Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

Varen looked like he was about to keel over with the continuous running that they were doing. Of course, the same was true for Lute who was protecting him.

“Heook. Heook.”

Varen was already shaking with anxiety.

He could hear the woman that accompanied them and the chef named Minhyuk dying by themselves just to protect him.

The woman, Genie, was clearly someone strong but she still would not be able to deal with a lot of enemies alone.

And there was Minhyuk…

‘No matter how strong he is…’

The man named Kohei looked like he possessed such a strong power and ability.

Varen bit his lips hard.

“Please don’t worry too much. Your Highness.”

“......?”

“Us foreigners are immortals. We can come back to life even if we die.”

“......Ah. That’s right!”

Only then did a small smile grazed Varen’s chapped lips.

I will repay them and do anything I can do for them if I ever come back alive!

At that moment…

“Your Highness!”

Lute quickly flew to his side to cover him and protect him away from harm’s way. Five arrows flew towards them. He quickly whipped the dagger out of his waist as he split and parried the arrows that were coming for them.

Slash!

Tak!

Bang!

However, one of the arrows flew towards Varen’s shoulders. Lute hurriedly pulled Varen behind him.

Thud!

“Kgghk!”

“B, boy…...!”

Varen felt distressed as soon as he saw him groaning in pain. Lute quickly snapped the arrow off of his shoulders.

Spurt!

“Hoo!”

A fight was inevitable now. There were five soldiers on their tail!

He quickly pulled his bow out. He nocked an arrow and glared fiercely at the incoming enemies.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

The arrows flew in the air once more.

‘My MP is gone now.’

There was only one way left for them.

‘I only have my talents left……!’

He pulled his bow hard then he shot his own arrow against the flying arrows.

Twang!

Bang!

His arrow countered the first arrow! Then, he quickly took a step back, nocked an arrow and pulled the strings of his bow!

Twang!

Bang!

An enormous hit rate and a quick reload!

Bang!

The remaining arrow struck on one of the trees surrounding them.

Lute could easily and quickly analyze the trajectory of the arrows. He did not waste any breath on those that he deemed would miss or be easily broken by the wind. He never stopped with his bow while he continued to walk away.

Two arrows…

Twang!

Flew at an astonishing speed and penetrated a soldier hiding in the thickets.

Stab!

“Keuaaack!”

And another one…

Twang!

Stab!

“Keuuaaaaa!”

Lute easily shot two people in one breath. He calmly scanned his surroundings for more danger while Varen looked at him with surprise.

‘Lute is someone who just came to us not too long ago.’

Perhaps this was the reason why Varen did not know much about him and his skills.

But Lute, who had a not-so-special job class in Athenae, was someone who had a splendid career in reality. He was a former gold-medalist in archery and was once an olympic hopeful. Currently, he felt like he was a dead man after being paralyzed from the waist down due to a traffic accident. He was only playing Athenae to feel alive once more. For him, Athenae was a new world that could allow him to let his arrows fly once more.

Twang!

One of the strongest arrows, the fire arrow, flew straight at them. The fire arrow was an arrow that was engulfed in blazing flames and could deal a lot of damage to any opponent. However, Lute pulled his bow and shot these arrows. The fire arrows were destroyed right in front of them!

Crackle!

The remnants of the fire arrow fell down uselessly.

What an amazing ability!

He quickly nocked an arrow on his bow with a solemn and fierce look on his face.

‘My MP is only enough to use one skill. I should kill one with my skill and the other with just my sheer force.’

If he used his skill to pierce the neck of his enemy then he could kill them in one breath.

[Vital Shot!]

[An arrow aimed straight at a vital point.]

The arrow whistled through and pierced the enemy straight on his neck!

Spurt!

The enemy could not even shriek before he died. As soon as one enemy died, he quickly stretched his bow and aimed.

Twang!

An arrow flew once more. This arrow also skillfully penetrated another enemy’s neck.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, an arrow came flying straight towards Lute’s head.

‘......Damn it! I can’t avoid this one.’

His brows furrowed as cold sweat dripped down from his forehead.

“Your Highness, make sure that you return home alive!”

Lute firmly believed that he would be forced to log out once he finished his words to Varen.

At that moment…

Crackle, fwoosh!

A huge flame burned the arrow that was flying straight at him.

“......heok?!”

Lute was caught in surprise.

It was because the blazing flame that stopped his arrow was a man. Not long after, the fire that engulfed the man slowly diminished until the fire was put out. The man turned around, raised his straw hat with the tip of his index finger and grinned at him.

“Ooooooooooh! I was like the real Ace just now!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is that really our Ace?”

Mysterious and unknown people slowly began to emerge one by one. They were wearing a dazzling array of artifacts. Then, the man who looked like he was a fighter talked to him…

“Wow. Nim, Aren’t you very talented with the bow? And you’ve only used your skills once. How did you do that?”

“I agree. That was really cool.”

All of them were praising him and giving him some sort of admiring glances.

“Ah, aaaaaah. Yes. Th, thank you.”

But Lute still did not let his guard down.

Who in the world are they? Are they our enemies or are they our allies?

This was the question that was running through his head.

Then, the man who looked like a fighter, Khan, spoke once more.

“Where’s Genie?”

“Genie?”

Lute was quite confused.

Genie? Who is Genie?

No one with that nickname was accompanying him but there was a user with a similar nickname around him.

“Are you talking about Ronny?”

“Yes. The one who laughs a lot and will like you if you threw her something to eat. The crazy lady with the whip.”

“Ah… The crazy lady with the whip…… It seems like it really is Ronny-nim but……”

“Ronny is the Genie that I was talking about.”

Genie would always use the nickname “Ronny” whenever she wanted to hide her identity.

Lute finally understood.

‘Are they Genie-nim’s comrades?’

He just heard it in passing a while back but he did hear Genie tell Varen that she would call her guild members!

“Ah. What about the guy with the frying pan?”

“Ah. Are you talking about Minhyuk-nim?”

“Yes. That damn… No, that friend.”

When Khan smiled at him, Lute answered him as he pointed behind him.

“He’s fighting with Kohei over there.”

“Aha!”

Then, another man spoke up.

“A friend of mine just sent a whisper to me. They said that Minhyuk-nim just won against Kohei?”

“......Is that the truth?!”

It was Lute who reacted to his words first instead of Khan.

“For real?!”

“Ah. Yes.”

Lute smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as the man nodded his head to confirm the news.

‘I, I can’t believe Minhyuk-nim won against Kohei……!’

He clenched his fists tightly.

At that moment, Khan spoke to him…

“Please wave your hand over here and say hello.”

“Yes? Are there more enemies?”

“No. We’re doing a live broadcast right now.”

“Ah. Right. That’s right. Wait……”

Lute wanted to have his face mosaiced but since the situation was very urgent and hectic, he completely forgot that they were in a live broadcast.

“I think the real-time comments are going crazy right now.”

“Why?”

“I’m pretty sure all 20 million Athenae players across the country will be amazed with your superb archery skills.”

Lute might be confused with his words but it was the truth. The comments section was really all over the place.

[gaddl3: Wow. Did you see him shoot those arrows? That was so sick…...!]

[ChubbyBrothers: Kya! Have you seen him hit that Lv300 soldier class boss at the neck and killed them instantly?!]

[HeavenlyArcher: …...How can he even counter and offset those arrows by hitting them with his own arrows…… So cool……]

However, Lute just looked around blankly as he asked…

“But, when are the rest of your guild members going to arrive?”

“The rest of our guild members?”

“Ar, are these all of you?”

“Yes.”

Khan answered him confidently as the others on the back spoke up.

“Ah. Are there too many of us?”

“I think ten of us are enough. I’ll take a nap so wake me up when you need me.”

Khan grinned.

“Ah. Don’t worry. We’re good enough.”

“What’s your guild name, by the way?”

Lute wondered if they were one of the top guilds since they were quite confident with their strength.

Then Khan said…

“Legend.”

“......!”

***

Team Leader Lee Taejin almost shrieked out in excitement.

The live broadcast was spreading through the internet and his view counts were rising rapidly. It was because of what the King of Fists, Khan, said a while ago.

[Legend.]

It was a word that created huge waves. It was an even greater wave compared to when all of the Ares Guild refused to mosaic their faces. All of the members of the Legend Guild also refused to mosaic their faces!

[zkkdl3: Legend?! Th, they really came out!]

[blkad313: What’s this. Will Ares and Legend play against each other? Sounds fun. Hehehehe.]

[LegendNumberOne: OMG, OMG? Aren’t the two of them at odds with each other? The GM-nim of Ares was so anxious to catch and kill off Legend, right.]

[Enjoyable: Wow…… The 4 Greatest Guild’s Ares vs. the Unofficial Rankers Guild……! This is gonna be sick!]

Then, Team Leader Park said…

“But why are you so quiet?”

“......What?”

“We betted coffee for a month so Team Leader Lee should buy us a cup of coffee for a month starting now.”

“OK. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee for a month. But is that even important right now? Look at everyone’s reactions!”

This was the victory of the Frying Pan Killer that no one even expected! And the Archer’s brilliant talent, ability and skill in archery! At the same time, the guild members of the Legend Guild appeared one after the other!

He believed that this would bring forth a huge promotional effect for them.

Right now, there was only one real clash that was left.

Team Leader Lee Taejin’s eyes swiftly turned towards the monitor.

The monitor was showing the Ares Guild and their guild members along with the troops from Cordis Empire surrounding Genie.

***

10 minutes ago.

Genie was collecting the blood of all of the hidden archers and users swiftly. Her speed was so fast that no one could even keep up with her even if they were using the terrain as their cover.

Swish!

Her whip lashed off, splitting and hitting several soldiers hidden behind a bush in one fell swoop.

Slash!

Slash!

“Keuaaack!”

“Ugh, aaaaack!”

At that moment, her guild chatting window popped out.

[Guild Chatting Khan: We’re almost there.]

[Guild Master Genie: Come quickly. This noona is dying!]

[Guild Chatting Locke: Noona? Did you say noona? Which one?]

[Guild Master Genie: Oppa^^ can you please come quickly?]

[Guild Chatting Locke: Y, you must really be in a hurry. We get it. We’ll be right there. But more importantly this is live. Do you want us to reveal who we are?]

When she saw his reply, she thought deeply. In all honesty, she did not expect them to suddenly have a live broadcast for the update. But she believed that this was an opportunity.

‘It’s an opportunity to show the people what Legend Guild is made of.’

Of course, it was still a double-edged sword. If they failed, people might laugh at them and say… ‘Ah, Legend? They weren’t much, huh?’. However, if they succeeded then they would be able to garner a huge amount of trust and a great response towards their guild.

[Guild Master Genie: Reveal. Let’s show them who we are.]

[Guild Chatting Khan: OK. Huh? I think we found King Varen. And he’s together with an archer user. I think we have to save them first before we come to you. We’ll be right there.]

Khan ended their guild chat after leaving those words.

‘Our guild members will take good care of Lute-nim and His Highness Varen.’

It was a relief to see them work.

Then, she suddenly realized something.

‘Where is Minhyuk?’

Lute and Varen were there. She did not understand where Minhyuk went.

Just as she was about to move forward, she saw a huge force blocking her way. Genie quickly triggered her skill and her whip was awashed with a bright white glow.

[Sword-like Whip.]

[Your whip can cut down your enemies in one fell swoop.]

Swish!

Swoosh!

“Keuaaaack!”

“Aaaack!”

The people who had been slashed by her whip fell down with blood spurting from their bodies. They looked like they were slashed by a sword with the injuries that they sustained.

Right at that moment…

Bang!

A man suddenly appeared in the air and fell down right in front of Genie. The impact when he landed was so powerful that the ground even cracked. Genie was so startled that she couldn’t help but take a step back.

The man was at least 2m tall with short hair and a shaggy beard. He was wearing a leather armor and a rusty greatsword on his back.

As soon as the man landed, a notification rang in her head.

[The Most Powerful Men. Rumad has appeared!]

[You have met one of the Most Powerful Men as your enemy.]

[Abnormal State. Extreme Fear has been triggered.]

[Extreme Fear has reduced all of your stats by 20%.]

[Extreme Fear has reduced your attack hit rate by 20%.]

[Whoever hunts and kills one of the Most Powerful Men will gain plenty of rewards.]

***

TL’s corner!

Abnormal status! Ehhh, I hope she can hold out until reinforcement arrives! Also… countdown to their reunion!!!!

PR’s corner!

It’s getting real. Now, who do we know who is now immune to status conditions...

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