Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

50 Disaster Artifact

Blood of a Noble Vampire?

Minhyuk was not aware of it but Rune was the last pure-blooded vampire left in the world. The only reason why Vampire Rune survived even after thousands of years was simple. It was because Gorac had turned him into an undead. Gorac was a mischievous demon. He had placed plenty of his undead minions, including Rune, to guard the trials and challenges that he had set up all over the world.

Minhyuk watched Vampire Rune walking towards him while licking his lips. And as if to answer his provocation, Minhyuk also licked his lips.

Halt!

Vampire Rune halted in his steps.

The reason why Minhyuk licked his lips was because he recalled about ‘Seonji Haejangguk’. He was sure that the blood of a noble vampire would be cleaner than any blood ever. And since it said that there was a ‘Food Ingredient’ in the rewards, he was sure that even ordinary users could eat it.

Flap, flap, flap!

Flap, flap, flap, flap, flap!

Dozens of bats that were surrounding Vampire Rune flapped their wings strongly as they flew towards Minhyuk. He hurriedly pulled out the bow from his back.

[Master Archer’s Random Fire.]

[One arrow will become dozens of arrows in one shot.]

As soon as he let go of the string, the single arrow that flew away broke down and turned into dozens of arrows.

Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop!

The bats that were directly hit with the arrows fell down on the floor.

Flutter, flutter, flutter━

Most of the bats that were still struggling to fly suddenly sagged as if they had been dried up. Minhyuk tightened his hold on the hilt of Barraca’s sword when he saw this scene.

Then, Vampire Rune stretched his arms forward while the blood from the surroundings was sucked into his outstretched arm before it slowly congealed into a rapier. As if on cue, Vampire Rune quickly dashed towards him.

***

Lee Minhwa spoke up as she continued to stare at her monitor.

“Team Leader-nim, the 6th trial is starting.”

Team Leader Park hurriedly moved behind Lee Minhwa to watch the monitor with her.

“He achieved four new records……”

Generally, there were rewards for the users whenever they broke a record. There was no problem up to this extent. However, the 6th trial was more difficult and strenuous than any other trials but its rewards and compensations were tremendous. The rewards for the 6th trial generally varied depending on the clearing time but clearing it alone would give him a new record reward. But the shorter the time it took for him to clear the trial, the better the reward he would get.

“If he successfully hunts Vampire Rune within 15 minutes then he will get 5x the EXP. If it’s within 10 minutes then he will also be able to acquire one of the artifacts that Vampire Rune cherishes……”

Lee Minhwa did not speak of the end of her sentence. However, Team Leader Park was the one who ended it for her.

“And if you hunt him within 5 minutes then you will be able to summon Gorac.”

“Yes.”

The Mischievous Demon, Gorac. He was set to be one of the three greatest demons in the Athenae World View. He was one of the absolute and important rulers of the Demon World.

The Demon World. There were also the Spirit World, the Celestial World and of course, the Human Continent. In each and every world, there existed the strongest monsters and beings. It had not been updated yet but they believe that there would be a time when the users would be able to visit those places some day.

And talking about the Demon World, Gorac was considered to be the king of that place. And this Mischievous Demon Gorac was also called the Eccentric Gorac. With his eccentric and ill-tempered behavior, he had created a multitude of various jobs and professions all by himself.

And there was a different method of acquiring Gorac’s Job Class. It was to become the first person to face and summon Gorac that had been sealed for thousands of years. In the first place, it was programmed like this. It was so they could make sure that the first person who met Gorac was someone that he had recognized the powers himself. And at their first encounter with Gorac they would be able to receive ‘Gorac’s Book’. Once the user acquired Gorac’s Book, the book would choose one of Gorac’s Job Class and give them the quest related to it. However, Gorac’s Book would only give you the job class if it’s a new job. In other words, the user should either have no job class at all or they would give up their current job class in order to acquire the job class.

“User Minhyuk would definitely not give up on the Food God class.”

Anyone could tell that Food God was the best job class for Minhyuk.

“But if User Minhyuk had Gorac’s Book with him, he would definitely shine someday.”

Team Leader Park nodded his head in agreement.

“His dexterity is slowly inching towards 2,000.”

Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor as she grinned.

“But, do you think he will be able to wipe him out within 5 minutes? Rune is definitely strong. In fact, Rune’s quite tricky since he has that ability to recover.”

Vampires had a craving for blood. And among these creatures, the pure-blooded Vampire rune had the ability to recover. If he was ever in a scenario where his HP had dropped to 1, just a single drop of blood would be able to restore all of his HP. The bigger problem was that his ability had no cooldown at all. What was even worse was that the effect would be stronger if he was given the chance to suck blood directly. What was even more surprising was that he could copy the abilities of the being that he had sucked the blood of.

This was the reason why Buckle and his party had tried more than 60 times but still couldn’t break the 6th trial. To kill such a guy, they would have to not allow any attack to come through and they would have to put all their strength and finish him in one go. In other words, if Buckle and his party were able to cut him down and clear the trial within 5 minutes then someone would have gotten Gorac’s Job Class already.

In response to Lee Minhwa’s words, Team Leader Park said…...

“Do you think that User Minhyuk’s blood is just normal blood?”

“Just normal blood……? What does that mean……”

She thought deeply about the meaning of his words. Her eyes widened in shock when she finally realized what he meant.

“......Ah!”

***

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

‘He’s fast.’

Vampire Rune had an unbelievably fast swordsmanship.

Vwooooooooong!

When Minhyuk swung his sword he would swiftly avoid it all while thrusting his rapier strongly.

Clang!

Minhyuk was able to block his sword, however, he saw Vampire Rune stretch his left hand as a swirling blood spear congealed and stabbed him strongly.

Shwaaaaaaaak!

For a moment, he could see the blood spinning strongly from Rune’s left hand as it shot straight through him.

“Deity (Swift).”

Minhyuk was able to avoid the damage by stepping 1m away from him.

Baaaaang!

The wall that was just behind him suddenly collapsed with a bang. This time, Minhyuk took another 1m step as he narrowed the distance between him and Rune.

Claaaaang!

He quickly attacked Rune as he moved but it was easily blocked. However, at that exact same moment, Minhyuk was able to take advantage of a gap as he penetrated through Rune’s defenses.

“Connection (Inherit).”

Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

A single successful attack could seriously injure Vampire Rune. And Vampire Rune was well within the range of his attack. Minhyuk tried to swing his sword towards Rune’s sides but something unexpected happened.

Flash!

Vampire Rune suddenly turned into a bat the size of a fist! After leaving the range of Minhyuk’s attack, the bat Rune returned back to his original form.

Slash!

Connection (Inherit) slashed wildly in the air while a rapier stabbed straight at Minhyuk’s sides.

Stab!

“Kghk!”

“Human blood always tasted sweet.”

Vampire Rune’s androgynous voice rang clearly in the dungeon.

Meanwhile, the blood that fell from Minhyuk’s injuries slowly floated in the air. The blood that dripped endlessly turned into a huge droplet in Rune’s palms. Then without wasting any time, Rune savored the blood.

“Hmm. Delicious. Truly delic……”

At that moment……

“Keuhaaaaaak?!”

Vampire Rune staggered back as he shrieked loudly.

“M, my throat……!”

White smoke came out from the mouth of Vampire Rune as he grabbed his neck. Minhyuk realized that he wasn’t acting.

‘......He’s melting?’

After drinking Minhyuk’s blood, Vampire Rune’s throat was suddenly disintegrating. He looked at him strangely for a moment before realizing the reason for it.

‘The holy power……’

Minhyuk had 1,000 points in his holy power stat. It seemed like drinking Minhyuk’s blood was akin to drinking holy water for Vampire Rune.

“B, bastard……!”

Vampire Rune could recover and copy the abilities of his enemies once he drank their blood. This was his biggest strength. However, even after he drank Minhyuk’s blood he was still not able to get anything at all. Whether it was HP or skill, there was none. Instead, he had given Minhyuk a gap that he could take advantage of.

Minhyuk quickly approached Rune as he tried to attack him.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Even if he was suffering with his burning throat, Vampire Rune was still struggling to defend himself against Minhyuk’s attacks. When Minhyuk found another gap and tried to attack him……

Flash!

He quickly turned into a bat as he tried to escape from him.

Slash!

However, Minhyuk did not hesitate at all. He slashed his hand with his sword. Blood trickled down from his wounds which he sprayed directly on the bat.

Shwaaaaa!

Fwiiiiiiiish!

“Keuaaaaaaaaack!”

Vampire Rune was forced to return back to his original form as he writhed in pain. White smoke continuously rose up from the parts of his body that were slowly melting and disintegrating.

Minhyuk was sure that he would not be able to miss this time as he stabbed his sword straight to the ground.

[Blooming Sword. Deep (Burst)]

[Sword blades will indiscriminately rise from the ground and attack your enemies within 9m from your position. It will cause a penetrative explosion that will have an additional 70% damage.]

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

The sword blades that rose from the ground penetrated through the body of Vampire Rune. The scene where Rune rose in the air after being stabbed by the blades of the sword while he struggled uselessly oddly looked pathetic.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

A huge explosion blasted from the area of attack and Vampire Rune’s body bursted into pieces. And along with the explosion, the sound of notifications rang clearly in Minhyuk’s head.

[You have set a new record for the sixth trial of Ructo’s Tomb.]

[You have gained 200,000 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have acquired the rewards for the sole new record holder of the trial.]

[You have acquired 100 special points.]

[You have gained 100 reputation points.]

He was able to gain as much as 100 special points in one go. And just like what he did before, Minhyuk invested all of his special points into his DEX.

“It’s at 1,800 now…… Huh.”

Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. He waited in anticipation for the blood of the noble vampire as well as the millstone.

Brrrrrrr!

One of the walls suddenly vibrated as it slowly went down. As the wall slowly went down, Minhyuk was able to see the contents inside little by little.

‘A statue?’

There was a mysterious statue standing inside. The statue had bat-like wings behind him and two horns on its head. He could see the statue’s arms raised up to its chest with its palms facing up. And on top of its palms, there was a millstone floating quietly.

‘Finally……!’

Minhyuk ran excitedly towards it.

At that moment, black smoke suddenly rose from the ring that was in the wreckage of Vampire Rune’s explosion.

The black smoke slowly and gradually took shape.

***

Demon Gorac was a cold-blooded but mischievous demon. However, this demon couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘Vampire Rune died within five minutes…...? And against only one guy?’

There was a restriction to those who entered his Ructo’s Tomb that was why it was unimaginable that Rune died in the span of 5 minutes.

He was the one that sprouted out of the ring and gradually took form. He was 2m tall with two horns on his head and a weird yet scandalous face.

He was able to see the figure of a human who had just stopped walking towards the millstone.

‘......He has my jar.’

Gorac found it interesting. The human in front of him had one of his jars, the aging jar to be exact. And now, he would be able to get a second one, Gorac’s Millstone of Abundance.

‘That’s the best combination.’

Combination was also important for Gorac’s artifacts. The strength of the artifacts would differ depending on the combination. Of course it was also dependent on the power of this human being to unseal the millstone first.

When the human saw him, he trembled and became restless.

‘Is he afraid?’

He’s a demon, he would have understood it just from his figure. And he probably had already figured out his identity by now.

But the human in front of him……

“A, are you Gorac-nim? I give you my respects! I truly admire you for making such great artifacts!”

And the young man smiled at him brightly as if he had met his long-time idol.

***

Food Discussion Corner

Seonji Haejangguk (선지 해장국) - Hangover soup with congealed pork/cow’s blood. The yang variety has tripes or cow stomach in it.

TL’s corner!

Ah, Minhyuk… lol… look at you fawning over a demon just because of a single aging jar.

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