Leveling Up through Eating

Minhyuk, who stepped inside God’s Prison, was greeted by a series of notifications. Immediately after that, the quest window popped out in front of him.

Ring!

[The Linked Quest: The God’s Prison’s Lunatics has been created.]

[Linked Quest: The God’s Prison’s Lunatics]

Rank: Class

Requirements: Level 650

Rewards: If you kill more than 40% of the monsters and gods, you can choose one of the four rewards that will be presented to you.

Penalty for Failure: You cannot enter God's Prison again.

Description: God’s Prison has been neglected for a very long time. Inside this prison, many gods and monsters had tried to escape. However, they had been stopped by Athenae’s power and the previous generation's Battle God, Evan.

Ring!

[You can choose one of the four rewards.]

[Gold, artifacts, food, skills.]

[If you hunt more than 40% of the prisoners, your rewards will be better.]

Minhyuk did not hesitate. He said, “Food.”

After looking at the quest window, Minhyuk realized, ‘Contrary to Erach’s words, the previous generation Battle God has been preventing those who wanted to escape. And it was the second generation God of Death who used his power to make the prisoners of the God’s Prison go berserk.’

There was also one other thing.

‘Obviously, these things happened simultaneously as I entered this place.’

In the end, Athenae was a game. Perhaps these monsters and gods were supposed to break out of this dungeon once a player stepped inside.

‘The problem is that it is highly likely that this is a dungeon that a player should never have entered.’

In the first place, this was like a dungeon where one had to hunt gods and god-like monsters. A Level 600 player couldn't come and enter this place. But obviously, Beradon’s The Growth Cultivator allowed him to ignore the fact that it was impossible.

“Chwiiiik–”

Then, Minhyuk heard a very familiar sound. This was the sound of the breathing of a monster mainly hunted by players at around Level 40, an orc. Not long after, the orc appeared in front of Minhyuk.

[Crazed Orc God. Level 689]

“...?”

Minhyuk was shocked. The orc that appeared in front of him looked just like any other orc. It was wearing crude and shabby armor and holding a rusty axe. The blood dripping down its axes was a clear indication that this Crazed Orc God was the one who killed the guards.

‘What the hell? The orc has a higher level than me.’ Minhyuk thought, his guard completely down. Then, at that moment…

Bang–!

The orc swung its axes at a breakneck speed and hacked at Minhyuk.

[Your HP has dropped below 97%.]

“...?!”

Minhyuk’s eyes grew wide. He immediately used Like the Wind to avoid another swing of the orc’s axe.

Slash–!

The axe of the Crazed Orc God created a crack and made the ground shake. The more shocking part? Its axe was covered with a bright white light.

‘Blade energy?!’

The blade energy surged and covered the orc’s axe, just like how one would release energy from one’s sword.

Slash–!

Minhyuk hurriedly swung his sword and hit the orc. At the same time, a bloody lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the crazed orc.

“Chwiiiiiiik!”

But he did not deal heavy damage. At this moment, Minhyuk realized, ‘This place is beyond common sense.’

This was none other than God's Prison.

“Kihyeeeeeeck!”

While Minhyuk was dealing with the orc, a very short monster, and a skeleton monster appeared this time. They were also mobs that novice players usually hunted.

[Crazed Goblin God. Level 689]

[Crazed Skeleton God. Level 701]

Bang–!

“...?”

The goblin’s poisonous needle that shot toward Minhyuk felt as heavy as the arrow from the God of Archery. Minhyuk immediately shook his head to return to his senses and avoid the incoming arrow. And when it stabbed through the wall? The wall melted down.

‘At this level, it’s really impossible for a Level 600 player to win, right…?’

The skeleton was even as fast as the Spear God and the Sword God. As for the sword it wielded? It was a very systematic swordsmanship.

Clang– Clang, clang, clang–!

Minhyuk knew that it would be very exhausting to deal with these three at the same time. Nevertheless, he still limited the number of skills that he used.

‘I don’t know what kind of danger is lurking inside.’

If he used many skills in this state, he might be in danger later on. So, Minhyuk began to deal with three God-rank(?) monsters with just his basic attacks.

Thankfully, the passive skill Lightning allowed him to deal damage continuously. And even though the monsters were very aggressive in their attacks, he recovered and maintained his HP thanks to the help of the Slaughterer’s Absorption.

Slash–!

“Chwiiiiiik!”

The Crazed Orc God eventually died.

‘I think it took ten hits of Destruction before it fell?’

Once Destruction was triggered, sixteen bloody and powerful lightning bolts would fall from the sky and hit Minhyuk’s enemies. In other words, the Crazed Orc God died only after getting hit 160 times by the bloody lightning bolts.

‘Shit. This is really crazy…’ Minhyuk thought.

[You have gained 13,543 platinum.]

“...!”

Minhyuk was very shocked.

‘I only killed one mob, but it gave me over 10,000 platinum?’

It would be challenging for most players to obtain 10,000 platinum even if they disposed of all their equipment. After all, 10,000 platinum was quite a considerable sum of money. It was enough to maintain a small territory for an entire five months.

Minhyuk immediately used Like the Wind to increase the distance between him and the goblin and skeleton so he could check his EXP.

‘My EXP value was originally at 11.3%. Now…’

[EXP Value: 14.5% / 100%]

‘Wow…’

Minhyuk was in awe. He just hunted a single mob, but his EXP increased by around 3%. Usually, Minhyuk’s EXP value would only increase by 0.01% even after he had hunted five monsters at the same level as him.

‘The EXP that I need to increase my level by one is ten times that of the EXP needed by an ordinary player.’

The amount of EXP he had just gained by hunting one mob in this place could be regarded as ridiculously high.

Minhyuk immediately dealt with the goblin and skeleton.

[EXP Value: 20.1% / 100%]

He only(?) hunted three monsters, but the amount of EXP he received was beyond imagination.

‘There’s a high chance that the monsters here are divided into quasi-boss and boss mobs.’

If that were the case, how much more EXP would these guys give him? Minhyuk turned toward the deeper parts of the prison, still shrouded in darkness. He could vaguely see countless prison cells lining up the walls. And all of them were open. In other words, they had already crawled out of the prison.

Minhyuk tidied up the bars of the prison cells.

(Athenae’s Iron Bars)

Material Grade: God

Special Abilities:

•Those who received the Prisoner’s Brand of the God’s Prison will burn if parts of this bar touched them.

•Those who received the Prisoner’s Brand of the God’s Prison will never be able to break these bars even if they hit it. However, due to the weakening of Athenae’s power, its durability also weakened. It only has a durability of 40,000.

Description: Athenae had instilled her powers inside these iron bars to keep the prisoners inside of their cells. Since a very long time has passed, the power of Athenae dwelling in these bars has weakened, and a significant amount of its powers have been lost.

Because Minhyuk did not have the Prisoner’s Brand, just as the description mentioned, his body did not burn even after he touched and tidied up the iron bars.

‘Originally, these iron bars could never be broken. But after a long time, it has grown weaker and made it possible for the prisoners to break.’

This was what Minhyuk had concluded. As he looked at the long line of open prison cells, Minhyuk could see many iron bars. These iron bars were outstanding and remarkable materials that he would never be able to get his hands on in Athenae. Of course, its powers were only noticeable for those imprisoned in God’s Prison.

‘Maybe these will have some use later.’

Minhyuk was an exceptionally clever man. A brilliant idea flashed in his mind as he looked at the iron bars.

At that moment, he caught sight of someone approaching him who seemed to be stumbling on their feet.

‘A zombie?’

But when the figure got out of the darkness, he saw that it was none other than a man. The man was very handsome, but he was very unkempt, and his body was covered with injuries of varying degrees.

When the man appeared, a shocking notification rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[You have met the previous generation Battle God Evan.]

[You are the next generation Battle God.]

[You have gained 1,000 REP.]

[You have gained 1,000 CHA.]

Minhyuk’s eyes grew wide. The notifications made him realize that the man approaching him was Evan, the Battle God of the previous generation who was mentioned in his quest.

The bleeding Evan stopped in his tracks shock evident in his face when he saw another person inside this prison.

***

Evan was the previous generation Battle God. But now? He was just a prisoner locked up inside God’s Prison. Evan was pushed out of the power struggle and lost his position to the current generation Battle God. After that, he was sent to prison because of his wrongdoings.

At first, he was overcome with fury. How dare they put him inside a prison that was filled with monsters and criminals? Filled with indignation, he sharpened his blade every single day. But as time passed, he realized what he was doing was useless.

Even if he sharpened his blade and successfully left this place and got back out of the world, he would only go down in history as a lunatic who broke out of prison and killed the gods. At that point, Evan’s thoughts began to change. Instead of sharpening his blade for revenge, he thought he should prevent the prisoners from ever thinking about getting out of this place.

Of course, not everyone was like him. There would definitely be those who could not let go of their wrath and indignation. The problem was that the previous God of Death was one of them. Although Evan was worrying about this, the God of Death was quieter than he thought.

However, he was just hiding the sharpness of his blade. Suddenly, all of the power of the God of Death poured out wildly from his body and wrapped around the entire prison. Immediately after that, all of the prisoners grew berserk.

Evan struggled to escape their mad rampage. He even brushed death several times during the process. He knew that they were gathering deep inside God’s Prison. He desperately and frantically ran toward the exit. That was where he met a young man.

Evan heard from the young man that he was the next generation Battle God. Of course, he also told the man what he knew and thought about what was happening in the prison. Surprisingly enough, the man trusted his words easily.

Then, he asked Evan, “If we go deeper inside, there’s 150 meters lined up with prison cells, right? Then, there’s another huge door right behind it?”

“That’s right. That huge door is where those who have a much higher level than the prisoners of this area are being kept. Mother Athenae has created the door. So, even if it was hit and attacked, it will not break easily.”

“Then, does that mean they would not feel any shockwaves or vibrations from here?”

“They won’t be able to feel anything at all.”

“So… The previous generation God of Death will not know whatever I do here, right?” The next generation Battle God said as he nodded to himself.

Evan could see that the young man was courteous. When he asked the young man why he trusted him so easily, the young man said it was because of the mission that he received as the Battle God. The mission that he was talking about was the quest. And the young man told Evan it had explained who he was and what he was doing there.

The young man, who identified himself as Minhyuk, asked, “Then, how many monsters are kept in this place, not counting those locked up behind that huge door?”

“There must be at least 500 of them.”

Evan saw the delighted smile that flashed on Minhyuk’s face when he said those words. But they were in a situation where they had to go through 500 of those monsters before they could reach the door, right? And from what Evan heard, his mission was to purify this place. So, why was he smiling like that?

“Boy, have you not experienced it yet? The monsters locked up in this place are not ordinary monsters. Even the other gods will find it difficult to face more than two monsters we will encounter to get to that door.”

But then, Minhyuk said, “Have you ever heard of the term ‘Mob Luring’?”

“...?”

Then, Minhyuk explained the term and what he planned to do.

‘That’s crazy…!’

Evan tried to stop Minhyuk, but the young man just started to put his words into action. Evan watched as Minhyuk tried to cut Athenae’s Iron Bars. So, he said, “Mother’s iron bars can only be cut and processed if you have DEX equivalent to that of the God of Blacksmiths…”

Evan had not finished his words, but the young man began to detach the sturdy, unbreakable bars from the prison cells. Evan could only watch as the young man did his work.

Minhyuk tore dozens of iron bars from the prison cells. Then, he melted their bases and connected them to one another until he reached the desired length. After making dozens of long iron bars, he began attaching and securing them to the ceiling and the ground. To put it simply, he created a wall that blocked the inside from the outside. The spaces between the bars were even tighter than the spaces between ordinary cell bars.

“Wait…”

Even so, Evan thought this idea was completely ridiculous. So, he tried to stop the young man again, but it was already far too late.

Biiiiiiiiiiiiii–!

The young man triggered a power that dragged the monsters’ aggro to him. At that moment, Evan heard the thunderous footsteps of the hundreds of wandering “God”-like monster escapees running fiercely toward where they were.

Evan gulped dryly, his body completely tense as he listened to the sound coming their way. On the other hand, Minhyuk stood leisurely, even with a happy smile on his face.

Not long after, they caught sight of the Black Wolf God, who was running at the vanguard.

“Grrrrrrrr!”

With drool dripping from its mouth, the charging wolf leaped toward Minhyuk.

Sizzle–!

But it could not reach Minhyuk. A portion of its body, which made contact with the iron bars that blocked their path, burned and melted off.

“Keuhaaaaaaack!!!”

One after another, the crazed monsters began to charge straight toward the iron bars. And what came after? Their desperate screams as their bodies started to burn and melt away.

All of the monsters they would have to face before they could reach the door deep inside the prison had already gathered in this place.

“...”

Evan gulped dryly. It truly went just like the young man planned. Those who had already lost their reasoning charged recklessly toward the iron bars and immediately suffered from mind-numbing pain as their bodies started to burn.

Although there were monsters with the name “God” attached to their names, their intelligence was low. So, in the end, they were tricked into gathering right in front of Evan and Minhyuk.

The next generation Battle God, Minhyuk, said, “There’s a saying among people like me that goes…”

“...?”

Evan looked at the young man, and then he saw him holding a sword covered with blazing black flames.

“It’s time to level up.”

Crackle–!

The flames of the Supreme Overlord’s Technique shot out and devoured the remaining monsters that had gathered beyond the iron bars.

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