Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 464: Great Pirate Gorfido

Chapter 464: Great Pirate Gorfido

Nana and the rest of the three pirates immediately flushed red. The three of them were hailed as the ‘Pirates of Despair’ in the seas of the Japanese Server. Baroch, with his special skills, was able to sink pirate ships carrying hundreds of people and warships with powerful NPCs deep into the abyss of the sea. But now…

‘We’re being plundered?’

‘The pirates are being robbed at sea?”

‘What the hell…?’

…they were facing the biggest disgrace in their entire career. In fact, some said that even Japan’s member of the Summit Five, ‘Kentaro’, would not be able to do anything against them if they were at sea.

But a mere Korean player dared to do something like this to them?

“Ah, that’s right. Thanks for this warship. It’s all thanks to you that I will be able to get to land comfortably. And there’s even plenty of food onboard,” Minhyuk said, grinning widely.

Grit, grit, grit—

Baroch gritted his teeth. There were only two seconds left from the five seconds stun. However, looming behind them was Great Pirate Gorfido. Great Pirate Gorfido was the absolute and supreme pirate that once roamed the seas of the entire continent. His level was a testament to this fact!

[Gorfido. Level 779.]

Strangely enough, even though Gorfido was only made of bones, there was still a patch of whitebeard hanging on his skull.

“Did you just… try to plunder someone else… in my sea…”

He had a rusty sword in one hand and a rusty chain in the other. Anyone that got tied up by Gorfido’s chains would be locked up in the island for 90 days and have their possessions and gold drop continuously.

‘If it’s 90 days then… we’ll… definitely lose hope…’

More rankers would come up and replace them if they got locked up for 90 days.

Will the famous Pirates of Despair face their end here?!

No. They had a way to stop that from happening. All they needed to do was to take that warship back. But Gorfido was already running straight towards them just as their stunned state was released.

“I’m… the only one… who can… plunder…!”

Shwaaaaaaaaaaa—

Nana, who had the fastest pair of feet among them, glanced at Gorfido as she kicked the ground.

“Hang in there! I’ll save you!”

“We don’t have much time. We have to take back the warship quickly!”

Pirate Baroch and the number one samurai Taichi quickly turned around to block Gorfido. Meanwhile, Nana, who flew up to the skies…

“You impudent bastard!!!”

What did they assume was the man’s class? It was none other than tamer, a very special tamer at that too.

‘It’s clear that he’s just a temporary tamer.’

What did Nana mean when she said temporary tamer? She was talking about a player that could only tame and work with monsters for a single day. Ordinary tamers would tame and work with monsters until their death. However, for temporary tamers, they were giving up this advantage to tame a monster just for a single day. The proof that they needed was the ‘Kraken King’.

‘No one would be crazy enough to leave behind the Kraken King after taming them. He can do that because he only tamed it for a single day!’

Nana jumped up swiftly! Although she was good at making poisons, no one should forget that she was originally an assassin. One leap and she was already on the deck where Minhyuk was standing. Then, she saw Minhyuk try to move the sword that he used to break the bridge.

‘I’m faster! How dare a tamer like you…!’

She wanted to stab his vital points and throw him out to the Pirate’s Grave in one go. And after rescuing the others, she would turn this man into Gorfido’s prey! Nana flew up and triggered her skill, “Critical Plunder!”

If this attack successfully stabbed a vital point, her attack would become explosive, with an attack speed that would instantly rise by four times and deal an additional 500% damage. Nana moved at the speed of light. But just when she was about to touch the man in front of her, a black force erupted from the man’s sword. It was so fast that Nana’s chest had already been slashed before her weapon could reach the man’s neck. Then…

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—

Five consecutive explosions burst out and engulfed Nana, as a blazing flame shot out from the man’s sword.

“Kyaaaaack!” Nana screamed as her body flew back. She was in complete disbelief despite the fact that she was sent flying back from the impact of her enemy’s blow.

‘What, what the hell…?’

She truly could not believe it. One, each time the explosion slammed into her body, her HP would be reduced by 15%. Although assassins were known to be critical dealers with low defensive power and HP, as a ranker among rankers, Nana could easily surpass this stereotype. However, the damage was so powerful that she could not withstand it. And what was worse…

‘How can a tamer…’

What kind of unbelievably ridiculous power was that?! Just five consecutive hits and her HP had dropped by as much as 60%.

[You have received a strong impact!]

[The bones in your body have been broken from the strong impact. Your movements will be severely restricted.]

“What, What the hell…” Nana uttered in disbelief as her body finally landed. How many players in Korea could deal damage like that? There were some people that came to mind, but she shook her head at the thought.

‘I haven’t seen anyone land five consecutive explosions like that though…’

However, unbeknownst to her, there was a secret to this attack. And this secret lay in Verus’ Mask.

‘Crazy… Verus’ Mask is completely out of this world, huh?’ Minhyuk rejoiced. He was already aware of the abilities in Verus’ Mask before he wore it, but now that he was experiencing it first-hand, he could not help but think that this was completely ridiculous.

According to the ‘Demon’s Face’ skill attached to Verus’ Mask, he could change his face to the face of any of the humans that Verus had encountered before. To be exact, this was the details of the skill:

(Demon’s Face)

Active Skill

Required Mana: 3,000

Cooldown: None

Effects:

•You can change your face into the face of any of the humans that Great Demon Verus had met in middle earth. However, your height, weight, gender and other bodily features would not change.

•In order to completely hide his identity, Great Demon Verus hid his power by copying the power of the human that he had met. You will be able to hide your power as long as you are wearing the mask.

•The Demon’s Face has a similar effect on your skills. You will be able to use the full extent of your skills but they would appear different to others. As compensation, the amount of mana required to trigger your skills will increase by 1.5x.

It was literally the best skill to hide one’s identity. The effects of the skills that he used would remain the same, but it would appear completely different to others. As for the power that hit Nana just now, it was Lightning: Destruction. It was the mark engraved on the ‘Continent Destroyer Sword’ that would trigger the passive skill, attacking the enemies with continuous lightning strikes if successfully triggered.

“Keuhaaaaaack!”

Just then, Nana, who fell back on the island, heard an extremely familiar scream. When she turned around, she saw a rusty sword piercing through Pirate Baroch’s chest. The sword was none other than Gorfido’s sword.

‘He couldn’t even last a minute…? That Baroch…?’

When she turned to look at the other side, she saw that Taichi was already on the ground and twitching helplessly. Gorfido’s chains, which moved as if it had a will of its own, wrapped around Taichi’s ankle and dragged him to prison. Baroch fell down the moment Gorfido pulled his sword out. Then…

Clang, clang, clang—

…as if a monster had been killed, various items fell from Baroch.

“Ugh… Uwaaaaaa…”

For him, it must have felt like his own blood and life were pouring out of him. The rare and valuable items that he had looted and plundered started to drop. Tens of platinum even started to drop from Baroch! It would keep on dropping like that.

That was when Nana realized, ‘If we lose everything important here, incur a huge death penalty, and even get trapped here for 90 straight days then…’

The three Pirates of Despair would definitely face their end. The other pirates would most definitely surpass them. And not only that, they would always aim to slaughter them and in the end, they would be forced to stop playing the game.

“How, how in the world did you know that Gorfido would appear today?” Nana asked in a daze.

Minhyuk, who was standing on the deck of the warship and looking down at them, answered, “Who knows.”

He did not have any reason to answer them. These people had grown stronger by plundering and enjoying the look of despair on the players and NPCs that they killed. In fact, Minhyuk could tell who they were at first glance. After all, he had heard about their notoriety. They were vicious players that toyed around with lives, and killed not only players, but also NPCs alike. For people like them, he would not show any mercy.

Stab—

A rusty sword pierced through Nana’s back. Then, chains wrapped around her ankles and dragged her and the other two along.

[Pirate Gorfido has locked you up in the ‘Pirate’s Prison’.]

[Gorfido used Pirate’s Prison to trap his fellow pirates that coveted his things.]

[Gorfido has started his judgment.]

[You have been given the maximum sentence. You will be in prison for 90 days.]

The three pirates’ bodies were wrapped tightly in the chain as it dragged them into prison. And just like a ghost, their echoing voices slowly disappeared as the prison locked itself up.

‘I’ll stop by again before going back to Asgan Continent.’

Minhyuk had already heard about Gorfido and what he was like from Red Goblin. He was the supreme and most feared existence in the seas. And from what he heard, it would be possible for him to fight against demons in a 1:1 confrontation as long as they were at sea. He did not want to deal with something like that.

But just when he was about to turn the warship around, the hollow area where Gorfido’s eyes were supposed to be suddenly flashed a bright and dangerous red light.

[Gorfido’s eyes have pierced through you.]

[You won’t be able to nullify Gorfido’s eyes.]

[You won’t be able to withstand this power.]

[Gorfido’s force is pressing down on you.]

Minhyuk’s face turned ugly.

Not long after, Gorfido opened his mouth, “This is strange. I can smell the demons’ smell on you but I can also smell the scent of the Athenae Religion. You also have the scent of the Asgan Continent’s Ruler of the Sea, the Dragon King, and also the king of this very same sea, the Kraken. You also stink of elf… and humans that are always on their knees…”

Gorfido’s red eyes flashed as Minhyuk’s breath started to stagnate.

***

Beanie was given the exclusive task of taking care of Luna. Right now, he was leaning against the wall with his arms folded on his chest as he watched Luna sleeping. His puffed out cheeks and protruding belly were slightly more puffed out than usual! This was because Beanie was displaying an extremely annoyed expression on his face.

“Oiiiiink… oink, oink, oink!” A high ranking person like me… no, a high ranking and top quality pig like me is being tasked to take care of a baby? I hate you, Minhyuk! Oink!

Beanie was annoyed and irritated at Minhyuk. Why did he leave him behind to go out adventuring in another continent? But that was not the worst part. The worst part was that Minhyuk left him here to teach this tiny dragon in front of him. What would he even teach this dragon?

Thud—

While Beanie was brooding on his anger and irritation, Luna, who was rolling around on the bed, finally fell down on the ground and opened her eyes blearily. The extremely tiny, mini dragon Luna crawled back up the bed and stared at Beanie!

“Kihyeeeeee~”

Luna, with her big eyes that covered half of her face, came right in front of the annoyed Beanie, before rolling around and showing her belly to him.

“Oiiiiink!” You’re really troublesome and annoying! Oink!

But, even though he said that, Beanie quickly laid out the blanket on the place where Luna was rolling around earlier and patted it to signal for her to come back to bed.

“Oink, oink, oink!” It’s because the cold, hard floor will hurt your back. It’s definitely not because you’re pretty or anything! Oink!

That was what Beanie thought…

Poke—

…as he pressed down on Luna’s soft cheeks. Beanie’s pink snout fluttered rapidly at the sensation.

“Oiiiiiiiink… oink!” Cu, cu… no! She’s not cute at all! Oink!

Beanie jerked his head again. And just like that, the night passed by and the light of dawn slowly started to break through the skies. In the entirety of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Luna’s bedroom was the best place to view the rising sun. Which meant that Luna would always have the best view of the rising sun.

“Kihyeeeeee! Kihyeeeeeeee!” Luna cried in delight when she saw the rising sun. She even gestured with her soft paw at Beanie, as if she wanted to show Beanie this view.

“Oiiiiiink!” Hmph. So annoying! Oink!

Beanie thought, his expression lacking in interest.

“Oink. Oink, oink—“ The sun goes up like that every morning. Hmph.

But Luna kept on pointing to the sun, as if she really wanted him to see it.

“Oiiiiiiiiiiiink?” Do you want to see the sun up close? Oink?

“Kihyeeeeeeeeeee!”

Luna, as a descendant of the Dragon Lord, was very smart. She could already understand what the pig in front of her was saying. Seeing her agreeing to his words, Beanie lazily packed her things in annoyance, acting as if he could not help it and had to follow the dragon’s wishes.

“Oiiiink! Oink!” Take this and that! Oink!

Then, he placed his shiny silver pot on top of Luna’s head, before wrapping her up with a soft and warm blanket. After he was done, Luna, with the silver pot on her head as a helmet for protection, and a body tightly wrapped with a soft blanket, leaving only her head poking out, looked extremely cute and endearing. After that, Beanie carried Luna on his back and began to move.

“Kihyeeeeeeeee!” Luna giggled. It seemed like she liked this set-up.

“Oiiiink! Oink, oink, oink!” Be quiet! Or I’ll throw you away. Oink!

The grumpy and annoyed Beanie was still as small as ever, in fact he was only as big as a fist, but he still carried the baby Luna on his back to go to the place where they could see the sun the closest.

The place where they were going was the mountain that stood tall behind Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Mount Ard. In the distant future, what Luna, the greatest dragon in the history of dragonkind, would write in her autobiography was…

[The baby piggy loved me and cherished me more than anybody else. It was thanks to him that I was able to become king and unite all of the dragons in the world. Most of the things that I know were things that I learned from him. He was my second father and the one that enlightened me the most.]

—The Greatest Dragon Luna’s Autobiography (Excerpt)

As they climbed the mountain today, the story of the legendary dragon and her second father began to unfold.

***

“Keheoook!” Minhyuk gasped on the deck. He was only able to breathe once again only after Gorfido’s red eyes flashed and disappeared.

‘Crazy…! Even at this distance…?!’

Minhyuk realized that Gorfido was far more fearsome and stronger than what he had initially thought.

Then, Gorfido suddenly said something shocking, “Perhaps… you might be able to… make my wish come true…”

Minhyuk could already tell that Gorfido’s words were the trigger for a very huge quest.