Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

King Varen and the priests all had their arms up in the sky as they spoke with great solemnity.

“God Juis, we are grateful for your blessings…… let us cherish you and show you our respect…… chatter, chatter……”

Meanwhile, the priests were also chanting their spells behind him. As per tradition, the ritual food was quickly served and placed on the altar. There was only one thing left… a weeklong process. The God Juis would soon descend and taste the food.

‘The dish this time is much better than the last time so maybe, just maybe, God Juis will bless Valkyrie Kingdom to be richer and more abundant this time.’

Rald smiled softly.

Then, the priests and King Varen prostrated in front of the statue of God Juis. The priests bowed down to the ground with their palms facing up towards the sky. A small ball of white light, the size of the thumb, slowly floated up from their palms. Tens of thousands of spheres of light floated up in the sky.

Flash!

A strong burst of light flashed as Rald and the rest of the chefs bowed down to welcome her.

Then…

Step, step, step━

They could hear the clear sound of steps.

Rald had never seen her face before. However, according to King Varen she was so beautiful that only the term goddess was enough to describe her countenance.

Clack, clack━

They could hear the clack of the utensils on the table, then… the sound of the spoon stopped.

Chew, chew━

She let out a small sigh of appreciation after a small breath. Even though Rald could not see her face, he knew that she was smiling in satisfaction. Her spoon was even moving so fast.

King Varen smiled softly as he watched everything in silence.

‘I heard that this dish was the best… I guess it’s true.’

He believed that Valkyrie Kingdom would be more abundant and richer next year. In addition, with the help of the blessings of God Juis he would be able to drive away plenty of monsters from the northwestern side of the continent and expand his territory some more. Just as he was thinking about that...

“Cough!”

He suddenly heard a cough. King Varen’s expression hardened.

‘What?’

Did she just cough?

However, he couldn’t raise his head.

Clack!

It was the sound of the tableware being placed down.

Then…

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

‘Heok…….!’

‘Keok!’

‘W, what’s happening?!’

Suddenly, the whole temple began to tremble strongly and even the huge pillars were moving as if they were about to collapse. A strong force suddenly swept all over the area.

‘Keok, keokeok……!’

However, they couldn’t dare to make a single sound in front of the God Juis. They could only swallow it and suffer deep inside.

[How dare you give me something that tastes bad……]

‘Something that tastes bad?’

King Varen’s brows frowned.

Don’t tell me that they placed something bad in it? No, that’s something impossible. Rald had checked the ingredients strictly. They even tasted it themselves and have used only the freshest of ingredients.

[Poison……]

‘......!’

At that moment, everyone’s lips were tightly closed.

Crazy……! Poison? Did she say poison?! How dare they poison the food for God Juis?!

Of course, God Juis was immortal and a poison could never kill her.

This means only one thing…

‘Someone deliberately…… wanted to make her angry……!’

King Varen’s eyes widened in shock.

Grrrrrrrrrr!

The trembling and shaking of the ground grew in intensity.

[I can’t believe that you’re repaying my blessings with this.]

Grin━

She laughed grimly. Even if they could not see her expression, they believed that she had such a chilling smile on her face right now.

Then, at that moment…

“Keoheook!”

One of the chefs grabbed their neck so suddenly.

“Keueeeeck!”

Blood even gushed out from his mouth. However, not one person moved. They could only hear the sound of blood flowing down to the ground.

Creaaaaak!

It was the sound of her fingernails scratching the ground. It was so ear-grating and terrible but they still wouldn’t move a single muscle.

Then, God Juis spoke…

[Aiyaaah. Raise your heads.]

Varen slowly lifted his head up.

As soon as he lifted his head up, he saw the beautiful goddess, Juis. Juis was the god of healing and blessing. However, when Varen turned his head to where she was looking… he could see the fallen chef. No, he was not a chef. He was wearing a black mask and was clearly a thief.

[I know that this was not your work but... One, everyone who did this will pay for it.]

“Cough!”

“Kghhk!”

One by one, the body of the chefs started turning black and they could sense something penetrating their bodies through their blood. One of them was even the Legendary Chef, Rald. His body had turned black but he still did not move.

[And two. The ground will split and the roars of the ferocious monsters will not stop. And the screams of your people will ring loudly in your land.]

Varen understood what she meant.

There will be a huge disaster. A huge catastrophe will fall upon them.

Then, Juis slowly turned around…

Flash!

Her body faded away in the light.

“Heok, heok!”

Varen finally let himself breathe freely. Then, his body trembled uncontrollably.

“I, impossible…...!”

He couldn’t believe that this happened. He was overcome with rage as he walked towards where the black masked man was.

‘Someone disguised themselves……!’

And broke in our ritual. They purposely did this to anger the God Juis… who is it?

At that moment… Chef Rald…

“Kgghk!”

He vomited a mouthful of blood.

***

Hosmin was a Lv250 user at the Northern Continent’s Subjugation Force. He joined his friends to explore the Northern Continent since there was a huge amount of gold and EXP as a reward and there were even new monsters to see. They were all looking forward to it.

Before he knew it, the 500-man subjugation force had already stopped their monster subjugation.

“Halt! Halt!”

He could see plenty of monsters crawling in front of them.

“Kya. What kind of artifacts do you want to get?”

“Please let it drop something good!”

Just when the expectations of the users had reached its peak…

[The Wrath of God Juis.]

[All monsters will become ferocious.]

[The monster’s abilities have increased by 20%.]

[The first catastrophe of God Juis. The powerful rays of the sun will make all living beings tired.]

“......Huh?”

“W, what the hell?”

The users were all taken aback.

The monsters are suddenly going to be more ferocious?

And it didn’t end there… Their bodies suddenly started to become hot. The surroundings became hot and humid as if they were in a sauna.

They all silently looked up at the sky.

The red sun was spitting harsh and powerful flares all over. The heat that it was blasting off was not just any normal heat.

“This is crazy……!”

“Ah…… Isn’t it really hot?!”

They tilted their heads in exhaustion, the heat was even making things worse.

At that moment, the growling monsters rushed up to them.

The clash between the monsters and the users had started.

***

All of the users in the Northern Continent had begun to complain.

[MoreTopHunts: Ah. It’s so crazy……! The monster\'s abilities increased by 20%! We almost got wiped out.]

[kl3g: Even Empress Ellie sent out a messenger to find out what’s going on. Isn’t it crazy?]

[gasd36: Is this caused by Athenae? I can’t play well because it’s too hot! Don’t go to the North! The monsters are 20% stronger and you can’t get your items and enjoy the scenery!]

The users who were excited to pioneer the Northern Continent and believed that it would be fun since Athenae would be updating for real this time had suddenly started to change their tunes! And that was the time when the rumors started to spread.

[gadj254: Isn’t this because of Legend Guild? As soon as they arrived in the kingdom, their god suddenly became angry. Did they do something there?]

[Caron: I don’t think so. Legend Guild is famous for their well manners. In fact, I believe Legend Guild has nothing to do with it.]

[gadd31: It’s just… This is a disaster that affects the whole of Athenae? Can you even plan this?]

Fortunately, Legend Guild seemed to be avoiding the arrows targeted at them.

However, at that moment, another rumor started to spread.

[IrisAmazing!: Nims, did you hear? I heard that Iris Guild is trying to find a solution for this catastrophe. And I learned about this just recently! They’re recruiting a large number of rankers to get rid of the catastrophe and conquer God Juis. There’s even a trailer in Dungeon Attack Live now!]

[FAD: Oh. For real? So funny. They’re going to raid a god? Ah! Iris Guild GM-nim is famous for being a gentleman. Is he sacrificing himself for the users?]

The people began to cheer again.

If that hot sun and the strange buff for the monsters disappeared then they would be able to enjoy playing in the Northern Continent again! And Iris Guild who was trying to raid it for the rest of the users gained plenty of support and cheers as the users waited for them to get live on Dungeon Attack Live completely unaware of the origin of the disaster that they were encountering.

***

Varen looked at the priest Eidni coming out of the temple.

Priest Eidni only took a sip of water after praying to the angry God Juis without any rest. He had been praying for a few days now.

They were now in a dire situation. The blazing sun had quickly dried up the crops that they had meticulously grown. In addition, ferocious monsters had begun to attack Valkyrie Kingdom. Of course, it was still to a bearable degree since the damage that they had received was not that significant yet. But if it dragged on any longer then this catastrophe would only get stronger and stronger.

“Did God answer?”

“Yes.”

The priest wiped the sweat off of his face, the heat was bearing down on them ever so constantly. Even King Varen was dressed as lightly as possible due to the heat.

“Fortunately, it seems like her anger had been relieved to some extent.”

Varen sighed in relief. However, the next words that the priest uttered had put him once again in a dilemma.

“But God Juis ordered us to prepare something more delicious.”

“......!”

Rald was taken by surprise as the rest of the chefs fell down to their knees. Even though Rald was being treated by the priest he was not getting any better at all. The skin of the chefs struck by the God Juis were all slowly rotting away piece by piece.

How can they cook if they’re like that?

But his next words were even more shocking.

“She said that she wanted to eat a legendary ranked dish.”

“Th, that……!”

At that moment Varen thought…

Aah. She must have said that her anger had been reduced somewhat but this order still showed how fickle God Juis is, right? Legendary? She wants to eat a legendary ranked dish?

Of course, there had been records of legendary dishes appearing. However, the only person who had the ability to make one was in a bad condition. And that was Rald.

“The only other way is ‘The Spirit of the Wrathful God Juis’......”

“......Shut it!”

“......Forgive me, Your Highness!”

The priest immediately knocked his head down on the ground. The words that he had uttered were words that shouldn’t be spoken.

There was a story in Valkyrie Kingdom that peace could only be restored if they soothed and satisfied the wrathful spirit of God Juis and killed it. However, this was something that was sacrilegious.

How can you dare lay a hand on the body of the God Juis?!

And even if they had no choice but to do that, they wouldn’t know where it is since the dungeon location was not fixed at all.

Then, Varen thought…

‘I heard that God Juis’ treasure was there…… Ballad’s cup.’

Ballad’s cup. God’s treasure! Ballad’s cup was an object that possesses great power. It could even give a single person a blessing.

However, he still shook the thought off of his mind. It wasn’t something that he should covet.

Is there any other way?

“Maybe we could ask for help from Eivelis Empire and ask them for an excellent chef……”

When he heard the words of the priest, Varen’s eyes widened as if he found a string of hope in front of him.

“Th, there is……!”

“Yes?”

The priest tilted his head in confusion as if he was asking him what he meant by that.

“Th, there’s only one chef who can rival Rald and make a legendary dish!”

“......?!”

The priest was shocked.

There’s someone like that? A person who can make a ‘legendary ranked’ dish that you can only hear from the stories? No, wasn’t there no one else except Rald?

Then, Varen spoke…

“Minhyuk……”

He clenched his fist tightly. He was sure of it since Varen had already tried his fascinating dishes. He finally found a way to appease the angry God Juis.

In other words, he was placing the fate of Valkyrie Kingdom on Minhyuk’s hands.

***

TL’s corner!!!

AAAAAAH! I mean… he would definitely deliver. But oh my! It’s still exciting to think of it. What kind of dish could it be? Also… I wish Iris Guild get their just desserts.

PR’s corner!

Welp, I suppose Minhyuk’s satisfaction bar is going to fill up a lot.

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