Chapter 953


    <em>[You can check the Food Gods ss Quest once you reach Level 650!]</em>


    Minhyuk nodded when he heard the notifications. He was just hunting Helenias Fragments as quickly as he could to follow his father''s words and turn this crisis into an opportunity, and it truly became an opportunity.


    <em>Maybe Ill be able to reach Level 650 once Helenias Dungeons episode ends.</em>


    Of course, the process would be challenging. Even though Helenias Fragments were considered boss mobs, many people would be shocked and say that Minhyuks pace was ridiculously crazy if they saw that he could increase his level by around 2~3 in a week.


    But Minhyuk could make it possible. How? First and foremost, Minhyuks level was almost simr to Helenias Fragments. And second, he had a triple EXP acquisition buff applied to himself.


    Minhyuk warped somewhere once again. This time, he was met with two dungeons inside a kingdom. One of the dungeons had only five minutes left on the timer, while the other had ten minutes left. This kingdom was none other than the Roths Kingdom.


    After issuing an evacuation order, the Roths Kingdoms king immediately rushed to where Minhyuk was.


    ...? Minhyuk looked at the man in confusion.


    Although they werent allies, they maintained a smooth and amiable rtionship. However, after all the civilians had been evacuated, their king, knights, and soldiers remained on site. Why didnt you evacuate?


    ...Because we want to fight and protect our kingdom until the end. My people have already run to safety. However, I want to ensure they have a ce to return to at any given time.


    The Roths Kingdoms king had a good heart. And although he found it embarrassing, he still asked Minhyuk, If, by any chance, we fail to stop the dungeons here. Then I hope that you can take in our people.


    During this period, when he ran to answer the request for support to hunt Helenias Fragments, Minhyuk met two kinds of rulers. One was a king who valued their life more than his people and his kingdom, while the other was a king who valued the life of his kingdom and his people more than their own life.


    Minhyuk saw the various faces of a leader facing unexpected and life-threatening situations. Witnessing this situation would undoubtedly be of huge help to Minhyuk in the future.


    With the Beyond the Heavens Emperor by our side, we can stop and ovee this crisis today.


    The king, his knights, and his troops all looked very exhausted. From what Minhyuk had heard, they had been working tirelessly to stop as many mobs as possible. Seeing them like this, Minhyuk said, Please go and get some rest. I will be done with this in a minute.


    Yes? King Rhodora, the king of Roths Kingdom, looked at Minhyuk confusedly.


    Wasnt this all about joining forces and working together to stop the dungeons whose timers were about to end? Their conversation had shaved off a huge chunk of time, reducing the initial five minutes to around three minutes.


    King Rhodora hurriedly said, What are you waiting for?


    Please do not be too anxious and nervous; just wait here.


    Even though the color had drained from King Rhodoras face as he hurriedly urged him to move, the Beyond the Heavens emperor remained still. He even took out some chocopie and began to nibble on it.


    <em>Fuwaaa</em> I feel alive again, Minhyuk muttered. He had been tired from running around like crazy and hunting Helenias Fragments.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Meanwhile, King Rhodora, his knights, and his troops stood anxiously. Ultimately, the king could only order his men to stand back.


    <em>What on earth is he thinking?</em>


    As time continued to tick by, King Rhodoras anxiety made him feel as if he was in a hurry. In the end, he could not stand still. He approached Minhyuk with only a minute left and said, The monsters wille charging out soon.


    I know that.


    But why didnt you go inside? King Rhodora asked, strange and weird thoughts shing in his head.


    Was the Beyond the Heavens emperor trying to lure out the monsters so that he could kill them? Was he going to try and take over their kingdoms territory? Since King Rhodora did not understand the situation, his imagination ran wild. It was to the point that he could even write a novel with his thoughts alone.


    At that moment, Minhyuk, looking at the thirty-second countdown on the timer, said, Its easier to kill them if theye out all at once.


    Yes?


    This was Minhyuks first time trying this, too, but he was quite confident about it. Then, at that moment, a notification rang out.


    <em>[The dungeons timer has reached 0!]</em>


    <em>[The monsters inside Helenias Dungeon will now begin to rush out!]</em>


    <em>Rumble!</em>


    King Rhodora and his men clenched their fists as they groaned from the deafening roars that shook the ground. Meanwhile, Minhyuk just stood in front of the dungeons inplete ease as he waited for the monsters toe out.


    Minhyuk silently pulled out the frying pan hanging on his back as he watched the monsters, which were mammoths, running like crazy. They looked like a herd of wild buffalo jumping around and wreaking havoc everywhere.


    Frying Pan Gigantification.


    Minhyuk swung the frying pan, which grew asrge as the entrance to the dungeon, in his hand and collided with the herd of crazy mammoths.


    <em>Baaaaaang!</em>


    Minhyuk was forced to step back when the mammoths collided one after another with the frying pan in his hands. Although he was being pushed back, Minhyuk was entirely at ease. He nodded to himself after estimating the time. Two minutes had passed since he started blocking the mammoths.


    <em>Are we done for?</em> King Rhodora almost groaned out from this strange and weird situation. Then, he saw Minhyuk take the frying pan away.


    What!


    If he did that, then wouldnt the monsters from behind grow crazier and charge forward more recklessly?


    But this was the moment that Minhyuk had been waiting for. When he saw that most of the monsters had gathered together, he quickly used Like the Wind and jumped in the middle of the monsters ranks. Immediately after receiving damage from the monsters attacks, Minhyuk again used Like the Wind and went deeper into their ranks.


    Not long after, Minhyuk triggered the Continent Destroyer Swords skill, <em>Continent Destroyer.</em>


    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>


    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>


    The moment his sword mmed into the ground, the ground twisted and cracked, spitting out fountains ofva. In an instant, the massive herd of monsters either got burned to ashes or devoured by the splitting ground beneath them. The only one that survived the few minutes of the attack was Helenias Fragment, which had a rtively high HPpared to the other monsters.


    The word Destruction appeared on the de of Minhyuks sword, the mark that allowed him to trigger sixteen consecutive strikes. Minhyuk, who could swing his sword three times per second, took advantage of this and hit the fragment as if possessed.


    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!</em>


    A rain of bloody lightning bolts fell from the sky and mmed into Helenias Fragment, which was in the form of a huge elephant. After around five seconds, the fragment fell to its demise.


    What was the time it took for Minhyuk to take down one dungeon? Around two minutes and thirty seconds.


    <em>Oh. Thats quite easy.</em>


    So far, Minhyuk had only hunted Helenias Fragments by clearing the dungeon and dealing with the mobs inside. Although it was easy for him, it took longer and increased his physical fatigue to the extreme. But now that he realized that this method was more essible and morefortable to use, he would begin applying this method to all of the other dungeons he was hunting and going to hunt.


    ...


    Meanwhile, King Rhodora was speechless when he saw Minhyuk charging and wiping out all of the enemies by himself after stopping them from recklessly charging forward.


    <em>Hic Hup!</em>


    King Rhodora was so surprised that he ended up huping.


    Minhyuk, who had finished clearing all of the dungeons in Roths Kingdom, looked at the rewards he had received.


    <em>One gave 3,704 tinum while the other gave 5,438 tinum.</em>


    Even his total EXP value had increased by around 17%. Minhyuk looked up at the remains of the dungeons that he hunted.


    <em>If I use this well, then</em>


    Minhyuk, recalling the method he just used, heard a notification in his ears.


    <em>Ring!</em>


    <em>[The </em><strong><em>ss Inheritance Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunt Helenias Fragments is underway!]</em>


    <em>[The Luvien Empire has hunted 268 Helenias Fragments!]</em>


    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has hunted 58 Helenias Fragments!]</em>


    Minhyuk groaned. He, along with Brod, Elpis, Luo, and the teams created by the Beyond the Heavens Empire yers, had been working tirelessly to hunt Helenias Fragments. However, the Luvien Empire could still easily hunt around five times more than them.


    This was expected. After all, their military forces were quite different. Even the Swords of the Gods'' first and second knight orders disyed excellent performances.


    Then, another notification rang.


    <em>[The creation of Helenias Dungeons has started to grow faster!]</em>


    The current speed of creation of the dungeons was already very overwhelming. To their horror, it became even faster. Minhyuks expression turned ugly.


    <em>We need to take other measures.</em>


    Minhyuk hurriedly ordered the Beyond the Heavens executives to convene for an emergency meeting. Just when he was about to warp, he caught sight of the two dungeons that he just dealt with. Then, a trick suddenly shed in his head.


    <em>Shall we try doing this?</em>


    ***


    Joy Co. Ltd.s Customer Center was being flooded by calls from the yers who had been forced to log out from the insane number of Helenias Dungeons created inside Athenae. Even themunity sites were in an uproar because of this.


    <em>[Guys, dont you agree that this is more of a disaster than an event?]</em>


    <em>[If the Luvien Empire were not here, many more people would have died.]</em>


    <em>[Pay for the EXP and artifacts that I have lost.]</em>


    <em>[This is crazy. After the world message about Helenias Dungeons being created faster, the number of dungeons that have appeared worldwide has already reached 1,500.]</em>


    <em>[How can we live through the Third Era of Athenae after it has copsed?]</em>


    The viewers were moring about how excessive Helenias Dungeons were. And President Kang Taehoon? He never expected that things would develop like this.


    They were initially scheduled to release only 1,200 dungeons in total. However, with the rate things were going, they estimated that there would be around 4,000 dungeons that would be created in total. That would be more than three times the amount they nned to release. And there was also the number of Helenias Fragments. It was also much higher than the 1,500 that they initially expected. This was not what Joy Co. Ltd. intended at all.


    President Kang Taehoon stood before Supeputer Athenae and asked, How did things reach this point?


    <em>[Helenia felt threatened.]</em>


    ...?!


    Kang Taehoon was extremely shocked by what he heard.


    Who was Helenia? She was an existence that was superior to the gods and was someone who threatened even the outstanding transcendentals. She even dismissed the Absolute Gods and treated them asughable existences. But that very same Helenia was feeling threatened?


    At that moment, a groan escaped Taehoons lips. He said, Dont tell me is it because of yer Minhyuk?


    When Helenia descended on Earthst time, Minhyuk was able tond an attack on her sessfully. Taehoon had already judged that Minhyuk would affect Helenias descent. However, he never expected it would lead to such a huge problem.


    I see. So, the overwhelming amount of fragments would aid Helenia in herplete descent.


    Helenias Fragments were tasked to kill humanity and help Helenia awaken her full powers. If they could indeed do this, then


    Helenia will descend with her full power.


    The problem was how they would go forward from this point.


    How much damage will Athenae suffer if Helenia descends with her full power?


    Athenae quickly answered the question.


    <em>[Based on our estimations, half of Athenae will disappear.]</em>


    <em>[The damage would take down around 30% of the NPC poption, 45% of the yer poption, and 30% of the god poption.]</em>


    Kang Taehoon felt his vision turn dark. He tried to calm himself down and hurriedly convened a meeting to discuss countermeasures.


    We have to increase the rewards that the yers would receive so that they would all focus on hunting Helenias Fragments.


    That would be impossible. Even now, the low, middle, and advanced level yers are moring and criticizing us, saying that this is a feast for the masters. Were already in a situation where more than 70% of the high-level yers have joined the hunt for Helenias Dungeons.


    Then, another person stepped forward and offered his suggestion: Then, why dont we just delete the NPC named Helenia right here and now?


    ...Do you even think that your suggestion is possible?


    Kang Taehoon had firmly advocated that they should not be directly involved in altering the workings of the Athenae worldview. That was why they had to find a way to solve the problem while maintaining distance and not getting directly involved with the worldview. However, it was a challenging feat.


    If we delete Helenias character, the yers would lose interest in Athenae. Who would even want a game where the operator could freely delete and create the NPCs as they pleased after advertising that it works just like the real world?


    The executives also nodded. However, no matter how often they set up a meeting to find a countermeasure, they were still waiting for an answer. At that moment, Department Head Kim Dae-Il proposed what they deemed as the best suggestion.


    Why dont you give the quests to the NPCs, not the yers? The one who will give the quest is the greatest god, Athenae. If its her, then Athenaes strongest NPCs, the gods, would join the dungeon attack.


    This suggestion could also be impossible nonsense. However, it sounded the most realistic and achievable.


    Even the yers would not resist the NPC''s sudden increase in activity. After all, there was also a setting in Athenae where the NPCs could receive revtions and oracles from God Athenae. That was not all; the operators would not directly intervene with the workings of Athenaes worldview.


    President Kang Taehoon, who had always been unyielding and adamant with his beliefs, started to feel his resolve shake when he heard those words.


    President, you have to make a decision now.


    If the president agrees, we will immediately create a team and implement the countermeasures tomorrow at thetest.


    Kang Taehoon closed his eyes for a moment to ponder. In the end, he could only sigh. The fate of the entire Athenae was at stake. The full-powered Helenias descent was that dangerous. Thend of Athenae would turn deste to the point that one had to wonder if they could survive the Third Era of Athenae, just like one of the yers said before.


    Ill give you an answer by the end of today.


    Even President Kang Taehoon could not say, <em>Its absolutely impossible.</em> to disregard the suggestion. The meeting ended shortly after that. Everyone exited the conference room to go back to their stations.


    President Kang Taehoon walked out with Team Leader Park Minggyu. He turned to the team leader and asked, How about you? What do you think?


    Using Athenae and the NPCs, including the gods, to stop Helenias Dungeons? I dont think it''s bad. But, President, are the gods of Athenae existences that we, operators, could control as we please? And personally, I think theres a high chance that Athenae will not approve of this.


    ...


    Taehoon liked Minggyu because he was far more steadfast and unyielding than him. He held onto his beliefs more firmly than him and could bring him back to the right path when he was shaken to the core.


    Kang Taehoon nodded. However, even though he understood what Minggyu said, he still could not tell Kim Dae-Il that they could not set up an emergency team for his suggestion. The only thing he could do was see if the other teams could offer any other suggestions to deal with this matter.


    The two entered the Special yers Management Team and saw Lee Minhwa monitoring Minhyuk on her screen. On the monitor, they saw Minhyuk during an emergency meeting with his guild members. However, they did not have the leisure to care about what Minhyuk was doing.


    Rather than focusing on the Third Era of Athenae, how about we take over the system from now on so that we can lead the future of Athenae and bring it to a more advantageous situation by the time the destroyed Athenae that the yers were talking about came to be?


    That might probably be better than Athenae intervening. If that does not work, then how about doing this


    No can do. Thats too dangerous. Then, how about this?


    Team Leader Park and President Kang Taehoon threw out and discarded suggestions as they continued their conversation. After a long and fruitless conversation, Taehoon raised his hand. Wait.


    Minggyu stopped talking, his face confused. Then, he saw Taehoon looking at Lee Minhwa and saying, Can you turn up the volume?


    Yes, sir, Lee Minhwa agreed as she hurriedly increased the volume of herputer.


    At the same time, the meeting being held by the Beyond the Heavens Empire rang in the Special yers Management Teams office. They heard Genie ask Minhyuk.


    <em>[Minhyuk, what youre saying is that the fragments would gather in one ce to give the power they have umted to Helenia? Is that right?]</em>


    <em>[Correct. The power that the fragments have umted will not disappear into nothingness. They would gather in one ce to give Helenia that power.]</em>


    ...Hmm.


    This was a fact. Helenias Fragments had to give Helenia the power they had umted in the jewels in their bodies.


    <em>It should be around five days at the least. In five days, the fragments would gather where Helenias sculpture is and give her the power they have umted.]</em>


    Kang Taehoon, who was lost in his thoughts, nodded along.


    <em>[What I want us to do is to attack the gathering fragments. We will go to where Helenia is and get rid of the fragments thate to that ce.]</em>


    ...!


    President Kang Taehoon was very shocked when he heard Minhyuks n. Even Team Leader Park Minggyu was looking at the monitor in shock. Then, the two looked at each other.


    Taehoon felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He thought, <em>Its possible.</em>


    If they prepared for the attack in advance, they could deal with the fragments that would gather all at once.


    <em>We, the operators and developers, could not even think of any solution, but a yer was able toe up with a solution to prevent Helenias descent.</em>


    Taehoon was genuinely impressed. He quickly pulled out his phone and made a call.


    Its me. About making an emergency team, hold that thought for a moment.


    Then, Kang Taehoon looked at Minhyuk through the monitor with a faint smile.


    <em>Perhaps this is the only way for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to surpass the Luvien Empire.</em>