if our stats go up by even 3% at this point.”

“The Food God’s dishes always exceeded our expectations,” Genie said, a wry smile on her face. She knew that Black was one of the few people that loathed Minhyuk. He was also a very horrible realist.

“The 10,000 dishes that appeared is nothing more than an outstanding performance. Do you think it’s reasonable to get the same buff effect for 10,000 people with just a single dish?”

Twilight Chef Black was obviously speaking up because he hated Minhyuk to the bone. However, the rankers that came to respect Minhyuk also had to admit that it was truly something impossible.

“There are things in this world that can easily defy common sense.”

However, Genie thought differently. In the first place, she was aware that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had never planned for such a performance. Also, she could tell that there was a reason why Food God Minhyuk decided to make them eat this dish.

But Twilight Chef Black just snorted at her, “Don’t try to protect your king. These facts will be proven soon.”

“Then, what if the buff effect exceeds 10%?”

“Hahahahahahahahahaha!” Black’s laughter rang loudly in the area. That was virtually impossible. No, it was something that definitely did not make any sense. That was why he confidently said, “Then, I’ll join Beyond the Heavens. Of course, that won’t happen even if I die at this moment and wake up outside. Well then, shall we? I only have one piece left after all.”

Black stabbed his fork on the final piece of cube steak on his plate. Genie’s eyes narrowed into slits, her expression turning into that of someone that found the situation to be fun, “Out of all the 10,000 people here, you are the one that ate the fastest. Strange, even though you vehemently denied this dish. Huh?”

“…”

Yes. He could not deny that. The cube steak was so delicious that Black could not find any faults with it. As a chef, he had no choice but to acknowledge the flavor of this dish, and unknowingly ate everything in a hurry. To save himself from further embarrassment, Black placed the last piece in his mouth and savored it mockingly, “Mmhmm~~ The taste is definitely acceptable. But, what about the buffs, huh?”

Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

[Everyone’s Happiness.]

[You have eaten the Cube Steak. Everyone will be able to experience the same effects and flavor of this one single dish.]

[Your HP has recovered by 45%.]

[Your MP has recovered by 51%.]

[Your Stamina has recovered by a considerable amount.]

[All of your stats will increase by 19%.]

[Your physical and magical attack will increase by 18%.]

[Your physical and magical defense will increase by 17%.]

[All of your skill’s level will increase by +1.]

Clatter—

Twilight Chef Black’s fork clattered on the ground. At the same time, Genie placed the last piece of her cube steak in her mouth, smiled and said, “You have to join Beyond the Heavens, no? Ah. I don’t know if Minhyuk will accept you, though?”

“…”

Genie, with a satisfied smile on her face, emphasized, “Take. Good. Care. Of. Us. Once. Again.”

“…”

A new member had been recruited in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!

***

“Overlord’s Technique.”

Alexander, the strongest ranker in the world, sensed an unusual energy coming from the flames that shot out from Minhyuk’s sword and licked the ground as they stretched toward the kings.

Beanie, the baby piggy, appeared behind Minhyuk. He immediately sent a huge wave of flames toward the large army and the kings upon his summoning.

Shwaaaaaaaaa—

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The kings watched in terror as the rankers, which were only barely grazed by the flames, turned to ash that scattered in the wind. They felt like they had witnessed the drop of a nuclear bomb after seeing the shocking scene. Only 0.1 seconds had passed yet thousands of rankers had already turned to ashes.

While Alexander was brought into a daze by the horrifying scene in front of him, Italy’s Valentino, the global number one tanker, swiftly slammed his square shield on the ground and shouted, “God of Shield’s Wall!!!”

Rumbleee—

A twenty meter transparent shield appeared in front of them in an instant.

Crackle—

Not long after, the wave of flames collided with the God of Shield’s Wall. Hell on earth was unfolding from behind that transparent wall. But after a few seconds, the God of Shield’s Wall…

Crackle, rumble—

…began to melt. The fire devoured and melted the walls and finally stretched its claws toward the kings.

“Keuhooooook!”

“Aaaaaaaaack!”

“Urghhhhhh!”

Alexander stood among them in abject terror as the scales of a dragon popped out from his full-plate armor and covered his entire body. This was Alexander’s armor’s function, a function that could triple his defense in a moment’s notice. But Alexander was unable to get back to his senses and pull himself out of the flames.

[Your HP has fallen below 60%!]

[Your HP has fallen below 55%!]

Only after hearing the notifications did Alexander hurriedly take out a bottle of potion and drank its contents. But the shock did not end there. When the flames finally died down, they saw baby piggy Beanie step forward from behind Minhyuk. Then, Beanie unleashed another wave of flames.

“This is a catastrophe…”

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa—

The kings found it hard to withstand the blazing flames as it stretched forward and devoured them once again. Beanie’s Predator’s Authority did not copy a skill as it was. It was a skill that copied the power of the skill that had been cast. In other words, another Overlord’s Technique, with 100% Overlord’s Mana and a 1.5x stronger power, was cast once again.

Only after Alexander had struggled to stand up after stumbling on his feet did he see the state of their troops. In just that short instant, 60,000 of their troops disappeared without a trace. The worst part? The flames were still continuously gnawing at their troops. Alexander looked to his side and saw Master Archer Miao slowly getting on her feet, her body covered in different degrees of burns. Some distance away, he saw Calauhel, with one arm missing, struggling to stand up. The mask that hid Kentaro’s face had been melted by the fire, even his armor had been burnt to a crisp and exposed his skin. All of the kings looked horrible as they tried to prop up their battered bodies.

Just when Minhyuk was about to move…

“Guided Explosion.”

Miao, who hurriedly nocked a white arrow on her bow with her trembling hands, fired a shot toward Minhyuk.

“Ughh!”

Minhyuk staggered back.

Everyone was aware that they had to kill this man in front of them before he could even utter a word or wield his sword. This man in front of them was like a ‘monster’, a ‘god’. For the first time, they felt fear creeping up on their spine as they looked at the man in front of them. Before this crippling fear could consume them, they had to stop him now. They could not let him do anything. They have to give it their all to kill this man.

Kentaro’s katanas flashed, “Splitting Tempest.”

Shwaaaaaaaa—

A tremendous force stretched out to cut down Minhyuk.

“Sword’s Tomb.”

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

Eight sword blades fell down on Minhyuk as Calauhel unleashed his attack.

“Shield Explosion.”

Dozens of square shields flew toward Minhyuk and triggered a series of explosions. All of the kings looked like they were possessed by something as they hurriedly attacked Minhyuk. This was because of ‘fear’.

Despite a thick cloud of dust covering their sight, the kings continued to unleash their attacks until they finally saw Minhyuk’s silhouette fall down. But at that moment, an unknown silhouette appeared and gently hugged Minhyuk’s own silhouette. With the appearance of the unknown silhouette, a series of notifications rang in everyone’s ears.

[One of the Absolute Gods is writing the final arc to the story of the king and his retainer.]

Golden characters appeared in the air, retelling the story of the king and his retainer.

[The king gave it his all to make a dish that will be delivered to his retainer.]

[The retainer cut down everything blocking his path, even the gods, to rush back to his king’s arms.]

[The king and his retainer, both men that always remembered each other in their hearts, finally met again on the battlefield.]

Shwaaaaaaaaa—

The thick cloud of dust finally settled. And in front of the kings stood Minhyuk supported by an old man, who was smiling gently at his king. And despite the blood covering his entire body, Minhyuk was also smiling gently at the old man.

[The king and his retainer looked at each other with fond and bright smiles on each other’s faces.]

[The story of the king and his retainer’s separation and reunion finally ends here.]

[And...]

On the skies, the huge golden characters, bigger than the ones before, appeared. Even the kings could not take their eyes off of the sheer beauty of the golden characters floating in the skies.

[The new legend of the king and his retainer has now begun.]