Diablo.

The three great demons of the Demon World were so powerful, that the demonic energy which leaked from their body was strong enough to kill all of the plants and animals in the Demon World, suffocating life. As a result, the three demons decided to create a basin that would suck off their excess demonic energy. Their only requirement for the basin was that it should have a body that was attuned to nature, which could withstand their mana.

However, they were not able to find such a body in the Demon World. They searched high and low, even venturing to the Heavenly and Elven realms, and still could not find a body fit to become the basin for their demonic energy.

Eventually, they went to the human world. And there, finally, they were able to find an existence that would fit their requirements. He was a young boy, whose body was extremely attuned to nature, and he had amazing talent. They immediately brought the boy to the Demon World to become their demonic energy’s basin. However, something unexpected happened.

‘He was too powerful.’

The boy that they brought in to become a vessel for their demonic energy had grown formidable after sucking up their demonic energies. The more demonic energy he absorbed, the more he grew. The great devils had no choice but to stop his body from growing further. Even then, no one in the Demon World could beat him.

The former Demon King had called him the ‘Lesser Demon’, though he was known by another name, Diablo. And this boy was locked up on the 40th floor of the Demon World’s Tower, in the fear that he would go on a rampage someday.

Diablo could only be defeated through three methods. He could be killed with the power of the Demon King, Ankheseramun’s ability: Ankhassads’ Judgement, or with the Dagger of Mortality, with its fragments hidden all over the 40th floor.

‘He wants me to show him the power of Ankhassads’ Judgment?’

“Your reason?”

“There’s a place that I need to use its power on.”

Ankheseramun’s brows furrowed. Minhyuk immediately said, “Ah! I can keep secrets well!”

Minhyuk gestured as if he was zipping his mouth shut. That was when Ankheseramun realized…

‘This is a trade, isn’t it?’

There were many reasons why Ankheseramun was hiding here despite being the daughter of the Demon King. It was something that absolutely could not be released to the world as of yet.

Ankheseramun shook her head. She knew that it was not that big of a deal to show him her power. The problem was that Ankhassad’s Judgment’s single attack was strong enough to match the Demon King’s strongest one-shot skill. She believed that this baby piggy would not be able to withstand such strength.

‘But you want me to attack him?’

“What if he dies?” Ankheseramun asked, unaware that Minhyuk was well-informed about Ankhassad’s Judgment. However, Ankheseramun was sure of one thing, Minhyuk was looking down on her ability. So, even if the baby piggy died, she would consider it as a price that Minhyuk had to pay for daring to make a ‘deal’ with her.

Step, step.

Ankheseramun stood up from her chair. Then, she used Ankhassad’s Judment.

Ankhassad’s Judgement was a one-shot attack, belonging to Gorac, one of the three great demons. A small black spear suddenly popped out in the empty space in front of her. The black spear immediately flew towards Beanie.

Shwaaaaaak―

The spear was filled with demonic energy to the point that it was vibrating strongly in the air. Just looking at the power contained in this single attack was enough to make anyone shudder. But at that moment…

[Predator’s Acquisition]

[Use any of your opponent’s abilities through predation.]

Beanie’s mouth suddenly widened. Then, he pointed his open mouth towards Ankhassad’s Judgment that was flying straight at him.

Aaaaaaaah―

Then…

Shwaaaaaak―

…Ankhassad’s Judgment started to get sucked into his mouth. As for Beanie?

“Oink?”

He remained peaceful and calm.

“…!”

Ankheseramun could not help but be shocked.

‘Th…the ability to nullify all the damage…!’ 

No, from what Ankheseramun could see, Beanie did not nullify the skill. Instead, he had eaten it.

Swooooosh―

Beanie’s mouth slowly closed as Ankhassad’s Judgment faded away. Then, Beanie gulped as a notification rang.

[Beanie has devoured Ankhassad’s Judgment.]

[You can now check the information about Ankhassad’s Judgment.]

(Ankhassad’s Judgment)

Active Skill

Mana Required: 2,000

Cooldown: 72 hours

Number of Available Uses: 2/2

Effects:

•A powerful force with an additional 1,200% attack will pierce through the enemy at once, ignoring 50% of the enemy’s magic defense.

•When facing the Lesser Demon, Diablo, additional attack increases to 2,000%, while the percentage of ignoring the magic defense increases to 80%.

“…!”

Minhyuk was shocked.

‘C…crazy…’ 

It was a ridiculously strong attack.

‘How strong are the Demon King and Ankheseramun, really…?’

They had skills like this? Of course it would definitely be their strongest one-shot skill. But, did it even make sense to deal an additional 1,200% damage?

‘If we’re able to collect the rest of the golden crown’s fragments here…’

It was a little hard for him to imagine how strong Beanie would become once that happened.

“Thank you for everything!”

As usual, Minhyuk gave his thanks to Ankheseramun with politeness and enough courtesy.

Neither of them knew that the meeting of two great beings would happen once again in the future.

***

Calauhel’s face was currently distorted. He growled, “Useless.”

The world rankers shut their mouths tightly when they heard his words. Deru, the 11th in the world’s integrated rankings, could not help but curse Calauhel in his head. He thought, ‘Damn bastard.’

If it was not for the money, Deru would not even follow Calauhel. They were not people that could be treated like this. Regardless, they still accepted his rage since Calauhel’s offer was extremely ridiculous.

‘Eight billion for each individual…’

They could not imagine how much money he had.

All of the rankers currently gathered at this location were the best of the best. Deru himself was ranked second in the Global Warrior Rankings and eleventh in the Global Integrated Rankings. Tamer Leverlin also ranked first in the Global Tamer Rankings, and twelfth in the Global Integrated Rankings. All of the people gathered here were above Level 500.

These rankers were the key members of Blackstone. Their combined strength was enough to wipe out a huge territory by themselves. And that was when there were only six of them in their group. But even if they were only a scant few numbers, they were confident enough to achieve a feat like that.

However, despite their confidence, they could not solve this stumbling block in front of them.

“I can’t believe not a single one of you knows a chef that can bewitch a monster with their food.”

The trials on the 40th floor could be challenged a total of ten times. Even if they failed the floor, they would not be forced to log out nor receive penalties. As they continued to move, they were able to learn a lot about the trials on the 40th floor.

The first trial was about darkness. During the trial, the mages’ detection magic was completely useless. Even the talented Calauhel was helpless in the face of the traps, magic, and mobs that silently appeared within the darkness. They were only able to pass the trial thanks to one person. That person was none other than the assassin-class player Amber who ranked 27th in the Global Rankings.

Assassins were characters accustomed to the darkness. They also had the passive skill ‘Five Senses’. This Five Senses skill allowed assassins to feel a lot of things in the dark. However, despite reaching Level 9 in her Five Senses, Amber still found it hard to overcome the first trial. This meant that taking on each trial was only possible for beings that reached the top of their professions.

When they reached the second trial, they found out that they needed to tame a demonic beast. Thankfully, they were able to complete the trial with the help of Leverlin, the 12th in the Global Integrated Rankings.

The third trial was meant for the tanker in their group. With each of them using their specialties, they were able to clear the fourth and fifth trials.

Calauhel was a Monarch Class, one that sat on top of the other monarchs. Perhaps, the operators had placed this series of challenges for people like Calauhel. They deliberately did this to ensure that the monarch would have men who could help him once he gained the Royal Class.

Alas, they encountered a problem in the final trial, the sixth trial. The sixth trial required them to let the monster Verogan drool with food. Verogan was a monster in pursuit of great delicacies and flavors. The monster was well over four meters in height. And they were asked to tempt and bewitch such a monster with food.

When things did not work out, Callauhel launched an all-out assault with the people whom he brought. They tried to kill Verogan, only to be sent back to the place where they started before they challenged the trials. The meaning was simple, if they did not follow what the notification had told them, then they would not be able to complete the trial. The problem was that all of the fragments of the blades that they had acquired would also disappear once they were sent back to the beginning.

Hence, they immediately invited one of the world’s best chefs. He was the Level 416 Chef, Veron. However, they still failed. Chef Veron was well-known for putting ‘poison’ in his food. Because of this, they were not able to meet the requirement of ‘delicacy’.

They tried twice with Veron, but they failed in both attempts. As a result, their ten chances to challenge had diminished considerably. So far, they have already tried eight times. They only had two more chances left, so they had to be careful.

However, there were only two chefs who popped into Calauhel’s head.

Twilight Chef Black. 

He was one of the best chefs in Korea, and was also one of the world’s top ten chefs. However, Calauhel did not know his in-game code, so he could not send him a whisper. In fact, contacting him was not that easy either. Twilight Chef Black was already one of the wealthiest men in the food and restaurant industry, so he would not be easily moved with money. In addition, his personality would bring them a lot of risks.

So that left Calauhel with the final choice.

‘Food God Minhyuk.’

Food God Minhyuk was quickly climbing up the tower. Calauhel was certain that the trial could be cleared with his dish. However, there was a problem. Minhyuk had recognized Calauhel as his ‘enemy’. Looking back at the steps that Calauhel had taken, it was only natural that Minhyuk considered him as his enemy. After all, Calauhel himself treated Minhyuk as his enemy.

Calauhel sneered. He thought, ‘He’s something I can use since we’re enemies.’

There was one trick that came to mind.

“Looks like we’re going to need Great Thief Elion.”

Great Thief Elion was a world-class thief in Athenae. No one could exceed him in terms of ‘stealing’, ‘swindling’ and ‘tricks’. And, he also had a special skill.

‘Among his skills…’ 

He had a skill that could deceive people by disguising as an NPC and creating quests for them.

***

“Player Minhyuk has cleared the 15th floor!”

“Player Minhyuk has cleared the 17th floor!”

“Player Minhyuk has cleared the 19th floor! His had leveled up to Level 423!”

President Kang Taehoon listened to Lee Minhwa’s reports while thinking, ‘What a ridiculous speed.’ 

His pace was truly too fast. Right now…

“Player Minhyuk has reached the 36th floor. He is now Level 434!”

Everyone who heard her words clicked their tongues. Setting new records in the Demon World’s Tower would give enormous EXP to the player. In addition, if the player set an impossible score, the player would also receive additional bonus EXP.

Minhyuk was currently bombing through the floors, leveling up tremendously. He needed more EXP than any other classes since his classes were Food God and Eccentric Gourmand. However, with the enormous EXP that he was gaining, it looked like he was ignoring the EXP restrictions with how fast his level was increasing.

“What is that player doing…” Manager Kim Daesik could not help but mumble under his breath after he saw Minhyuk receiving Ankheseramun’s Ankhassad’s Judgment.

Hearing his words, Team Leader Park said, “You know that Calauhel is in there, right? I think he’s trying to get Diablo? No, that’s not right; Calauhel won’t tolerate that.”

After leaving those words, Team Leader Park started to list down the items that he would receive once he cleared the ‘normal’ floor.

‘Vassal Summoning Parchment and Guild Member Summoning Parchment.’

Aruvel was also providing Minhyuk with useful information. He knew the items that he would get.

Then, Lee Minhwa said, “Calauhel has summoned the Great Thief Elion on the 40th floor!”

Team Leader Park and President Kang Taehoon’s eyes met.

“Why Great Thief Elion…?”

Team Leader Park slowly started to match the puzzle pieces in his head. He thought, ‘Right now, Calauhel needs a chef. But, he can’t use just any other chef, since there are a lot of risks involved if he asked others on the spot. The existence of Blackstone might be pushed to the forefront if he did that. Yet, he summoned Great Thief Elion, who has a variety of skills that can trick the person’s eyes. D…don’t tell me he’s trying to pull a fast one over his enemy…?!’

Bang―

Team Leader Park’s fingers banged on the table as he arrived at the answer came. At the same time, Player Minhyuk had finally reached the 40th floor, and the being that approached him was…

An old man wearing a black robe. It was none other than Great Thief Elion.

‘It’s not that hard to deceive this punk. Fufufufufu.’

Great Thief Ellion would trick Minhyuk with his ‘Quest Creation’ and ‘Perfect Makeup’ skills.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk was staring at the old man who was smiling kindly at him. He thought, ‘Oho? I didn’t expect that he would do it this way?’

Minhyuk had easily grasped Calauhel’s plans.

‘To catch a tiger, you have to enter the tiger’s den.’

The corners of his mouth curled up in a smile.