Have a Meal Before You Go - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Editor: Stomatopoda, Nets,

The dungeon was an endless field of wilderness .
The sky was dark black and purple, bruised and ominous . A huge mountain loomed over the centre of the zone .

It was a stone protrusion with not a single tree or blade of grass on it . It was where the magic stone mine was, the most valuable treasure recently discovered by the Awakening Society .

The whole place was in turmoil .

Bam! Bam!~

There were pigs everywhere .

Machangsa and his team mates were surrounded in the middle of the field .

Machangsa came to his senses .

“Damn it . ”

They were completely cornered .

“Move to formation D, strong defense!”

“Strong defense!”

“Strong defense!”

At Machangsa’s order, the team members quickly repositioned, huddling together like turtle shells . They aimed their weapons in all directions, and the tankers gripped their shields, ready to block all attacks .

At the forefront of the tankers was Kim Man-ho, who had formed a translucent bubble of red energy that wrapped around him like a second skin . Two characters were clearly engraved on his forehead .

The God of Food!

‘It’s a big deal . ’

It was early morning when he entered the magic stone mine . It was a routine trip, as one of the guardians’ duties is to properly evaluate unanalyzed dungeons .

He thought they would pass without a hitch . But what was this?

The gap in the freaking dimension was open .

Monsters poured down like rain from the giant crack that had split the sky .

The monsters were ‘mighty boar’ .

Mighty boar basically consisted of one head and hundreds of bodies . Other monsters roamed in groups, but the mighty boar were a little different . They were very violent, but the way they needed to be dealt with was very different, depending on the environment they had adapted to . Those who grew up in peaceful environments were class ten monsters, the lowest-class, and dealing with them was a piece of cake .

However, those who grew up in fierce environments evolved into combat-specific forms . In that case, they upgraded up to a class six threat, and the leader of the hundreds of mighty boar, ‘King pin’, would have the destructive power equivalent of a class two monster .

Boom!~

“Ahhh!” Kim Man-ho shouted, throwing back a mighty boar recklessly charging their front . Their tusks grew eerily long, like a lance . The fur on their bodies was as stiff and sharp as needles .

‘Oh my god, these guys have evolved to combat mode . ’

Kim Man-ho gulped down his saliva . He took a deep breath–

“Run! Get ready!” he screamed, at the top of his lungs .

“Ready!”

“Ready!”

The tankers pushed back the mighty boar in front of them, and the offensive troops began expending mana rapidly to deal as much damage to the boar as possible . Machangsa’s spear grew enormously in size, bolstered with his mana, and swept through the vast swarm of mighty boar .

Kang! Kang!~

The second class awakener Kim Man-ho, also known as Machangsa, followed the path towards becoming a ‘master of creativity’ . Mastering the class was just around the corner . He thought he could soon complete it, but the feeling of being blocked by something had been going on for years .

As if his spear were possessed, it began to slaughter the mighty boar .

Kang kang!~

Dozens of mighty boar fell in an instant, their death roars echoing viciously . However, there were still many more rushing in their direction . They were all ready for battle and were charging fiercely .

Lights sparked and wafts of spent mana saturated the air . The herd of mighty boar were exterminated helplessly before the power of the awakened .

‘No matter how much you’ve grown, you’re still a class six monster for now . ’

Machangsa nodded . All he had to do was stay alert . If there were these many Beltoes, classified as a class four threat, the situation would be dire, but with class six mighty boar, it should be alright .

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!~

The swarm closed in .

Kkang!~

His spear was finally blocked . The mighty boar divided, forming a path as a monster over ten times larger than a mighty boar barrelled down it .

Kang!~

It was King Pin , the leader of the mighty boar . The class of the current herd was equivalent to that of a second-class dungeon boss .

“You’re out . ”

He flicked away the spear with his huge tusks .

Bam! Bam!~

The spear, which had been spinning in the air, returned to its original size and flew back into the hands of Machangsa .

“Come on, the target is King Pin! And–”

Machangsa cut off with a strangled sound while he was shouting his commands . He looked up at the sky in a hurry, after hearing a strange ripping sound .

The sky divided once more, monsters pouring down like rain again .

“…!”

There were more numbers this time . From the look of things, they were more of the mighty boar . Machangsa was speechless for a moment .

What the hell was going on this late at night?

The entrance to the dungeon was just over there . Awakened fighters had rushed through the entrance and were beginning to cut their way towards them .

They would just have to hang in there .

But how long would they last?

The team members looked exhausted . He was, too . The fight had continued for over four hours . He had barely had time to catch his breath .

Machangsa felt fear . It was the fear of death .

He grasped his spear tightly, driving it upright again . The words from that fateful day came back to his mind .

‘I’m scared . ’

He heavily drew on his manna .

‘I’m scared, and I want to run away . ’

But…

‘But the right thing to do is to take a step forward when that happens . If you step back, you’ll only be backpedaling for life . ’

“Thanks for the advice, old man . ”

Machangsa stepped forward, pointing his spear valiantly .

“Come on, there are our allies over there! I’ll lead the way! Clear a path!”

Machangsa shouted loudly as he ran .

“Formation A! Breaking through!”

“Breaking through!”

“The captain will take the lead!”

Tim Jenkak began to drive forward, cutting a wedge through the swarm of mighty boar running at him .

The mana in Machangsa’s body was gradually fading away . He was reaching his limit . However, there was no choice but to grasp all he could for the fight .

There was no time to stop .

He felt strange .

Was it because of the long-running fight? He felt drowsy all over . Machangsa became more and more immersed in the fight . He swung his spear time and time again, exhausting more of his manna .

Throw and smash .

Machangsa’s motions had become instinct . The more he moved, the more sophisticated and powerful his movements became .

Argh! 

Suddenly .

The mana in Machangsa’s body was amplified greatly . Overwhelmed, his mana filled to its limit, straining at its edges . At the same time, he felt an enormous power fill him .

Machangsa’s spear grew three times larger than usual, and began to move on its own .

Slash~

A huge path opened before it, swathes of mighty boar bodies flung aside .

“Ah!” Machangsa unwittingly exclaimed . At that moment, Machangsa realized that he had finally mastered his class .

“Come on, let’s go!”

A huge pillar of light appeared before Machangsa .

Boom!

It was a heavy kingpin, blocking the way . But it wasn’t King Pin?

Thud~

The kingpin completely blocked the path, and gave a loud bellow .

“Stop the rear! I pierce the front!” Machangsa roared . But, his body was worn out, and he was too rapidly approaching his limit to deal with two tough enemies . Machangsa opened his eyes wide in thought . What should he do?

Thump thump~

The two Kingpins charged back and forth . Machangsa realized he had no choice but to choose .

‘I’m sorry, sir . ’

The only choice was to save the majority, in the front . Suddenly, Cheon Tae-jung came to mind . How much did his role-model worry?

How much did he regret the choices he had to make? He had said, “Every day is a regret . ”

Machangsa bit his lip, and launched a huge spear in front of him .

It was at that moment a perfect white light descended onto the battlefield, as if the sun had come down from the sky .

Things seemed to have stopped .

The mighty boar, his colleagues, and himself .

He felt like the world had stopped . He wanted to turn his head, but… he couldn’t move . Everything was gradually consumed by the blinding light, the world becoming a pure white . His vision was blanked out .

“What the hell?”

Machangsa realized that someone was moving so fast that he was invisible .

ta ta ta~

He couldn’t even see his figure .

He could only hear the sound of his fast footsteps .

After a very short period of time, the world regained its original colour . He looked around in confusion to see the corpses of the mighty boar strewn over the ground .

The two kingpins were also defeated .  

“Ah?”

Machangsa rubbed his eyes . Were these hallucinations?

* * *

Cheol-ho sat at the top of a stone mountain in the magic stone mine .

Next to him were three large chunks of meat .

“…”

Down there, he could see Machangsa and his party safely exit the dungeon .

“Hmm…”

They’d all left . They won’t go straight into an investigation . They will re-group before re-entering . Cheol-ho scratched his head .

He got to help Machangsa, though he was initially going to go because of the meat .

Cheol-ho heard about Machangsa’s situation from Cheon Tae-jung and came to help .

‘I look forward to your kind cooperation, immature fellow . ’

Cheol-ho shook his head . There was no one on earth capable of discovering who Cheol-ho was, anyway . Perhaps the awakeners might be troubled by the ‘appearance of an unidentified force’, but they would have to weigh it against the cost of the lives that were saved today .

Great ,

Now it’s a new problem .

Chul-ho looked carefully at the mighty boar .

‘That’s strange . ’

These monsters were excessively aggressive .

More so than what Cheol-ho had seen when he was on the Esfan continent .

‘Is this how big they usually are?’

It was a type of mighty boar he had never seen on the Esfan continent, no matter how he looked at it .

It was a mighty boar living on a battlefield that crossed life and death every day . It was the kind that fought desperately every day, struggling to survive in an environment of top predators .

“…how?”

Cheol-ho suddenly recalled when another dimension gap had opened in the sky .

He remembered that the gap exuded a heterogeneous, different energy . It wasn’t like the feeling of the Esfan continent .

The gap in the dimension had now disappeared without even a trace . Cheol-ho thought, holding his doubts in his mind .

An important point .

‘People on this side of the world are not the first to see such an evolved mighty boar . ’

Perhaps, he might have to rebuild his hypothesis from scratch . Maybe the Earth was connected to another dimension, not just the one dimension of the Esfan continent .

“…Phew . ”

Cheol-ho shook his head . His stomach growled .

He was hungry .

.

.

.

.

.

.

The best thing to eat when hungry was meat .

Kingpin had some of the most delicious meat that Cheol-ho had ever tasted .

Unfortunately, he couldn’t eat all the parts . However, pork belly, tenderloin, and the heart were the best cuts . These were the three parts that Cheol-ho harvested .

Come to think of it, it had been a while since Cheol-ho had had pork belly .

Kingpin’s pork belly, once separated from his carcasse, was a little bigger than Tangerine .

Generally , meat tasted better when it had been aged, but Cheol-ho didn’t like to bother with that very much . The thing he preferred was to cut out slabs of the raw meat and roast them .

He sliced the thick meat, which had a different feel from the usual steak .