Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 1253

The Athenae Olympics was once celebrated as a global festival. It was officially recognized as an event and content that the people who loved Athenae worldwide could enjoy for a few days.

However, after its third and fourth seasons, the ratings dropped significantly compared to before. The reason was simple: the absence of rankers from each country.

Most rankers who represented their own countries were hailed as kings who had already established their kingdoms and were too busy to participate in the Athenae Olympics.

By then, the gap between the players and the rankers had grown even wider. Since the winners had already been determined, the rankers of each country no longer wished to participate. They felt it was a waste of time.

On top of that, the events held during the Athenae Olympics remained unchanged. Which, of course, grew more and more boring. Anyway, for one reason or another, the ratings of the broadcast of the Athenae Olympics had gone down the drain. Because of that, Joy Co. Ltd. no longer felt the need to set up another one and immediately voted to abolish the event.

With the cancellation and abolishment of the event, people worldwide had less Athenae content to watch on their TVs.

At a time like this, rumors spread about Minhyuk’s remarks, Joy Co. Ltd.’s movements, the sudden emergence of unofficial rankers who had hidden themselves to build their powers, and their sudden appearance in the ranking boards had piqued the people's interest.

[A massive number of players have gathered together after hearing Minhyuk’s comment yesterday, saying, ‘It’s so annoying(?). Just come at me all at once.’]

[The Beyond the Heavens Empire’s executives have screened and selected those who would participate. Only the ones strong enough will have the qualification to fight Minhyuk. Basically, all players who were once hailed as kings of each country can participate.]

[Just this morning, the Athenae’s Official Rankings have ushered in massive changes. The reclusive players who had been hiding and building their power had made an appearance and joined the official ranking board.]

[The confirmed number of players who want to participate is around 183.]

[Fortunately, it’s the weekend. And there seems to be a lot of viewers.]

[We have confirmed with Joy Co. Ltd. how things will proceed. This battle will be held on an island called Slaughter Island.]

[In the beginning, they can fight everywhere on Slaughter Island. With every hour that passes, a barrier will appear and narrow the place where they can fight. This seems to be a restriction placed so that Player Minhyuk will not continue to avoid the players and reduce the number of participating players.]

[The barrier will continue to narrow until there is only an area with a radius of one kilometer left. The survivors will meet on this narrow battlefield and fight a fierce battle. They also added something exciting.]

[It’s none other than the ‘Genuine Time.’ The Genuine Time will be applied to all players and last forty seconds. During these forty seconds, all buff effects and active skills will be disabled. Players can only fight and deal pure physical damage upon their enemy.]

[Slaughter Island was initially created as a new hunting ground for high-level players. There are a lot of monsters on this island. If you’re unlucky and get stung by a giant bee, you will be stunned in a two-minute state. The worst part? It’s not something that you can resist.]

[Most rankers can avoid or stop the bees from stinging them. So, they don’t have to pay much attention to these giant bees.]

[Now, it’s time to discuss the most critical points.]

[Of course, we have to talk about the unique privilege that Minhyuk will receive. To be honest, even if he’s the Battle God and the strongest player in the world, it’s impossible for him to win if he goes head-to-head with more than 180 players.]

[Indeed. Player Minhyuk is not a monster. The reason why it’s challenging for 180 rankers to hunt any high-leveled Named Monster is that they have around ten times the HP, magical, and physical defensive power of players. Not only that, they also have high regenerative abilities.]

[And that’s why Minhyuk will receive special privileges during this battle. Special privileges like a 20% increase in all of his stats.]

[But this time, it’s different. Player Minhyuk will not receive any special privilege to increase his stats, his skills’ damage, and even his HP.]

[The special privilege that he will receive is different. If he’s been forced to log out, he will be granted the ability to be revived immediately. When revived, his skills’ cooldown time will be reduced to only a third of the original. He can use his skills again more quickly. He can also use all items in his inventory except for attack scrolls and bombs.]

[So, we can expect to see them compete with pure power alone.]

[Someone here might question this. How could they compete with pure power alone when Minhyuk has the greatest sword?]

[But that’s not the case at all. All of the rankers will be able to wear their artifacts. But that’s not the case for Minhyuk. Minhyuk will only be able to use the Sword that Will Never Lag Behind, a sword randomly chosen from all of the items and artifacts of all of the rankers combined.]

[Furthermore, three hundred copies of Minhyuk’s Sword of Aeon will be scattered all over Slaughter Island. The sword can be obtained on the island or acquired from a player who has died. They only need to say, ‘Check.’ to determine if the sword is real. If the sword they obtained is not the true Sword of Aeon, then one of the weapons from the inventory of the participating players will randomly appear in their hands.]

[Only one of the three hundred copies is the true Sword of Aeon. If a different class obtains the true Sword of Aeon, the weapon will change to suit the class. For example, if a mage obtains the true Sword of Aeon, it will change into the Staff of Aeon.]

[However, if they obtain the true Sword of Aeon, the sword's attack power and unique abilities will be censored.]

[Joy Co. Ltd. is very adamant about this. They want to avoid releasing information about the artifacts worn and equipped by others. And this is not only exclusive to the Sword of Aeon. So! If someone other than Minhyuk obtains the Sword of Aeon, it will still be difficult for them to use it. After all, they don’t know exactly what kind of skills and effects the Sword of Aeon has. It will be tough for them to adapt.]

[In addition, the player who picks up the true Sword of Aeon will have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement the moment they acquire the sword.]

[The sword can exert tremendous power in Minhyuk’s hands. As for Minhyuk, even if he did not obtain the sword, he could check the Sword of Aeon's location with every player he killed. The more players he kills, the more detailed the location he can check.]

[On top of that, a notification about who obtained the true Sword of Aeon will ring in the entire Slaughter Island upon its acquisition.]

[Of course, there are rewards.]

[The rewards are…]

“If the players win, all participating players’ levels will increase by one.”

Minhyuk, who had just woken up and logged inside the game, blinked blankly. Only after listening to President Kang Taehoon’s explanation and proposal did he realize what happened during his sleep.

‘Wow… It seems like I have become a man who has to be careful of every word that comes out of my mouth…’

He had only said he would deal with everyone who wanted to fight against him. Yet his words spread widely and attracted many strong people from all over the world. They even drew many reporters and broadcasters, alerting Joy Co. Ltd., which promptly prepared for the event.

Initially, Minhyuk was confident that he could win. After all, he would finally end the nonstop challenges and be happy.

“Do I even have a chance of winning now?”

Now, Minhyuk would not have the Sword of Aeon with him at the start. There was even a chance that someone else could obtain it. Of course, there was a high chance that Minhyuk would eventually take the Sword of Aeon away. But if the players already surrounded him before he could take it, he would eventually be defeated.

‘Even if I’m in a situation like this, I’m confident I can kill quite a few.’

Regardless, no matter how many people he killed, he would still be officially labeled as the one who lost the 1v183 battle. And Minhyuk did not want to be labeled as the loser even if he killed a lot of them.

“Killing a hundred of them can already be enough proof, but…”

Kang Taehoon also knew what Minhyuk was worried about. Even if he only killed more than thirty people, the entire world would cheer for him. In fact, they might even say, “With such bad and unfavorable conditions, Minhyuk can already be considered to have won!”

Nonetheless, as someone who sat in the position of the Supreme, he could not be satisfied with such an outcome.

Kang Taehoon also felt sorry for him, so he prepared a good reward for Minhyuk.

“First, the person who kills you will have a special reward. Their level will immediately be increased by three.”

“President. I will never participate in Slaughter Island—”

“We will pay you ten billion won the minute this competition ends.”

“Maybe I should consider trying and taking it on?”

His attitude took a 180-degree turn in just a split second! The fact that he could win ten billion just by participating in this competition could be considered a considerable gain. This was Joy Co. Ltd.’s sincerity. It was even enough to make Minhyuk flustered, so who would reject such an offer?

“We were originally supposed to offer five billion won. Since we put this together without asking for your opinion, we have to be sincere. Also…”

Minhyuk’s response was still cold and aloof. He has not confirmed whether he will participate or not.

“If you kill 20% of the players, we will give you a God-grade ingredient. We will give you an Absolute God-grade ingredient if you kill 60% of the players. And if you kill 80% of the players, we will give you an Origin Ingredient.”

“What’s an Origin Ingredient?”

“It’s an ingredient we created when planning this competition. The Origin Ingredient is more excellent than a Pillar Ingredient, more delicious than an Absolute God-grade ingredient, and easier to cook than a God-grade ingredient.”

“...”

Minhyuk grew silent, though his expression practically screamed and urged President Kang to tell him more.

“Ah. So that you know, the ingredient is a Hanwoo set.”

“...”

“Whether you will obtain a God-grade Hanwoo set or an Origin Hanwoo set will depend entirely on your performance.”

“What if I completely win against them?”

That would mean that he would have killed 100% of the players.

“Of course, there will be better ingredients waiting for you.”

It was pretty hard to imagine the existence of more outstanding ingredients than the Athenae ingredients. It was even an ingredient that Joy Co. Ltd. specially made for this event. Of course, Kang Taehoon did not mention the reward for killing 100% of the players because he thought Minhyuk couldn't obtain a complete victory.

“We have set it so the other players must ride the evil dragons to get to the island. In your case, you are given the privilege to go to the island an hour earlier than them so that you can look around and scout the place.”

It was a slight advantage, but it was still helpful. Since he would be the first to reach the island, he would be able to map and master the island's topography and perhaps even find something special.

“If that’s the case, I’ll try to take it on and participate.”

If Joy Co. Ltd. was bending backward like this for him, then there was no reason for Minhyuk to refuse. Of course, there was one thing that he was worried about.

‘It should be impossible, right? That guy won’t be able to get the Sword of Aeon, right?’

***

Super Rookie Azuko was riding on the back of the evil dragon along with the 182 other strong men in Athenae. He watched the scene before him and realized they were almost at the Slaughter Island.

Once the evil dragon started to descend, everyone would jump down and spread out. Or so he wanted to say. However, none of them responded, which left Azuko with a stiff expression and frustration welling up within him.

Azuko was hailed as the Super Rookie. This was because he could rise to the ranks of the high rankers in just a year of playing the game. He also obtained the class Rookie, which allowed him to grow rapidly.

He had grown rapidly in such a short amount of time. Perhaps it was because of that that he grew arrogant. He even felt he could easily catch up to Minhyuk if he continued at this rate.

The outdated and old rankers here were all taking this seriously. Azuko tried to tell them to relax. But the rankers just kept talking among themselves. They discussed a hundred strategies and countless different ways to approach the enemy. The more they discussed, the more solemn their expressions became.

“He’s just a single player. We don’t have to take it so seriously, no?”

The rankers just glanced at Azuko and did not even bother to give him an answer.

Azuko had grand ambitions, which probably was why he had deluded himself into thinking he was the only one not petrified by fear. That was where he was wrong.

The rankers were not petrified from fear. All of the people present had high levels and were very skilled. They did not think dealing with a rookie like Azuko, who had little experience, was worth their time.

Unaware of this fact, Azuko kept on talking.

“I already reached Level 675 yesterday! I’m already at the 86th rank. It only took me a year to reach the top 100 rankings!”

He continued, his voice dripping with arrogance and conceit, “See, I’m already this strong. Everyone here is also powerful. Besides, Minhyuk does not have the Sword of Aeon with him. There are 183 of us here. It does not make sense for Minhyuk to be able to beat 183 people on this island alone. He’s just a player over Level 700, right? Even if he chooses to avoid us and run around the island, he’ll be beaten up once the area is reduced to a one-kilometer radius.”

Azuko honestly thought that way. If it were him, it would be tough for him to kill 10% of the people here.

However, none of the people responded to him and just continued with their tactics and operations meeting. Azuko just shrugged and mumbled, “It seems like all of them are cowards, huh? It’s just one player… This time, I will be the one to kill Minhyuk.”

Then, Minhyuk suddenly fell from the sky above them.

“Hey guys~.”

“...?”

“...?”

“Wh-why are you coming out of there…?”

“What the hell?!”

Minhyuk was allowed to enter Slaughter Island first and explore its entire topography for an hour. The players, who did not know of this, were all frozen in place when he suddenly appeared above them.

They were all rankers and quick to return to their senses and prepare to attack. Alas, they were all a second too late.

“Supreme Overlord’s Technique.”

Crackle–!

The flames of the Supreme Overlord’s Technique spread wildly in the sky above them and fell upon the scrambling rankers. To be exact, it fell upon the evil dragon that was carrying them.

Boom–!

“Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!” The evil dragon shrieked, the injury forcing it to lose its balance and fall from the sky.

The players lost their ground and began falling to the ground one after another. Azuko, who was among them, was left shocked.

“N-no… what…?!”

Unfortunately, Azuko could no longer finish his words. It was because the Ego Chain Sickle had appeared above him, its chains wrapping around his ankles. Minhyuk tugged the Ego Chain Sickle.

Swoosh–!

Minhyuk quickly pulled Azuko toward him. It was as if he was nothing but a kite.

Fwoosh–!

Minhyuk stabbed Azuko right in the neck. Then, with a simple spin, he cut the man on his chest. Without missing a beat, he then hit all of Azuko’s vital points in just one second.

[Critical hit!]

[Your vital point has been attacked.]

[Your HP has fallen below 6%.]

Azuko, now falling to the ground, witnessed how Minhyuk wreaked havoc and drove the players crazy in the sky above him. The moment his body touched the ground, the Ego Chain Sickle appeared above him and cut his throat.

Shwaaaaaa–!

[You have been forced to log out.]

He wasn’t even able to step foot on Slaughter Island. Only at this moment did Azuko realize how naive and foolish his words were.