Leveling Up through Eating

Chapter 1121

There had been rumors about how he had signed a secret deal with Athenae because he was overgeared, overdished, and over-vassaled. However, a single video showing how he repeated the same actions for weeks without a single break ended these rumors.

The people who watched the video were impressed. After all, what Minhyuk did was something that no ordinary human could ever do. They thought that perhaps that was why he was standing where he was now.

After all, Minhyuk became Athenae’s Supreme not only because of his talents and genius but also because of his hard work. Hence, Minhyuk became famous for being a genuine and honest hard worker in Athenae.

Regardless, even for someone like Minhyuk, there was still something impossible.

[You must swing your sword repeatedly for an entire month inside the Pandemonium’s Black Hole.]

[If you fail, you will be forced to log out.]

[You only have five seconds of rest.]

The longest Minhyuk had swung his sword was three weeks at most. It had never exceeded that time. For him to swing his sword repeatedly for four straight weeks?

If it was someone else, they would probably want to just be forced to log out. In the first place, it was completely ridiculous. Most people would end up dying if they repeated something for a week; what more if they repeated it for a month? Of course, the characters in Athenae were beyond ordinary.

And Minhyuk's thoughts were the same. Nevertheless, he still decided to do it first. And that was what made him different from the rest.

‘If I don’t try it because I know that I’m going to fail, then I wouldn’t have reached this position and wouldn’t have become who I am now.’

In the process of becoming Athenae’s Supreme, Minhyuk had grown to know how Athenae’s system worked.

‘It will never give a trial that is 100% impossible to clear.’

The time flowing inside the black holes was a month, but it would only take a few seconds in reality.

‘Let’s go and taste the sweetest fruit.’

Minhyuk was determined to see the Fantastic-grade ingredient grow. For that alone, he swung his sword repeatedly for one, two, three, and four days.

There was something else that ignited his determination.

[You have obtained an Asteroid Fragment.]

Unfortunately, Minhyuk could not obtain any stat inside Pandemonium’s Black Hole. Instead, there was a constant and steady supply of Asteroid Fragments.

Minhyuk currently had more than 3,000 fragments in his possession. This was quite a large number and was enough for him to exchange for something, but he was keen on saving them.

[You have obtained 10 Asteroid Fragments.]

Whenever he finished a day, an additional ten fragments would be given to him. And thanks to this, Minhyuk gained the motivation to continue the tedious task of repeatedly swinging his sword.

Swoosh–!

Fwoosh–!

Despite repeatedly swinging his sword, Minhyuk could only rest for five seconds. Thankfully, Divine Will was triggered every so often. This gave him the strength to continue swinging his sword again.

When the fourteenth day passed, Minhyuk felt he was fast approaching his limits. He already wanted to collapse. However, Minhyuk gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure another day.

[You have lasted for 15 days.]

[The Pandemonium’s Black Hole has recognized your hard work and effort.]

[The Pandemonium’s Black Hole has increased your power to repeat an action by a few levels.]

[The increase in power will only be applied and in effect in Pandemonium.]

A small smile flashed on Minhyuk’s face. It was just as he expected. Most of the difficult trials in Athenae would have at least a 0.001% chance of being cleared.

His movements showed a noticeable lightness; even his exhausted mind had gone clear. The more exciting part was that Minhyuk’s body would automatically swing twice, even though he only clearly swung his sword once.

[You have gone beyond the limits of hard work and effort. The hard work that you have done in a day would be equivalent to two days of effort and hard work.]

Finally, he finished the required thirty days of repeated actions.

[You have cleared the Pandemonium’s Black Hole.]

[The Pandemonium’s Black Hole has recognized and acknowledged your hard work and effort.]

According to the legend that Blaine told him, the one who survived the Pandemonium’s Black Hole could become The Supreme.

***

Even though he had witnessed it with his own eyes, Rundalk still could not believe that Minhyuk had survived the Pandemonium’s Black Hole. Before he could even breathe, Minhyuk was already sucked into another one.

Once again, the scene of Minhyuk repeatedly doing a series of actions appeared as an illusion above the black hole that he was sucked into.

Shwaaaaaaa–

Five seconds later, Minhyuk cleared another Pandemonium’s Black Hole and immediately got sucked into another one.

And Minhyuk? He felt highly delighted even though he was being sucked into one black hole after another.

[You have temporarily reached the ‘Supreme’ level in hard work.]

[Every effort and hard work you do will equal a day’s work.]

[Regardless of what you do or how many times you repeat it, you will never get tired at the end of the day.]

The illusion showing Minhyuk’s figure repeatedly doing a series of actions above the black holes had now grown to eight. The scene of a human transcending his limits created a truly spectacular scene.

Minhyuk cleared the final Pandemonium’s Black Hole and heard another series of notifications.

[You have collected a total of 5,886 Asteroid Fragments.]

[All restrictions in the asteroid’s next slot will be lifted.]

[You can now exchange for new items.]

Minhyuk, who conquered all the black holes that tried to devour him, jumped out with the word “Crazy” flashing on the blade of his sword. Without a pause, he thrust toward the enemy trying to cut Rundalk’s head off.

Slash, slash, slash–!

A vast and overwhelming explosion erupted and devoured the area.

Minhyuk hurriedly pulled out and rescued Rundalk from the sea of enemies.

“You, how the hell…”

[You have two minutes left.]

[There are three more kilometers to the exit of the Pandemonium’s Battlefield.]

“There’s no time to explain.” Minhyuk led the way with Rundalk right behind him.

The two were racking their brains. They knew the three-kilometer distance was challenging to cover in just two minutes, even if they ran with all their might. After all, they still had to deal with all the knights and soldiers blocking their path.

Rundalk’s face grew ugly. ‘Perhaps it would be possible if the other candidates were present.’

‘If we can ignore everything that hinders our path and just run, then perhaps it’s possible.’

No matter how Rundalk looked at it, he thought it was impossible.

“From now on, I will run at full speed.”

“...?”

Rundalk looked at Minhyuk in confusion. Hundreds of millions of soldiers and knights swarmed at them like a pack of zombies, so how could they run at full speed?

Minhyuk had already exchanged for an asteroid. The asteroid that he exchanged the item from was called the Consumable Asteroid.

[You have exchanged for the Monarch’s Summons.]

[You can summon thirty vassals under your command with Monarch’s Summons.]

[You have consumed 400 Asteroid Fragments.]

Bright light fell above them non-stop. When one of the lights disappeared, a man appeared and swept away the army that hindered Minhyuk’s path.

“Wolf’s Death.”

Slash, slash, slash–!

The path opened up all at once. An old man with his graying long hair fluttering behind him activated his Divine Pinnacle Spear. Of course, it was not just them. There was also Hegemon King Ellie among all of the vassals appearing all over the place. She immediately stood in front of Minhyuk.

Hegemon King Ellie could be summoned with the Monarch’s Summons because she agreed to become Minhyuk’s Temporary Knight.

There was one more interesting fact about the Monarch’s Summons. The exchange was worth 400 Asteroid Fragments, but it would not terminate the buff for those who had received it. In other words, Hegemon King Ellie’s level remained at around Level 1,100. And she had automatically become their guide.

“Heed my command! Open up a path for us!”

The dozens of people who landed on the ground all wore a cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together. Of course, Ellie was the only exception to this. Then, Ben quietly and sneakily placed a similar cape over Ellie’s shoulder.

“...?”

Rundalk seemed to realize that he had witnessed a spectacular and shocking sight. All the people who had appeared before him were on par with, or perhaps even greater than, the candidates.

“We have received your orders, Your Majesty!”

“We have received your orders, Your Majesty!”

“We have received your orders, Your Majesty!”

They all knelt on one knee in front of Minhyuk and thumped the left side of their chests with their fists.

The incoming knights and soldiers were quickly swept away by their attacks. When Rundalk saw this, he could not help but think, ‘A single one of them can rival more than one candidate…?!’

Unlike the failed and eliminated candidates, many of the people who appeared had received nominations from the evaluators to become candidates for the current era. Of course, they all answered the same thing.

–I refuse.

And these men were quickly wiping out the swarming troops.

“Stay close and keep up,” Ellie said. It seemed like she had immediately understood the situation that they were in.

Minhyuk and Rundalk ran with all their might to keep up with Ellie, who was still a Level 1,100 Hegemon King.

“I still have a power I have not yet shown you.”

Even after Minhyuk had turned into a flash of light and disappeared from her sight, Ellie did not return to her empire. She opted to remain in the Beyond the Heavens Empire for now. One of the reasons was that there was still more than enough time for her buff duration and also because she wanted to show one of the powers that had been unsealed for her to Minhyuk.

That was right. She was waiting for Minhyuk because she wanted to show off. She wanted to say, ‘Hehe. Look at this. I got something like this,’ but on an entirely different level.

[Hegemon King’s Murderous Intent.]

A red light burst out from the running Ellie. At the same time, an overwhelming killing intent spread out and made all of the knights and soldiers within a thirty-meter radius of her collapse.

It was an awe-inspiring scene, but she wasn’t done yet. She immediately activated another power.

“Hegemon King’s Dazzling Play.”

Slash, slash, slash–!

Thousands of sword lights shot out from Ellie’s sword and blew away more than thousands of the enemies in front of them.

Rundalk could see that the person running before them was on par with him without any buffs. Of course, he only thought like this because he did not know Ellie was currently in a buffed state.

The stunned Rundalk looked at Minhyuk, who was running beside him, and said, “Is she also your subordinate? You… what the hell…”

“Of course. She is a very loyal one, too.”

‘This punk…?’ Ellie felt her blood pressure rise. However, she decided to let Minhyuk off and focus on running instead.

[You have one minute left to leave the Pandemonium’s Battlefield.]

[There is still one kilometer left.]

A glimmer of hope appeared in Rundalk’s eyes. He finally caught sight of the outline of the Final Meteor at a distance. Something was releasing a bright white light inside that Final Meteor.

Rundalk gathered his power to look at it. That was when he saw that the thing releasing a bright white light was none other than his daughter—the very same daughter he had abandoned and who was imprisoned in this place because of him.

Just a little bit more. This thought alone gave strength to his limbs, a smile unknowingly curling at the corners of his mouth. Alas, the sound that rang in his ears made the smile on Rundalk’s face freeze and crack.

[The Supreme Sovereign summons all Supreme Monarchs in the Pandemonium.]

Tens of thousands of Supreme Monarchs fell into this universe-like space. The moment they landed, they immediately attacked Minhyuk’s vassals, who were opening the path for the two of them.

Shwaaaaa–

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa–

The average level of the Supreme Monarchs was at Level 940. Even if Minhyuk’s vassals were strong, they couldn’t withstand the enormous amount of damage that the Supreme Monarchs could inflict on them. Just like that, Minhyuk’s vassals turned into ashes one after another. Fortunately, the vassals’ death in this place was not actual death, and they would not suffer from any penalties upon resurrection.

Without them, the Supreme Monarchs began to run after Minhyuk and Rundalk. Around a thousand of them were charging toward them from the front while the others remained behind.

Rundalk thought, ‘I think we can still break through this, right?’

[The Supreme Sovereign has used a Spatial Switch.]

Alas, the space in front of the two, which had been cleared by Ellie and Minhyuk’s vassals, switched with the space where the Supreme Monarchs were. In other words, the tens of thousands of Supreme Monarchs running behind them and the hundreds of millions of knights and soldiers appeared before Minhyuk and Rundalk and stood guard against them.

[You have twenty seconds left to leave the Pandemonium’s Battlefield.]

[There are still 450 meters left.]

Rundalk fell into despair. He was so close! His daughter was just right within his reach. He saw the Supreme Sovereign stand beside his daughter and laugh at them.

At the same time, Ellie turned to ashes after enduring the attacks of the Supreme Monarchs.

“Ugh!” Rundalk groaned, tears streaming down his face in anger.

“Skill Asteroid.”

Crack, crack, crack–!

At that moment, the Skill Asteroid floating near Minhyuk appeared above his head. The planet that closely resembled Jupiter resonated with Minhyuk’s call.

Minhyuk, who had listened to the various stories and notifications, realized why Pandemonium was also known as Supreme.

“Exchange for the Supreme Skill.”

At the same time, the notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[You have exchanged for the Supreme Skill.]

[You have consumed 5,000 Asteroid Fragments.]

[The Supreme Skill will be applied to your skill. Please choose one of the skills in your possession that it would be applied to.]

Minhyuk was also aware that hunting a certain number of the Supreme Monarchs, Supreme Soldiers, and Supreme Knights would allow him to acquire and accumulate Asteroid Fragments once again.

In other words, he had already figured out a way to break through this stage, which was clearly designed to target Rundalk.

‘I have to become the Supreme.’

“I choose the Heavenly Sword.”

[The Supreme Skill will be applied to Heavenly Sword.]

[Heavenly Sword has temporarily leveled up.]

[Heavenly Sword’s level has exceeded Level 5.]

[Heavenly Sword’s level has exceeded Level 10.]

[Heavenly Sword’s level has exceeded Level 5.]

[Heavenly Sword’s level has exceeded Level 20.]

[Heavenly Sword possesses the Supreme power.]

[No other Supreme power can be displayed or exerted in front of the one who unleashes the Supreme power.]

[The Supreme Monarchs’ infinite HP and MP will be lifted.]

[You have acquired the title: The One who Unleashes the Supreme Power.]